by Brianna Crandall — March 11, 2015—Power management company Eaton announced last week the release of its Blackout Tracker Annual Report for 2014. For the sixth consecutive year, California topped the list of states with the most power outages, followed by Texas and Michigan. On average, 3,996 people were affected for over 40 minutes per outage in 2014, and power failures created difficulties for people and businesses in all 50 states.
“The Blackout Tracker Annual Report underscores the importance of having a comprehensive power protection plan, illustrating the scope of power outages across the country and the damaging impact they can have on businesses,” said Mike DeCamp, senior marketing communications manager, Eaton’s Power Quality Division. “Power outages cost the U.S. economy $150 billion in damages annually, so it’s important for businesses and other facilities to consider the right power backup solutions to avoid costly downtime.”
Blackout Tracker Annual Report data is based on a full year of reported power outages across the United States and is organized into three sections: an introduction to power outages and the impact of downtime; an overview of national power outage data; and power outage data by state.
Overall, 3,634 reported outages were used as the basis for the 2014 report, representing an increase of more than 12 percent from the 3,236 outages reported in 2013. The reported number of people affected by outages increased from 14 million in 2013 to 14.2 million in 2014. However, complete data is often unavailable on certain aspects of reported outages, including the number of people affected and the duration of the blackout, notes Eaton.
Eaton’s annual report also features “top” outage lists, including the most significant reported outages, the largest data center outages, and the most unusual causes for outages. Among the most unusual causes of power outages in 2014: In Atlanta on December 13, a parking attendant accidentally gave the keys to an Audi A7 to the wrong person. Instead of pointing out the mistake, the person took the car and crashed into a power pole, leaving 4,800 residents without power.
According to federal databases at the Department of Energy and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the United States suffers more blackouts than any other developed nation. There is a heightened industry awareness for the costly effects of power outages, which was highlighted in a recent Eaton survey where 59 percent of information technology (IT) professionals responded that ensuring uptime was their most significant challenge.
Additionally, the survey found 37 percent of respondents reported suffering unplanned downtime in the past two years. Although power failures are common due to weather and unforeseen events, uninterruptible power systems (UPSs), generators and power management software solutions are designed to deliver reliable power during outages, points out Eaton.
Eaton has tracked power outage information since February 2008 to educate consumers about the causes and impact of outages. A power outage is just one of nine common power problems that affect power quality and availability, says the company. With 102,000 employees and sales in more than 175 countries, Eaton provides a robust portfolio of power quality / power management solutions for data centers and other mission-critical facilities to avoid downtime, including UPSs, power distribution products, data center services, Power Xpert power management software, IT rack systems, and data center air containment solutions, as well as medium- and low-voltage switchgear.
To download the entire annual report and track power outages across the United States and several other countries, visit Eaton’s Blackout and Power Outage Tracker site.
