Tucson Electric Power Posts Top-Tier Reliability for 11 Consecutive Years

Tucson Electric Power continues to rank among the most reliable electric service providers in the nation, thanks to the safe, steady service its 447,000 customers have come to expect.

Since 2012, TEP has consistently achieved top-quartile reliability scores when compared to other energy providers, based on the System Average Interruption Duration Index. This metric represents the average length of time a customer is without service due to weather, maintenance, equipment failure and other factors.

In the most recent national scorecard, the average TEP customer was without service for about 62 minutes in 2022. That compared to a nationwide average above 100 minutes and was well within the first quartile of results gathered by the Edison Electrical Institute, by about 18 minutes.

TEP achieved similar reliability last year, but 2023 comparisons with other utilities won’t be available until later this year. Both year’s scores represented an improvement over its previous top-tier result of about 74 minutes in 2021.

“As we’re navigating an increasingly complex energy environment, we’re committed to achieving our vision of being an exceptional energy provider so that electricity is available when customers need it and with as few interruptions as possible,” said David Wagner, TEP director of line construction. “Our values and our culture place a focus on safety, continuous improvement and innovative approaches. We are really proud of our crew’s efforts to ensure grid resiliency and dependability even while we’re working to support sustainability and affordability.”

A number of factors go into ensuring reliability:

• In 2023, TEP invested more than $258 million and thousands of hours to maintain and improve its local energy grid, following rigorous maintenance practices that ensures reliability for current and future customers.
• Planning. They prepare each year for the summer heat, the risk of wildfire and the desert winters.
• Preparedness. Continual maintenance and key prevention programs helped achieve high reliability in recent years. TEP uses several methods to assess needed improvements and upgrades for its local energy grid, including ground patrols and aerial inspections of our transmission systems, monitoring of substation equipment and critical analysis of our distribution circuits.
• TEP has set an aspirational goal of net zero direct greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, ensuring a diversified approach to a brighter energy future through technologies that include solar, wind and battery storage.