City of Columbia, MO
How often City of Columbia goes out
Missouri's record with City of Columbia: 0.7 outages in the most recent filing year, 1.6 hours without power in total, modestly better than the national norm. That is 74% less outage time than the Missouri state average of 6.2 hours a year.
What a typical outage at City of Columbia looks like
2.2 hours is the average length of a single outage here - past comfortable battery range, which is where a portable generator becomes the better buy. More on that split in how often versus how long an outage runs.
What this means for buying a generator
Serving 53,563 customers here, Nothing here says you should buy a generator today - City of Columbia's record is a little better than most of the country, though it is worth checking your own past outages before ruling one out.
Where this number comes from
These figures come from EIA Form 861, the reliability report a municipally-owned utility like City of Columbia files with federal regulators every year - serving 53,563 customers hereaveraged across the whole territory, not any one address or storm. Want the Missouri average instead of just this one utility? Missouri's statewide record is here. One big storm can move a single year a lot; major event days explains how.