How utilities decide who gets power back first
The priority ladder
Utilities publish broadly the same restoration sequence. 1) Make hazards safe: National Grid's first step is to assess damage and protect the public, making sure all downed wires are made safe, and EEI, the association that represents the U.S. investor-owned electric companies, says one of the first steps a utility typically takes is making sure power is no longer flowing through downed lines. From there, National Grid's, Entergy's and EEI's sequences run the same way: 2) repair transmission lines and substations — if power can't reach your local substation, Entergy notes, it can't reach your street; 3) restore critical facilities — hospitals, water treatment, police and fire stations, communications; 4) repair the lines that bring back the most customers in the least time; 5) work down to neighborhood tap lines and individual homes last.
Why your street can be last
If your outage is a single transformer or the line to a handful of homes, you're in the final tier by design: Entergy restores individual services last "because fewer customers are involved," and says scattered outages often take more time and effort to get power back on. It isn't personal; it's arithmetic.
Why the posted time moves
Early restoration estimates come before crews finish assessing damage — Entergy makes its first ones before a hurricane even lands, from the storm's category, intensity, size and track — and they get revised as reality comes in. SMUD's schedulers, for example, build its storm restoration times from what its damage assessors find, historical data for similar jobs and crew availability, and update them as more information comes in; National Grid calls estimating restoration time "not an exact science." Our live analysis of posted restoration times — those that reach us through the federal county outage data, not the times on utilities' own outage maps — tracks how often the time posted for an outage moves later before the lights come back. Plan with a margin, especially early in a large event.
First, the part that looks like nothing: assessment
After a big storm, damage assessors go out first: Entergy dispatches its scouts right after the storm passes, says full assessment can take up to three days depending on the damage, and restores power where it can in parallel. It looks like inaction from a dark kitchen; it's what turns the first estimates into plans — Entergy says its initial assessment helps develop its estimate of the crews, resources and time restoration will need. It's also why early posted times can move (see above).
Mutual aid: why you'll see out-of-state trucks
For major events, utilities borrow restoration workers from companies outside the damage: EEI's mutual assistance program, created decades ago, is a voluntary partnership of investor-owned utilities whose agreements run mostly through regional mutual assistance groups, and municipal utilities and electric cooperatives have mutual aid programs of their own. After Superstorm Sandy in 2012, EEI says, the industry deployed tens of thousands of restoration workers from 80 companies. The federal government coordinates alongside them under DOE's Emergency Support Function #12: when a disaster exhausts local resources, DOE's responders help local officials and utilities identify mutual assistance, equipment and materials needs. A parade of unfamiliar utility logos on your street is a good sign, not a bureaucratic mix-up.
Nested outages: restored, then not you
Fixing the main line sometimes leaves a smaller fault behind. SMUD explains that a secondary outage — a damaged transformer or a downed neighborhood line — can be hidden within the outage reported on the main line, and that when the main line comes back, the customers on it are told their power is restored. If you get that message and you're still dark, SMUD says you are most likely on the secondary outage, which still needs to be reported: report again.
What actually helps from your side
Report your outage even if a neighbor already has — FirstEnergy, for one, says its system works best when it receives plenty of information to analyze — but once is enough: Entergy says repeat reports for the same outage don't change restoration times and tie up phone lines. Report hazards separately and immediately, give crews room to work, and prepare for the posted window to move as assessment completes. Use the wait on the things with deadlines: the food windows and device charging.
Who's actually out there
A big restoration is several different jobs at once: damage assessors mapping the work, tree crews clearing what's on the lines, and line crews rebuilding poles and wires — the help utilities call in through mutual assistance, EEI says, includes lineworkers, tree trimmers, damage assessors and even call-center staff. When a truck drives past your dark street without stopping, it may be headed for the source of your outage: SMUD sends its crews to the source of the problem, which may or may not be in your immediate neighborhood.
Why our estimate and the utility's can differ
They're built from different things. The utility's posted time comes from its own damage assessment and crew schedule; our independent estimate comes from the measured trajectory — how fast customers are actually coming back in your county right now — and leans on past outages there of similar size and weather while that trend is thin. Early in an event the utility knows about damage the count can't show yet; once restoration is under way, the trend shows how fast it is actually going. That's why we show both, labeled, when both exist — and our reliability research grades the posted times that reach us and our own estimates by the same ruler, on the same outages. Which of the two comes closer has changed from one stretch of outages to the next.
Watch it live
Our tracker shows your area's current outage count, the utility's posted time when one is available, and, when the data supports one, an independent estimate computed from how fast the outage is actually shrinking — with a public accuracy record for the county-wide estimates.
- EEI — Understanding the electric power industry's response and restoration process (Jan. 2026, PDF)
- National Grid — Our restoration process
- Entergy — How we restore your power
- SMUD — Outage FAQs
- FirstEnergy — If you lose power
- DOE — Emergency Support Function #12
- DOE — Response & Recovery (energy emergencies)
- When's the Power Back? — Utility restoration-time reliability (living report)