Frequently asked questions

No. Is The Power Out? is an independent, crowdsourced map built by Omni Innovations LLC. It is not run by Benton PUD, Franklin PUD, City of Richland Energy Services, Benton REA, or Pacific Power. Reports come from neighbors dropping a pin, often before the utility map updates. Always treat your utility as the source of truth for restoration times.

If you see a downed line, sparking equipment, smoke, or anyone in danger, call 911 first. Never touch or drive over a downed line, and assume it is live. After you are safe, report it to your utility using their outage line. Use our outage line finder to get the right number for your city.

The map is only as accurate as the reports neighbors send in, which is exactly the point. One pin tells you someone nearby is dark; a cluster of pins tells you it is a real, wider outage. We group nearby reports into a single outage and show how many households are affected, so a handful of pins paints a clear picture. It is a fast, ground-level signal, not a precise engineering map of the grid.

Within seconds. The moment someone submits a report, it appears on the live map and feeds the city pages. There is no waiting on a utility system to refresh, which is often why outages show up here before anywhere else.

Yes, completely free. You can view the map, check your city page, and submit reports without paying and without creating an account. It is free community infrastructure provided by Omni Innovations LLC.

When neighbors get their power back, they tap “Power is back” to update their report, and the outage shows a restoration percentage. Outages with no fresh out reports for a while are also flagged as likely resolved. Where a utility publishes restoration data, we fold that in too. The result is a live picture of how many households are back online.

No. You can drop a pin and report anonymously. Creating an account just lets you track your own reports across devices and get notified about outages near you.

It is built for the Tri-Cities of Washington: Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, and West Richland, plus the surrounding Benton and Franklin County areas. Each city has its own live outage page (Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, West Richland).