Seattle power outages
Seattle (King County, Washington): your utility's map first, then the county's own figures from the Department of Energy and the EIA.
Official links, checked by hand. Utilities serving King County: EIA Form 861 (2025). PreparedStates isn't affiliated with any utility.
Out now in King County
6 customers without power in the Department of Energy's latest outage snapshot, Nov 2, 9:45 PM ET: Seattle City Light 6.
Not in this count: City of Tacoma and PUD No 1 of Chelan County aren't on DOE's ODIN outage feed. Check their own map if one of them is your utility.
Source: DOE / Oak Ridge National Laboratory ODIN, reprocessed about every 15 minutes; this page rechecks it every hour. Customers are meters (homes and businesses), not people.
How long the power goes out in Seattle
In 2025 the average Puget Sound Energy customer in Washington was without power for 9.7 hours in total (3 outside major events); its worst year since 2015 was 2024, at 19.9 hours. In 2025 the average Seattle City Light customer in Washington was without power for 2.6 hours in total (2.2 outside major events); its worst year since 2015 was 2024, at 5.4 hours. Across all Washington utilities it was 6.2 hours, and 4.4 across the US.
| Year | Puget Sound Energy | Seattle City Light |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9.7 | 2.6 |
| 2024 | 19.9 | 5.4 |
| 2023 | 3.4 | 1.6 |
| 2022 | 7.5 | 2.3 |
| 2021 | 14.2 | 4.1 |
| 2020 | 6.9 | 1.3 |
| 2019 | 9.2 | 3 |
| 2018 | 7.2 | 2.2 |
| 2017 | 8 | 2.8 |
| 2016 | 6.5 | 2.5 |
| 2015 | 12.7 | 3.1 |
Hours without power per customer per year (SAIDI, including major events), each utility's own figures for Washington in EIA Form 861 Reliability. A year is left out if the utility's reporting changed too much to compare. How every state compares.
Other utilities in King County
EIA also lists City of Tacoma and PUD No 1 of Chelan County in King County. If one of them sends your bill, its outage page is on its website and your bill.
What to do in a power outage
- Before: list what needs electricity, keep a flashlight for every person, and ask your provider for a plan for powered medical devices and cold medicines.
- During: keep the fridge and freezer closed, unplug appliances, and use flashlights instead of candles.
- Use generators, camp stoves and grills only outdoors, at least 20 feet from windows. Keep generators that far from doors and vents too.
- After: throw out fridge perishables after 4 hours without power or a cold source, and check refrigerated medicines.
The full power outage checklist, sourced to Ready.gov and the CDC, and how long a power outage lasts.
Get ready for the next one
- Build a power outage kit: Ready.gov's list, sized to your household.
- Portable power stations, compared: silent and safe indoors.
- Generators, compared, and the generator size calculator.
- What will it run? Runtimes for a fridge, CPAP or Wi-Fi.
Portable power stationsSilent, safe indoors: fridge, Wi-Fi, CPAP
Power banksKeep phones charged for days
Power failure lightsSwitch on by themselves
Wi-Fi and modem backupsKeep the internet up in short outagesQuestions
Is there a power outage in Seattle right now?
Check Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Light's outage maps, linked at the top of this page: they are the live picture. In the Department of Energy's latest outage snapshot (Nov 2, 9:45 PM ET), utilities that share data with it reported 6 customers without power in King County. City of Tacoma and PUD No 1 of Chelan County aren't on DOE's ODIN outage feed, so their customers aren't in that count.
How long do power outages last in Seattle?
In 2025, the average Puget Sound Energy customer in Washington was without power for about 9.7 hours in total over the year, 3 hours of it outside major events such as big storms, by the figures Puget Sound Energy reports to the US Energy Information Administration. Its worst year since 2015 was 2024, at 19.9 hours. Any single outage can be much shorter or longer.
How do I report a power outage in Seattle?
Report it to your utility, Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Light, on its outage page or by the outage number on your bill, even if neighbors are out too: outage maps only show what the utility knows about. Report a fallen power line straight away and keep away from it (CDC).
What does customers out mean?
Outage maps and the Department of Energy's figures count customers, and one customer is one electric account or meter, usually a home or a business, so more people are affected than the number shows.
More on Washington and nearby
Sources (5)
- US Department of Energy / Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ODIN outage data by county
- US Department of Energy / Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ODIN participating utilities
- US Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861: service territories and reliability (SAIDI) by utility
- US Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual, Table 11.4: hours without power (SAIDI) by state
- CDC: what to do to protect yourself during a power outage