Which US State Has The Best Power Grid Reliability? Hint: It's Not Texas

When your power blinks off on a hot summer day or in the middle of your favorite TV show, it can feel like an inconvenience. But when an outage lasts hours or even days, that inconvenience can turn into an expensive nightmare. Food spoils and, depending on the time of year, you may have to bunk with a friend or rent a hotel room. Your pipes could freeze and burst, and life-saving medical equipment may stop working. The power grid is the silent, almost invisible backbone of daily life, but how well it works depends on where you live.

You've likely heard of the power grid but may not understand exactly how it works. After electricity is generated, it travels through a system known as the grid, which includes substations, transformers, and power lines. This system then delivers that electricity to consumers. Locally, grids are often interconnected for reliability. In the lower 48 states, the grid consists of three main interconnections: the Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). The Eastern and Western Interconnections are linked to Canada's power grid for additional stability.

The reliability of the power grid is measured using key statistics, including how long outages last, how often outages happen, and modernization efforts. Based on these metrics, Illinois ranks at the top for reliability, according to U.S. News & World Report. A similar report from EcoFlow, a provider of solar battery technologies and home energy storage solutions, puts Rhode Island at the top, with Illinois second.  

If you're hoping your state tops the list when it comes to power grid reliability, let's hope you live in South Dakota, Nevada, or Delaware, which round out U.S. News & World's Report top five. EcoFlow also includes Nebraska in its top list. Because reliability is measured using several metrics, however, these states don't necessarily have the fewest power outages overall.

According to a 2025 report from communications company Ooma based on historical data from the U.S. Energy Administration, Utah sees the fewest power outages per year per customer, followed by Wisconsin and Nebraska. Maine, Alaska, and Louisiana see the most, though Alaska also ranks third when it comes to the states with the shortest outages per minute. The states with longest power outages include Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia, which likely comes as no surprise to anyone who's ridden out a hurricane. 

Texas, which is the only state that has its own grid (though it does not actually cover the entire state) made headlines when more than 200 people died during a days-long blackout in February 2021. While questions linger about the state's grid, it did not make Ooma's list of the top 10 states with the most power outages, and it sits in the middle of the pack on U.S News & World Report's rankings. The state does land sixth on the list of states with the longest power outages, however. If you're hoping to avoid the least reliable states, don't move to Maine, Vermont, or West Virginia, which rank at the bottom of the U.S. News reliability rankings.