Cooperative · North Dakota · EIA 13196
Northern Plains Electric Coop
Cooperative · North Dakota · 12K customers. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's EIA Form 861, reliability for 2023 shows SAIDI 551 minutes/customer.
Reliability verdict
Northern Plains Electric Coop shows below-average chronic reliability in 2023: 372 minutes SAIDI excluding major events across 12K customers.
- 551 min
- SAIDI 2023
- 2.14
- SAIFI 2023
- 372 min
- SAIDI ex-MED
- 12K
- 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 Northern Plains Electric Coop filings show
Northern Plains Electric Coop is a member-owned electric cooperative operating in North Dakota under EIA identifier 13196. It reports service to approximately 11,940 customer accounts and generated about $0.04 billion in annual electric revenue, with a service footprint spanning 93 ZIP codes. Being member-owned, this cooperative answers to its ratepayers rather than outside shareholders, a structure that tends to influence how rate cases and capital spending get decided.
In 2023, the average Northern Plains Electric Coop customer experienced 551.4 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. The SAIFI figure, which tracks average outage events per customer, came in at 2.14 for the same period, meaning customers statistically saw about 2 distinct interruptions that year. Excluding major event days (hurricanes, ice storms), SAIDI drops to 372.4 minutes, the gap between that figure and the headline 551.4 reveals how much weather, not day-to-day infrastructure, drove outages.
Northern Plains Electric Coop has 4 years of continuous EIA reporting on file (2020–2023), enough to read a real trend rather than a single-year snapshot. SAIDI climbed from 331.3 to 551.4 minutes over that window, a shift that can point to worsening weather exposure or delayed grid modernization.
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.
551 min/year per customer
Power-out minutes per year (2023)
SAIDI by year (2020-2023)
Minutes per customer-year · EIA Form 861
Year-by-year SAIDI for Northern Plains Electric Coop from the same EIA filings as the table below. Lower is better; major-event years can spike the headline figure.
Northern Plains Electric Coop SAIDI trend
Northern Plains Electric Coop vs the nationwide SAIDI distribution
Where this utility's headline SAIDI sits among every EIA Form 861 utility with a reported figure
551 Higher than most fewer outage minutes than 15% 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 Northern Plains Electric Coop sits on price vs. reliability
Among the 781 U.S. utilities large enough to report both revenue per customer and a recent outage record, Northern Plains Electric Coop charges more per customer than 89% of them, and is more reliable (lower SAIDI) than 18% 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: $3,556/year · Latest SAIDI: 551.4 minutes/year.
SAIDI 2023 breakdown: 551.4 minutes
Reliability Trend (2020–2023)
| Year | SAIDI (min) | SAIDI nMED | SAIFI | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 331.3 | 301.8 | 2.743 | 11,904 |
| 2021 | 150.6 | 117.9 | 1.312 | 11,973 |
| 2022 | 347.8 | 309.6 | 2.272 | 12,040 |
| 2023 | 551.4 | 372.4 | 2.143 | 12,094 |
SAIDI nMED = SAIDI without major event days. Source: EIA Form 861.
Service Area
Northern Plains Electric Coop serves 93 ZIP codes in North Dakota.
Frequently Asked Questions
How reliable is Northern Plains Electric Coop?
Northern Plains Electric Coop had a SAIDI of 551.4 minutes in 2023. Excluding major weather events, this is above the national average, indicating below-average reliability.
What type of utility is Northern Plains Electric Coop?
Northern Plains Electric Coop is classified as a Cooperative serving North Dakota.
How many customers does Northern Plains Electric Coop serve?
Northern Plains Electric Coop serves approximately 11,940 customers in North Dakota.
How has Northern Plains Electric Coop's reliability changed over time?
Northern Plains Electric Coop has 4 years of reliability data (2020-2023). This utility's SAIDI has stayed fairly flat over the period. Review the trend table above for year-by-year detail.
Utility Profile
- Type
- Cooperative
- State
- North Dakota
- Customers
- 11,940
- Annual Revenue
- $0.04B
- EIA ID
- 13196
Explore
Utilities with similar EIA profiles
Two cross-state peer sets for Northern Plains Electric Coop. 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 (12K here), outside North Dakota.
Similar chronic SAIDI
Nearest utilities by latest SAIDI minutes (551.4 here), outside North Dakota, 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.