Electric reliability in Central Ohio: the utilities and cooperatives
The state's reliability filings cover AEP Ohio; the electric cooperatives and city-owned systems that serve parts of Central Ohio report their outages to the U.S. Energy Information Administration instead. This page sets out what each utility that lists Franklin, Delaware, Licking, Fairfield, Union, Madison or Pickaway County reported for 2024: how many times the average customer lost power and for how many minutes in the year, counting every day and without the worst storm days, beside the figure for Ohio as a whole.
Last updated September 2026 · Figures are each utility's own, as reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Form EIA-861 for 2024, read September 25, 2026 · No prices on this page; the Estimate Builder carries those · Part of the knowledge base
The two numbers every utility reports
Every electric utility that files the U.S. Energy Information Administration's full annual survey, Form EIA-861, reports two figures about outages. The first, SAIFI, in the survey instructions' words "indicates how often the average customer experiences a sustained interruption (of over 5 minutes)" during the year: the number of customers interrupted, added up over the year, divided by the customers served. The second, SAIDI, "indicates the total duration of interruption for the average customer": the customer-minutes without power over the year, divided by the customers served. Momentary outages are not counted. Each utility reports both twice, once counting every day and once with its major event days taken out: the days, if any, whose outages cross the IEEE 1366 statistical threshold, usually the worst storm days.
The page on power outages in Central Ohio sets out AEP Ohio's filings with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, year by year, and the standards the state holds it to. Counting every day, the two sources agree for 2024: both give AEP Ohio 1.13 interruptions per customer, and the state filing's 240.80 minutes per interruption works out to the same roughly 272 minutes a year shown below. With the worst days taken out they differ: the federal survey gives 0.991 interruptions and 158.1 minutes a year, and the state filing 0.91 interruptions averaging 158.44 minutes each, because the state's exclusions also remove outages that start on the transmission system. The power outages page reports minutes per interruption; this page reports total minutes per customer over the year, so their minute figures are not the same measure. This page adds the utilities that the state filings do not cover: the electric cooperatives and the city-owned systems.
Which utilities list these counties
The survey's service territory file lists sixteen utilities under at least one of Franklin, Delaware, Licking, Fairfield, Union, Madison and Pickaway counties for 2024. The county lists are the utilities' own, as reported to the agency, and they are not a service map: AEP Ohio's list, for one, names five of the seven counties and not Madison or Pickaway. Three investor-owned utilities whose main service areas lie elsewhere, Duke Energy Ohio, Dayton Power and Light (now AES Ohio) and Ohio Edison, also list one or more of the seven counties; they are left off the table because this page could not confirm those listings. Four small systems file the survey's short form, which asks no reliability questions, so they report no figures: Frontier Power Company, Mid-Ohio Energy Cooperative, Prospect Corporation and the Village of Obetz. No Worthington electric utility appears in the file. Which utility serves a given address is a question for the utility or for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's territory map, not for this table.
Reliability in 2024, utility by utility
The table orders the utilities by total minutes without power counting every day. All nine that report use the IEEE method. The customer counts are each utility's whole Ohio customer base, not only its customers in these counties; the Ohio row counts the customers in the reliability calculation instead. County lists are each utility's own report to the agency; not every cooperative names these counties on its own site.
| Utility, as named in the survey | Type | Counties it lists, of the seven | Interruptions per customer, every day | Minutes without power per customer, every day | Interruptions per customer, without major event days | Minutes without power per customer, without major event days | Customers in Ohio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Westerville | City system | Delaware, Franklin | 0.85 | 57.41 | 0.35 | 21.49 | 17,966 |
| Pioneer Rural Electric Cooperative | Cooperative | Madison, Union | 1.25 | 126.9 | 1.05 | 93.7 | 17,407 |
| Licking Rural Electric | Cooperative | Delaware, Franklin, Licking | 1.64 | 242.5 | 1.04 | 113.4 | 27,568 |
| City of Columbus | City system | Franklin | 2.17 | 245.27 | 2.17 | 245.27 | 19,521 |
| Union Rural Electric Cooperative | Cooperative | Delaware, Union | 2.106 | 259.5 | 0.481 | 59.2 | 12,275 |
| Ohio Power Company (AEP Ohio) | Investor-owned | Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Union | 1.13 | 272.2 | 0.991 | 158.1 | 1,533,265 |
| South Central Power Company | Cooperative | Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Pickaway | 2.521 | 319.821 | 1.686 | 201.33 | 127,851 |
| Consolidated Cooperative | Cooperative | Delaware, Franklin, Licking, Union | 1.23 | 354 | 0.93 | 87 | 19,272 |
| Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative | Cooperative | Licking | 2.68 | 494.44 | 2.64 | 485.1 | 17,178 |
| Ohio, all utilities reporting by the IEEE method | State total | Statewide | 1.298 | 511 | 0.999 | 133.3 | 5,582,977 (customers in the reliability calculation) |
Counting every day, the average customer of these utilities lost power between about once and a little under three times in 2024, and spent between about one hour and a little over eight hours without it over the year. Westerville's city system reports the fewest outages and the fewest minutes on both counts. The spread between the two columns is the storms: Union Rural Electric reports 259.5 minutes counting every day and 59.2 without its major event days, and Consolidated Cooperative 354 and 87, which is what one bad storm does to a small system's year. The City of Columbus reports the same figures in both columns, and the file does not say why.
