How often do you lose power?

[Jennifer in MI]

Just curious. We lose power ALL.THE.TIME. It happens when the day is bright and sunny and a wind blows. It happens when there is no wind. God forbid we have a storm.

 

We lost power for the last 24 hours due to wind yesterday. This is the fourth time this year. Once we lost it for two hours. The others have been longer.

 

Last summer, we lost electricity for 4 1/2 days.

 

This year I'm keeping track because I want to write to someone (who?) and complain officially. DTE has a monopoly in our area. They are expensive and don't give us reliable service. The equipment they use desperately needs to be updated and they won't do it. I'm SO frustrated!!!!

[frugalmama]

Very rarely. We lose it maybe 4-5 times a year for 15-20 minutes at a time. Once this year it was out for 2 hours maybe.

 

We have a medical flag on our line though, so we get much faster restoration than most do here.

[sparrow]

We lost power often when we had DTE. We have since moved to a rural area and have a very responsive board of public utilities (BPU). We rarely lose power, but when we do, it is up quickly. My parents live in the same town, but a few miles away. They have Consumer's Energy and lose power CONSTANTLY and for several hours, to days, at a time. Consumer's reminds me a LOT of DTE.

 

For example, last February we had a serious ice storm. It was bad in our county. We lost power for 2.5 days. My parents, just up the road, were without power for 5.5 days!

[Amira]

Ours hardly ever goes out, and your electric company ought to be more reliable than mine. We had a couple of rolling blackouts in the winter when the power was off for 6 hours at a time on a few different days, but other than that I am surprised when the power goes out. I'd be really frustrated if I lived in the US and the power was going off for a long time like yours is. It's reasonable to be able to expect your power to be on unless there is a major emergency, and those don't happen 4 times in 4 months.

[sbgrace]

We probably average about four times a year and it's usually restored very quickly (under an hour). Of course that is if there isn't a tornado or major ice or something that might knock power out for an extended time anywhere it occurs. My parents lose power more often than we do (in another town/another power company) but nothing close to as often as you describe.

Edited April 17, 2012 by sbgrace

[Karen in CO]

I think we've only lost power 2 or 3 times in the last decade. BUT the utilities are all underground from the power plant to my house. When I lived in FL, it was very different.

[Butter]

When I was a kid we lost power all the time and for no reason most of the time it seemed. Now we almost never lose power (I live in the house where I grew up). They've upgraded all the lines and put in more of those box thingies over the last few years. That's made all the difference.

[TravelingChris]

In Northern VA, all the time- I couldn't believe it. Over here in Alabama, never yet (we weren't here APril 27th 2011). I hardly ever lost it anywhere else either. I remember once losing it in Sacramento because most of California lost it due to a fire and a squirrel. But the only place we kept losing it was Northern VA.

[KungFuPanda]

Maybe once every other year if they're working on something. We didn't even lose power during Snowmeggedon and our county was the hardest hit in the country.

[athena1277]

In Northern VA, all the time- I couldn't believe it. Over here in Alabama, never yet (we weren't here APril 27th 2011). I hardly ever lost it anywhere else either. I remember once losing it in Sacramento because most of California lost it due to a fire and a squirrel. But the only place we kept losing it was Northern VA.

 

It may depend on where you are in NoVa. We hardly ever lose power. I think part of the reason is we are on a main road that is an emergency route. The few times it has gone out it has come back on quickly. The only time it stayed out for about 12 hours was due to a major snow storm.

[swellmomma]

Maybe once a year during a massive storm or if there has been an accident into a transformer or something. THose times we could be without power for 2-4 hours. During smaller but still bad storms it might cut out for less than a minute at a time before flipping back on.

[Jane in NC]

Very rarely since our power lines were buried. This would not have happened without FEMA grants, although we also ponied up.

 

The sad reality is that much of the infrastructure east of the Mississippi (electric, water, gas lines) is antique!

[learningmama]

Where we are in Florida, we have lost it quite a few times in the past two years. Not because of bad weather, many times on a perfectly sunny day. The system is old and overused where we are. In Indiana where we are from it happened maybe once a year. Usually because someone hit a pole.

The tv cable service is awful here too. Cable goes out and has to be rebooted more times than it should. And of course al these services cost more than the midwest too.

[Guest]

We have lost power twice in the three years we've lived here. I know people on the other side of the major highway who lose it all the time, though. (Same electric company)

[Parrothead]

I think one time in the three years we have been here.

[melissad2]

Not often although we have lost it for an hour or so in the last month for unknown reasons.

[justamouse]

Whee I used to live? ALL THE TIME. every week.

 

Now? Never.

[coffeegal]

Growing up, several times a year for hours during winter. Here, rarely. Dh grew up the same way, so we ensured we can survive without power for several days during the height of winter. Friends think we're a touch paranoid. :lol:

[ocelotmom]

We're rural. We often lose power briefly (seconds to minutes) during a windstorm (which happen regularly around here). A few times a year we'll lose it for several hours, generally during a storm. Where I lived before, maybe once or twice a year, very briefly. The only time it was out for longer was during a hurricane-strength storm - we were out for over 24 hours that time.

