Southwest Louisiana E M C

What This Utility Data Tells You

Southwest Louisiana E M C is a member-owned electric cooperative operating in Louisiana under EIA identifier 17684. It reports service to approximately 115,809 customer accounts and generated about $0.30 billion in annual electric revenue, with a service footprint spanning 58 ZIP codes. Cooperative ownership means the utility is run for the benefit of the ratepayer-members who elect its board, rather than for shareholder returns, which can shift how rate and investment decisions get made.

In 2023, the average Southwest Louisiana E M C customer experienced 242.7 minutes of power interruptions, a measure known as SAIDI, or System Average Interruption Duration Index. That sits within the 120–180 minute national benchmark range, indicating performance typical of U.S. distribution utilities. The SAIFI figure, which tracks average outage events per customer, came in at 2.80 for the same period, meaning customers statistically saw about 3 distinct interruptions that year. Once major event days (hurricanes, ice storms) are excluded, SAIDI comes down to 167.1 minutes, and the spread against the headline 242.7 indicates how much weather, versus routine infrastructure, drove the outage total.

The EIA dataset includes 4 years of continuous reporting (2020–2023) for Southwest Louisiana E M C, which lets you see whether reliability is trending up or down rather than judging from a single snapshot. SAIDI dropped from 4558.2 to 242.7 minutes across that span, a direction regulators and prospective customers tend to watch closely. Note: this figure is unusually low compared to typical U.S. utility performance and may reflect an incomplete EIA filing for this year rather than a genuine reliability improvement -- treat with caution and cross-check against Southwest Louisiana E M C's other reported years.