What the numbers do not say
Scope, plainly. These are the utilities' own figures, reported to the agency and not audited by it. They describe each utility's whole system, not a street, a town or one of these counties. The utilities do not all measure alike: Pioneer Rural Electric Cooperative reports that its outages are not recorded automatically, and the voltage each utility uses to separate its distribution lines from supply ranges from 7.2 to 35 kilovolts, which changes what counts as an outage on its system. A single year is a single year; one storm can move a small cooperative's figures more than anything else about it. What an outage does to a well pump, a water heater and a house in winter is on the power outages page.
The short version. In the U.S. Energy Information Administration's survey for 2024, nine electric utilities that list Central Ohio counties reported their reliability. Counting every day, the average customer lost power 0.85 to 2.68 times and spent 57 to 494 minutes without it over the year; the Ohio figure for all utilities reporting by the IEEE method was 1.298 times and 511 minutes. Westerville's city system reported the fewest outages and minutes, and Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative the most. The figures are each utility's own, system-wide, and methods differ.
Sources
Every figure, date and quotation on this page comes from one of these documents, read on the date given. Where two of them disagree, the page says so.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Electric Power Industry Report, Form EIA-861, detailed data files, 2024 data (f8612024.zip): Reliability_2024.xlsx (sheets Reliability_States and State Totals), Service_Territory_2024.xlsx (Counties_States), Sales_Ult_Cust_2024.xlsx and the short-form file; read September 25, 2026.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 instructions for 2024, reliability schedule (definitions of SAIFI and SAIDI, major event days under IEEE 1366, and the exclusion of momentary outages), in the same data file; read September 25, 2026.
- Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, AEP Ohio Reliability Data, cited for the separate state filings described on the power outages page; read September 24, 2026.
Common questions
Which Central Ohio electric utility has the fewest power outages?
In the U.S. Energy Information Administration's survey for 2024, the City of Westerville's electric system reported the fewest: counting every day, its average customer lost power 0.85 times and spent 57.41 minutes without it over the year, and without major event days 0.35 times and 21.49 minutes. The figures are the utility's own, reported to the agency, and describe its whole system.
How long is the average AEP Ohio customer without power in a year?
AEP Ohio, reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration as Ohio Power Company, gave 272.2 minutes without power for its average customer in 2024 counting every day, from 1.13 interruptions, and 158.1 minutes from 0.991 interruptions with its major event days taken out. Its filings with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio give the same 1.13 interruptions counting every day, but 0.91 with the worst days taken out, because the state's exclusions also remove transmission outages; the state figures are given as minutes per interruption, not minutes per year.
How reliable are the electric cooperatives around Columbus?
They vary widely. Counting every day in 2024, Pioneer Rural Electric Cooperative reported 126.9 minutes without power for its average customer, Licking Rural Electric 242.5, Union Rural Electric Cooperative 259.5, South Central Power Company 319.821, Consolidated Cooperative 354 and Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative 494.44. Without major event days the minutes fall by half or more for Union Rural, Consolidated and Licking Rural, by about a third or less for South Central Power and Pioneer, and hardly at all for Guernsey-Muskingum; one storm can dominate a small system's year.
What do SAIDI and SAIFI mean?
They are the two outage measures electric utilities report to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. SAIFI is how often the average customer has a sustained interruption, over 5 minutes, in the year. SAIDI is the total minutes that average customer spends without power over the year. Momentary outages are not counted, and each is reported both counting every day and with the utility's major event days taken out.
Does every Central Ohio electric utility report its reliability?
No. Four small systems that list Central Ohio counties, Frontier Power Company, Mid-Ohio Energy Cooperative, Prospect Corporation and the Village of Obetz, file the survey's short form, which asks no reliability questions, so the U.S. Energy Information Administration has no outage figures for them for 2024.
How does Central Ohio compare with Ohio as a whole for power outages?
For 2024, all Ohio utilities reporting by the IEEE method gave 1.298 interruptions and 511 minutes without power for the average customer counting every day, and 0.999 interruptions and 133.3 minutes without major event days. Every Central Ohio utility that reported came in under the statewide 511 minutes counting every day, though several were above the statewide 133.3 minutes without major event days.
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