Extreme heat and thunderous storms have darkened thousands of homes across New York in recent weeks. But how much money and time are everyday power outages — those not sparked by severe weather — costing the state’s residents?
Power outages cost New York households an estimated total of $97.1 million every year, according to a recent study by Compare the Market, a U.K-based price comparison service utilizing data from the U.S Energy Information Agency. That’s an estimated $12.66 per household.
Using a five-year average, the study found the typical household loses power for an estimated 1.27 hours each year. If major weather events were factored in, that number would likely be higher.
To delineate the annual cost per household, Compare the Market multiplied the average number of hours customers spend without power by $10. That $10 value reflects the financial burden of being without power and is determined by the estimated costs of inconveniences like food spoilage and internet disruption — it is not based on local electricity prices.
How does New York compare to other states?
New York ranks ninth among all states when it comes to the total cost burden of power outages heaped on households.
California tops the chart, with outages costing households more than $300 million annually. Wyoming, where outages cost households just over $4.3 million per year, holds the bottom slot.
New York’s power outages appear to be relatively short-lived compared to other states, according to the study. New York just squeezes into the top 10 when it comes to states with the shortest power outages.
However, “even brief disruptions carry a significant financial cost” due to the state’s extensive population and the sheer number of homes connected to its grid, according to the study.
New York, one of the most densely populated states in the country, is dotted with an estimated 7.67 million households, the study states.
Are outages getting worse?
A number of studies show power outages in the United States have increased in both frequency and severity over the years.
A 2025 analysis of over 179 million county-level power outage records between 2014 and 2023 revealed outages nationwide were becoming more “prolonged and intense.” The study claimed coastal regions typically endured longer and increasingly frequent outages.
In 2023, the Scientific American also reported that blackouts were increasing across the country, and often hit communities with economic and infrastructural vulnerabilities the hardest.
Various studies claim an increase in energy demand, a spike in extreme weather (partially thanks to climate change), and aging grid infrastructure are to blame for worsening blackouts across the country.
The Compare the Market study states outage durations in the United States can appear relatively low when compared to other countries, however the country’s high population can turn “brief disruptions into major economic costs.”
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Power outages cost NY households nearly $100M per year, study reveals
Reporting by Leia Green, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Leia Green, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