Edited April 17, 2012 by ocelotmom

[lynn]

Hardly ever. We last lost power for a week when the tornadoes came through last April.

[Amy in NH]

Maybe once or twice per year. The longest is ~2 hours.

[itsheresomewhere]

So often that almost everyone on this side of town owns a generator. Our town has its own power station and doesn't want to waste the money to update from the 70s. At least once a month.

[lllll]

...

[DusksAngel]

On average? Probably once a month or so. Mom and I live on opposite sides of town and hers is much more reliable although she does have it flicker fairly often.

We really need to save for a generator (especially since I have sleep apnea).

[Scuff]

Must be something about your area. Ours hardly ever goes out. (DTae also) In the 12 years we've lived here I think we've lost it 2 or 3 times. (plus when the grid failed) do you have a lot of trees in your area? They do have a method to the madness when they restore. If you were out for 4 days then you probably had a low priority and were among the last to get back on. They work 16+ hr days when there's a major outage.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Scuff

[BridgeTea]

Mine hardly ever goes out, maybe 1X a year for a couple hours before it's restored. However, I'm in a co-op. If I lived a quarter mile down the road, I'd have Consumer's and would lose power every time the wind blew, just like everyone else in the area. I accidentally bought the right house.

 

Now, my landline phone service is a different story...grr! A fine mist can shut it right down, let alone a good soaking rain!

[DesertDweller]

Almost never. We've been in AZ for thirteen years.

 

One of the few times I remember losing power was recently. A car had hit something at a nearby intersection, and we lost power for an hour and a half.

 

I know they do occur occasionally. Usually it's do to a severe storm. They tend to be in various parts of the valley. We didn't live in the areas though that had the outages.

[Jeannie in NJ]

the only time in the last about 10 years we lost power was 2 winters ago during an ice storm. The southern part of our county lost power for a week and they had to move people into shelters. We lost power for only a few hours and it was amazing how fast it got bitter cold in our house.

 

Last summer during Hurricane Irene we were forced to evacuate to my nephews house about 15 min. off shore . We had to stay there for 2 days with no power only to find out that our neighborhood never did lose power.

 

Other than the above, we don't lose power. We have underground utilities.

 

The part of our county that lost power for a week during the ice storm has overhead lines that the ice snapped.

[prairiewindmomma]

We used to lose it a few times a month. The transformers were old and they blew out all of the time. They really needed to upgrade equipment and didn't.

 

We moved to a newer area with underground lines. Now we lose it a few times a year...usually when a squirrel or other critter chews into the regional station.

[Mimmy]

Often enough that I keep 5 gallon jugs of water ready to use and replaced our electric stove with a propane one so i can cook. We have well water so no power = no water. Usually it is short- today it was about an hour and a half. Last summer we had a storm and no power for 2 days. Luckily we have a hot tub so we use the water from that for toilet flushing.

[KidsHappen]

Very rarely and even when we do it is only for a few minutes at a time. Now my own personal house (not very old either) has all sorts of electrical problems. We just learned two days ago that we can't plug our tv into one outlet. We can plug oter things into this outlet and we can plug our tv into other outlets but not the tv into that outlet and the tv used to be plugged into that outlet (same tv). We cannot plug in too many things into the kitchen outlets at one time and several of the overhead lights blow about once a month. We really need an electrician to come out and check all the wiring but we can't even begin to think about affording it for awhile.

[bettyandbob]

Pretty much we never lose power. I don't recall losing power during a storm. The last time we lost power for an extended period (8 hours maybe) a car had driven into a transformer near my house.

[plath]

For an extended period, maybe four times a year? Just flickers way more than that. We have DTE, too and they are a PITA :(

[StaceyinLA]

if the wind even THINKS about blowing. It's absurd. Yesterday, I was preparing a quiche for the Mom's Night Out I was hosting, and as soon as I put it in the oven, the power went out. It was windy, but no rain or anything. Ridiculous.

 

Luckily we have a generator, but it's still a huge aggravation, especially when you're in the middle of cooking or something.

 

It makes me feel guilty to complain because I realize there are people who don't have this luxury, but at the same time, I pay for it, and I want it to work!

[chepyl]

It went out once in the last 2.5 years for an issue in the system and once to upgrade our box. We did not even loose power during the blizzard or either of the bog tornado producing storms in the last two years.

[stephanier.1765]

Very rarely. Matter of fact, it is so rare that if it does go out I worry that I forgot to pay the bill rather than it being an electric company issue.

 

Of course, if we are having a bad hurricane season all bets are off.

[Blessedchaos]

Never. It has never happened to us and we have been homeowners for 14 years. We are also in a high storm area (midwest).

[Mommyof4ks]

10-12 times a year we lose power for no reason. Just 5 minutes from here we lost power 4-5 times in 9 years, but this part of the grid seems to have issues. :(

[ocelotmom]

Often enough that I keep 5 gallon jugs of water ready to use and replaced our electric stove with a propane one so i can cook. We have well water so no power = no water. Usually it is short- today it was about an hour and a half. Last summer we had a storm and no power for 2 days. Luckily we have a hot tub so we use the water from that for toilet flushing.

 

Same here. We're looking at installing a hand pump, since we have multiple well access points.