IOU · Virginia · EIA 733
Appalachian Power Co
IOU · Virginia · 546K customers. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's EIA Form 861, reliability for 2023 shows SAIDI 429 minutes/customer.
Reliability verdict
Appalachian Power Co shows below-average chronic reliability in 2023: 357 minutes SAIDI excluding major events across 546K customers.
- 429 min
- SAIDI 2023
- 1.65
- SAIFI 2023
- 357 min
- SAIDI ex-MED
- 546K
- Customers
Chronic reliability judged on SAIDI excluding major event days when reported (IEEE 1366). Source: EIA Form 861 · August 2026.
Signature read: long interruption minutes vs the 911 utility cohort (>258 min tercile cut).
What long-outage Appalachian Power Co filings show
Appalachian Power Co is an investor-owned utility operating in Virginia under EIA identifier 733. It reports service to approximately 545,980 customer accounts and generated about $1.82 billion in annual electric revenue, with a service footprint spanning 500 ZIP codes. Investor ownership puts this utility under the regulatory authority of the state public utility commission, which reviews its rate requests and reliability record.
In 2023, the average Appalachian Power Co customer experienced 429.3 minutes of power interruptions, the industry-standard SAIDI metric (System Average Interruption Duration Index). That exceeds the 120–180 minute national benchmark by a wide margin, a pattern often tied to severe weather exposure, older infrastructure, or longer repair windows. Over the same period, SAIFI (outage events per customer) was 1.65, putting the typical customer at roughly 2 distinct interruptions that year. Strip out major event days (hurricanes, ice storms) and SAIDI falls to 356.6 minutes; the difference from the headline 429.3 shows how much of the outage total came from weather rather than everyday grid issues.
The EIA dataset includes 4 years of continuous reporting (2020–2023) for Appalachian Power Co, which lets you see whether reliability is trending up or down rather than judging from a single snapshot. Over that span, SAIDI rose from 390.4 to 429.3 minutes, possibly reflecting tougher weather years or grid upgrades that have not caught up yet.
Based on this utility's own EIA Form 861 reliability record -- baseline (major-event- excluded) outage duration, total outage duration, and outage frequency -- each benchmarked against every reporting utility nationwide. Not a measure of electricity rates or customer service, which this portal does not track.
429 outage minutes per customer annually
Power-out minutes per year (2023)
SAIDI by year (2020-2023)
Minutes per customer-year · EIA Form 861
Year-by-year SAIDI for Appalachian Power Co from the same EIA filings as the table below. Lower is better; major-event years can spike the headline figure.
Appalachian Power Co SAIDI trend
Appalachian Power Co vs the nationwide SAIDI distribution
Where this utility's headline SAIDI sits among every EIA Form 861 utility with a reported figure
429 Higher than most fewer outage minutes than 21% of 911 utilities
Utilities nationwide, banded by latest reported SAIDI (minutes)
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more utilities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. EIA Form 861 reliability filings · August 2026
Price vs. reliability
Where Appalachian Power Co sits on price vs. reliability
Among the 781 U.S. utilities large enough to report both revenue per customer and a recent outage record, Appalachian Power Co charges more per customer than 84% of them, and is more reliable (lower SAIDI) than 23% of them, placing it in the quadrant where it pays more but is LESS reliable, a premium price without a reliability payoff. Revenue per customer and outage minutes are independent figures: paying more does not guarantee fewer outages.
Revenue per customer: $3,340/year · Latest SAIDI: 429.3 minutes/year.
SAIDI 2023 breakdown: 429.3 minutes
Reliability Trend (2020–2023)
| Year | SAIDI (min) | SAIDI nMED | SAIFI | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 390.4 | 310.2 | 1.674 | 538,541 |
| 2021 | 566.6 | 351.3 | 1.697 | 542,478 |
| 2022 | 867.7 | 470.6 | 2.211 | 543,890 |
| 2023 | 429.3 | 356.6 | 1.645 | 546,507 |
SAIDI nMED = SAIDI without major event days. Source: EIA Form 861.
Service Area
Appalachian Power Co serves 500 ZIP codes in Virginia.
Frequently Asked Questions
How reliable is Appalachian Power Co?
Appalachian Power Co had a SAIDI of 429.3 minutes in 2023. Excluding major weather events, this is above the national average, indicating below-average reliability.
What type of utility is Appalachian Power Co?
Appalachian Power Co is classified as a IOU serving Virginia.
How many customers does Appalachian Power Co serve?
Appalachian Power Co serves approximately 545,980 customers in Virginia.
How has Appalachian Power Co's reliability changed over time?
Appalachian Power Co has 4 years of reliability data (2020-2023). SAIDI has held roughly steady across these years. Review the trend table above for year-by-year detail.
Utility Profile
- Type
- IOU
- State
- Virginia
- Customers
- 545,980
- Annual Revenue
- $1.82B
- EIA ID
- 733
Explore
Utilities with similar EIA profiles
Two cross-state peer sets for Appalachian Power Co. Same-state SAIDI neighbors stay in Read-with below; these neighborhoods are nearest other-state utilities with at least 10,000 reported customers.
Similar customer count
Nearest utilities by Form 861 customers (546K here), outside Virginia.
Similar chronic SAIDI
Nearest utilities by latest SAIDI minutes (429.3 here), outside Virginia, excluding the customer-peer set.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Form 861 annual electric power industry survey · ZIP service territory: OpenEI. Disclaimer: informational only, not professional advice. See full disclaimer · methodology.