Tri-County Electric Coop, Inc (SC), SC
How often Tri-County Electric Coop, Inc (SC) goes out
Tri-County Electric Coop, Inc (SC) customers in South Carolina had 2.5 interruptions last year, 4.4 hours without power in total - above the typical US utility's outage time by about 1.5×. That is 75% more outage time than the South Carolina state average of 2.5 hours a year.
Outage length, and what it means for a generator
At an average of 1.8 hours per outage, most interruptions here end before a fuel generator would even be worth starting up. The frequency-versus-duration guide covers why length decides the kind of backup.
What this means for buying a generator
Serving 18,488 customers here, Given how often Tri-County Electric Coop, Inc (SC) goes out, you should consider a backup generator rather than treat it as optional.
Where this number comes from
These figures come from EIA Form 861, the reliability report a member-owned cooperative like Tri-County Electric Coop, Inc (SC) files with federal regulators every year - serving 18,488 customers hereaveraged across the whole territory, not any one address or storm. See South Carolina as a whole, across every utility that filed: South Carolina's outage record. One big storm can move a single year a lot; major event days explains how.