Live US Power Grid Status and Strain Map, real-time electricity demand by region
US grid status by region
Data as of , from the EIA hourly demand feed. The live map above refreshes about every 45 seconds.
| Region | Grid operator | Demand | Forecast | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CaliforniaWEST | California ISO (CAISO) | 46,723 MW | 44,445 MW | ELEVATEDGetting busy |
| NorthwestWEST | Bonneville Power Administration and Northwest utilities | 42,767 MW | 41,466 MW | ELEVATEDGetting busy |
| SouthwestWEST | Arizona Public Service, Salt River Project and desert Southwest utilities | 13,496 MW | 16,274 MW | NORMALPlenty of power |
| Texas (ERCOT)TEX | ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) | 67,169 MW | no data | STRESSRunning hot |
| CentralEAST | Southwest Power Pool (SPP) | 36,390 MW | 39,209 MW | STRESSRunning hot |
| MidwestEAST | MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator) | 84,478 MW | 83,576 MW | STRESSRunning hot |
| Mid-AtlanticEAST | PJM Interconnection | 89,696 MW | 91,300 MW | ELEVATEDGetting busy |
| SoutheastEAST | Southern Company and Southeastern utilities | 30,173 MW | 32,300 MW | ELEVATEDGetting busy |
| CarolinasEAST | Duke Energy | 26,613 MW | 27,589 MW | NORMALPlenty of power |
| FloridaEAST | Florida Power & Light and Florida utilities | 44,886 MW | 40,950 MW | CRITICALAt the limit |
| TennesseeEAST | Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) | 20,993 MW | 21,324 MW | STRESSRunning hot |
| New EnglandEAST | ISO New England (ISO-NE) | 10,479 MW | 9,860 MW | ELEVATEDGetting busy |
| New YorkEAST | New York ISO (NYISO) | 14,137 MW | 13,615 MW | ELEVATEDGetting busy |
A US grid strain map, not an outage map
This is a grid strain map (some people say grid stress map). Strain is the gap between the electricity a region expected to serve and what it is actually serving right now. When demand runs close to, or over, the day-ahead forecast, a region is running hot: reserves shrink, prices spike, and operators start asking for conservation. That is the moment this map turns a sector amber, orange, or red.
If you want to check grid strain today, glance at the table above or the map itself: green regions have headroom, and anything at STRESS or CRITICAL is worth reading about. For confirmed local outages, use your utility's outage map; this page tracks the pressure that tends to come first.
Which grid region is my state in?
EIA grid regions follow balancing authorities, not state lines, so each state below is assigned to the region that serves most of its electricity load. Tap a region to see its live status page.
- AlabamaSoutheast
- ArizonaSouthwest
- ArkansasMidwest
- CaliforniaCalifornia
- ColoradoNorthwest
- ConnecticutNew England
- DelawareMid-Atlantic
- FloridaFlorida
- GeorgiaSoutheast
- IdahoNorthwest
- IllinoisMidwest
- IndianaMidwest
- IowaMidwest
- KansasCentral
- KentuckyMid-Atlantic
- LouisianaMidwest
- MaineNew England
- MarylandMid-Atlantic
- MassachusettsNew England
- MichiganMidwest
- MinnesotaMidwest
- MississippiMidwest
- MissouriMidwest
- MontanaNorthwest
- NebraskaCentral
- NevadaSouthwest
- New HampshireNew England
- New JerseyMid-Atlantic
- New MexicoSouthwest
- New YorkNew York
- North CarolinaCarolinas
- North DakotaCentral
- OhioMid-Atlantic
- OklahomaCentral
- OregonNorthwest
- PennsylvaniaMid-Atlantic
- Rhode IslandNew England
- South CarolinaCarolinas
- South DakotaCentral
- TennesseeTennessee
- TexasTexas (ERCOT)
- UtahNorthwest
- VermontNew England
- VirginiaMid-Atlantic
- WashingtonNorthwest
- Washington, D.C.Mid-Atlantic
- West VirginiaMid-Atlantic
- WisconsinMidwest
- WyomingNorthwest
Alaska and Hawaii run their own separate grids outside the three interconnections, so they are not part of the 13 EIA regions this map tracks.
What the colors mean
Every hour, each regional grid operator reports actual electricity demand and a day-ahead forecast to the US Energy Information Administration. This map computes a ratio, demand divided by the day-ahead forecast (or the region's recent peak when no forecast is published), and colors each sector by how close demand is running to what was expected: green with headroom, amber and orange as it tightens, red when demand meets or exceeds the forecast.
This is a heuristic, not an official grid alert. A sector reading “STRESS” means measured demand is close to the operator's own forecast. A genuine ERCOT (EEA) or CAISO (Flex Alert) emergency does override a sector to CRITICAL, but for official conditions always check your grid operator directly.
EIA Open Data, refreshed on an interval
Region demand and forecast come from the EIA Open Data API (electricity/rto/region-data), cached briefly and refreshed here every 45 seconds, with real emergency overrides polled from ERCOT and CAISO. If a reading goes stale or the feed drops, the map holds its last known state and says so, rather than going blank.
Common questions
- Is the US power grid down right now?
- This page shows a live, color-coded view of electricity demand across all 13 EIA grid regions. Green means demand is running comfortably below the day-ahead forecast; amber, orange, and red mean it's tightening. It's a demand-pressure heuristic, not an official outage feed, for confirmed outages and emergencies, check your utility or grid operator (ERCOT, CAISO, PJM, MISO).
- What do the colors on the grid map mean?
- Each region is colored by the ratio of actual demand to its day-ahead forecast: green (normal, under ~90%), amber (elevated), orange (stress), and red (critical, demand at or over forecast, or a declared operator emergency). It is a heuristic, not an official grid alert.
- How often does the grid map update?
- About every 45 seconds. Region demand and day-ahead forecasts come from the EIA Open Data API, cached briefly and refreshed on an interval. If the feed drops, the map holds its last known state instead of going blank.
- What are the three US power grid interconnections?
- The Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection, and the Texas Interconnection (ERCOT). They run largely independently and are tied together at only a few points. The map groups all 13 EIA regions into these three grids and wires each region to its hub.
- Where does the grid data come from?
- The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) Open Data API, specifically hourly demand and day-ahead demand forecast by region. Declared emergencies are polled from ERCOT and CAISO. The map deliberately does not use or scrape poweroutage.us.
- Does this map show power outages?
- No. It shows grid demand pressure, not customer outage counts. Outage counts are a separate, paid dataset. Use this map to watch grid strain in real time; use your utility's outage map for confirmed local outages.
- Is the US power grid getting more fragile?
- Demand is rising, electrification, EVs, and data centers all add load, while much of the transmission and generation infrastructure is aging, and extreme weather increasingly pushes regions toward their limits. Watching demand against forecast is one simple way to see when a region is running hot.
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Informational only. Not affiliated with the EIA or any grid operator. Do not use this map for operational or emergency decisions.