Rankings · reliability
Which utilities leave customers in the dark the most
In 2024, on a normal day — with major storms set aside — the average Wheeling Power customer went about 661.1 minutes (11 hours) without power, the most of the 28 utilities we track across 9 states. The best, Pepco (D.C.), ran about 26.4 minutes. (Source: U.S. EIA Form EIA-861, 2024.)
How to read this: SAIDI is the average minutes a customer spends without power in a year; SAIFI is the average number of outages. We rank on the storms-excluded figure (normal-day operations a utility controls) and show the including-storms figure for context. Lower is better.
Key findings
- On a normal day, Wheeling Power (WV) had the most outage time of any utility we track — about 661.1 minutes per customer in 2024.
- Pepco (D.C.) (DC) had the least, about 26.4 minutes — roughly 25× better than the worst.
- Counting major storms, the figures climb sharply for storm-exposed utilities — Wheeling Power's rose to about 11 hours — which is exactly why we rank on the storm-excluded number instead.
- This is a single year (2024); one bad-weather season can move a utility, so read it as a snapshot, not a verdict.
| # | Utility | State | Normal-day SAIDI (min/yr) | Outages/yr | Incl. storms (min/yr) | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wheeling Power | WV | 661.1 | 2.3 | 661.1 | IEEE 1366 |
| 2 | Appalachian Power (APCo) | WV | 576.4 | 2.5 | 1831.9 | IEEE 1366 |
| 3 | Mon Power | WV | 461.6 | 2.3 | 851.8 | IEEE 1366 |
| 4 | Appalachian Power (APCo) | VA | 342.3 | 1.6 | 1714 | IEEE 1366 |
| 5 | Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) | NJ | 254.8 | 2 | 481.1 | IEEE 1366 |
| 6 | Potomac Edison (West Virginia) | WV | 253.3 | 1.5 | 275 | IEEE 1366 |
| 7 | FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power & West Penn — reported to the EIA as one combined company | PA | 220.5 | 1.5 | 402.6 | IEEE 1366 |
| 8 | Potomac Edison | MD | 159.3 | 1.1 | 167.6 | IEEE 1366 |
| 9 | AEP Ohio | OH | 158.1 | 1 | 272.2 | IEEE 1366 |
| 10 | The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) | OH | 150 | 1.1 | 1918.1 | IEEE 1366 |
| 11 | Rockland Electric | NJ | 148.6 | 1.2 | 225.2 | Other |
| 12 | Dominion Energy Virginia | VA | 131.3 | 1.2 | 172.1 | Other |
| 13 | Duquesne Light | PA | 127 | 0.8 | 188 | Other |
| 14 | Ameren Illinois | IL | 120.6 | 0.9 | 223.9 | IEEE 1366 |
| 15 | Ohio Edison (FirstEnergy) | OH | 114 | 1 | 233.8 | IEEE 1366 |
| 16 | AES Ohio | OH | 106.4 | 0.9 | 502.6 | IEEE 1366 |
| 17 | Duke Energy Ohio | OH | 102.5 | 0.8 | 321.1 | IEEE 1366 |
| 18 | Toledo Edison (FirstEnergy) | OH | 95.4 | 0.9 | 121 | IEEE 1366 |
| 19 | PPL Electric Utilities | PA | 90.3 | 0.7 | 455.1 | IEEE 1366 |
| 20 | Delmarva Power (Delaware) | DE | 68 | 0.7 | 127 | IEEE 1366 |
| 21 | Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) | MD | 66.7 | 0.6 | 133.5 | IEEE 1366 |
| 22 | PECO Energy | PA | 60 | 0.7 | 212 | IEEE 1366 |
| 23 | Delmarva Power | MD | 56 | 0.6 | 79 | IEEE 1366 |
| 24 | Atlantic City Electric | NJ | 50 | 0.7 | 123 | IEEE 1366 |
| 25 | Pepco (Maryland) | MD | 46.4 | 0.5 | 65.5 | IEEE 1366 |
| 26 | PSE&G | NJ | 39.3 | 0.6 | 45.3 | IEEE 1366 |
| 27 | ComEd | IL | 35.6 | 0.5 | 131.9 | IEEE 1366 |
| 28 | Pepco (D.C.) | DC | 26.4 | 0.2 | 32.6 | IEEE 1366 |
Ranked on normal-day (storms-excluded) SAIDI. Source: U.S. EIA Form EIA-861, 2024. Download CSV · Methodology & limits
What this does and doesn't show
- It's a single year (2024). One major storm season can skew a utility; treat it as a snapshot.
- Utilities marked "Other" report under a different standard than IEEE 1366, so their numbers may not be perfectly comparable — compare them with caution, not as exact ranks.
- "FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric" is one company reporting for four former utilities, so its figure is a blended, customer-weighted average across a large territory.
- This ranks outcomes customers experienced — not who's to blame. Geography and weather matter.
Full sourcing on the methodology page.
Common questions
- Which electric utility has the worst reliability?
- Among the 28 utilities we track across 9 states, Wheeling Power had the highest normal-day outage time in 2024 — about 661.1 minutes per customer (roughly 11 hours), excluding major storms (Source: EIA-861, 2024). Pepco (D.C.) had the least, about 26.4 minutes.
- What is SAIDI?
- SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) is the average number of minutes a utility's customer goes without power over a year. SAIFI is the average number of separate interruptions. Lower is better for both.
- Why rank on outages excluding major storms?
- Reliability is reported two ways: including major storms (hurricanes, ice storms — largely geography and luck) and excluding them (normal-day operations a utility actually controls, like tree-trimming and equipment upkeep). We rank on the storm-excluded number so a utility isn't punished for one bad-weather year, and show the with-storms figure alongside for honesty.