Municipal · Alabama · EIA 4958
Decatur Utilities
Municipal · Alabama · 27K customers. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's EIA Form 861, reliability for 2023 shows SAIDI 66 minutes/customer.
Reliability verdict
Decatur Utilities shows above-average chronic reliability in 2023: 66 minutes SAIDI excluding major events across 27K customers.
- 66 min
- SAIDI 2023
- 0.94
- SAIFI 2023
- 66 min
- SAIDI ex-MED
- 27K
- Customers
Chronic reliability judged on SAIDI excluding major event days when reported (IEEE 1366). Source: EIA Form 861 · August 2026.
Signature read: short interruption minutes vs the 911 utility cohort (≤96 min tercile cut).
What short-outage Decatur Utilities filings show
Decatur Utilities is a municipally-owned utility operating in Alabama under EIA identifier 4958. It reports service to approximately 26,904 customer accounts and generated about $0.10 billion in annual electric revenue, with a service footprint spanning 4 ZIP codes. Being municipally owned, the utility answers to a local board or city council rather than a state commission, and carries a federal income tax exemption.
In 2023, the average Decatur Utilities customer experienced 66.4 minutes of power interruptions, a metric called SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index). That keeps this utility below the typical 120–180 minute national benchmark, consistent with a well-hardened distribution system and fast restoration crews. Over the same period, SAIFI (outage events per customer) was 0.94, putting the typical customer at roughly 1 distinct interruption that year. Excluding major event days (hurricanes, ice storms), SAIDI drops to 66.4 minutes, the gap between that figure and the headline 66.4 reveals how much weather, not day-to-day infrastructure, drove outages.
The EIA dataset includes 4 years of continuous reporting (2020–2023) for Decatur Utilities, which lets you see whether reliability is trending up or down rather than judging from a single snapshot. SAIDI dropped from 77.0 to 66.4 minutes across that span, a direction regulators and prospective customers tend to watch closely.
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.
66 min/year per customer
Minutes without power per year (2023)
SAIDI by year (2020-2023)
Minutes per customer-year · EIA Form 861
Year-by-year SAIDI for Decatur Utilities from the same EIA filings as the table below. Lower is better; major-event years can spike the headline figure.
Decatur Utilities SAIDI trend
Decatur Utilities vs the nationwide SAIDI distribution
Where this utility's headline SAIDI sits among every EIA Form 861 utility with a reported figure
66 Among the lowest fewer outage minutes than 77% 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 Decatur Utilities sits on price vs. reliability
Among the 781 U.S. utilities large enough to report both revenue per customer and a recent outage record, Decatur Utilities charges more per customer than 89% of them, and is more reliable (lower SAIDI) than 80% of them, placing it in the quadrant where it pays more and is more reliable. Revenue per customer and outage minutes are independent figures: paying more does not guarantee fewer outages.
Revenue per customer: $3,566/year · Latest SAIDI: 66.4 minutes/year.
SAIDI 2023 breakdown: 66.4 minutes
Reliability Trend (2020–2023)
| Year | SAIDI (min) | SAIDI nMED | SAIFI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 77.0 | - | 1.013 |
| 2021 | 78.5 | - | 1.050 |
| 2022 | 76.0 | - | 0.933 |
| 2023 | 66.4 | 66.4 | 0.936 |
SAIDI nMED = SAIDI without major event days. Source: EIA Form 861.
Service Area
Decatur Utilities serves 4 ZIP codes in Alabama.
Frequently Asked Questions
How reliable is Decatur Utilities?
Decatur Utilities had a SAIDI of 66.4 minutes in 2023. Leaving aside major weather events, that figure comes in under the national average, pointing to above-average reliability.
What type of utility is Decatur Utilities?
Decatur Utilities is classified as a Municipal serving Alabama.
How many customers does Decatur Utilities serve?
Decatur Utilities serves approximately 26,904 customers in Alabama.
How has Decatur Utilities's reliability changed over time?
Decatur Utilities 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
- Municipal
- State
- Alabama
- Customers
- 26,904
- Annual Revenue
- $0.10B
- EIA ID
- 4958
Explore
Utilities with similar EIA profiles
Two cross-state peer sets for Decatur Utilities. 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 (27K here), outside Alabama.
Similar chronic SAIDI
Nearest utilities by latest SAIDI minutes (66.4 here), outside Alabama, 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.