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Check local power outage status
Check local power outage status. Get the cause and estimated restoration time straight from your utility's own update.
What you can get
Reaches your accounts Creates or changes things in accounts you connect, with your approval.
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It does
- Reads the city or utility's published outage status
- Does not report the outage or contact the utility on your behalf
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It stops and asks
- Before it starts: confirm which utility serves your address.
- On the first check: note the reported cause and estimated restoration time.
- If the outage continues: check again rather than relying on the first estimate.
Derived from this task's own brief and steps, not from the source.
- Identify the utility
The specific utility or city department serving your address.
- Check the status page
Reads the published outage map or update for your area.
- Report cause and estimate
States the utility's own cause and restoration estimate.
- Recheck if it runs longStops for your approval
You decide whether to check again as the outage continues.
Editorial, not from the source
Works when
- Your city or utility publishes an outage map or status page.
- You want a quick read on the cause and estimated restoration time.
- You'll treat the estimate as just that, an estimate.
Does not work when
- Your utility doesn't publish outage information online.
- You need to report the outage yourself, which this doesn't do.
- You need certainty about restoration time rather than an estimate.
Check local power outage status: review template
| Detail | Utility's report | Your note |
|---|---|---|
| [Utility] | [Cause stated] | [Matches your area] |
| [Restoration estimate] | [Time given] | [Time checked] |
| [If still out] | [Recheck needed?] | [Updated estimate] |
The source case
On X, @charlieleg says that during a power outage at home, they asked Instinct to check their city's utility updates, and it reported that power was expected back by 7pm, among several other agent tasks described in the same weekend recap post. No outcome is given for whether power actually returned by that time, and nothing here has been run by this directory.
A public report by someone outside this library. Not independently reproduced here.
From the source
Source excerpt
Today around 4:30pm we had a power outage which is pretty rare here. Asked Instinct to check Lehi city updates and it told me power should be back by 7pm.
Quoted from the original posts. Not written by this guide, and not a result produced here.
Suggested prompt
Bring City or utility name, Your address or area. Acts Reads the city or utility's published outage status. Does not report the outage or contact the utility on your behalf. Source community report, checked 2026-10-09.
Written by this guide as a starting point, not quoted from the source. Your edits stay in this browser.
Other ways to ask
Editorial rewrites of the brief above, for a different emphasis. Copy them separately.
What you need
Editorial, not from the source
You supply
- City or utility name
- Your address or area
Connected
- The city or utility's outage status page
How to try it
Editorial, not from the source
- Name the city or utility that serves your address, since outage information is published separately by each one.
- Give your address or area so the right outage report is checked, rather than a citywide summary that may not apply to you.
- Ask for the reported cause and expected restoration time as stated by the utility, not an estimate made up to sound helpful.
- Check back periodically if the outage continues, since restoration estimates change as crews assess the cause.
Check the utility that actually serves you
Outage information is published by whichever utility or city department runs the lines to your address, and that's not always the obvious choice if you've moved recently or live near a service boundary between two providers. Name the specific utility rather than letting it guess from your city alone, and give the address or area so the status check applies to the right outage rather than a general citywide summary that might not reflect your street. During a widespread event, a utility may be tracking many separate outages at once, each with its own cause and timeline, so the specific location matters more than it might during a smaller, more contained outage affecting only one block.
Treat the restoration estimate as an estimate
A utility's reported restoration time is based on what crews currently know about the cause and scope of an outage, and that assessment changes as more information comes in. The report behind this page describes exactly that: an estimated return time read from a city update during an active outage, with no confirmation of whether it held. Ask for the cause and the restoration estimate as the utility states them, not a confident single number, and note the time the information was read, since outage pages are updated periodically rather than continuously. If the outage runs past the estimate, that's a reason to check again, not evidence the check was wrong the first time.
Know what this doesn't do
Checking a utility's published outage status is different from reporting an outage, and different again from diagnosing a problem specific to your home, such as a tripped breaker being mistaken for a utility-wide event. If your outage doesn't appear on the utility's map at all, that often means it hasn't been reported yet by enough households, and the fix is to use the utility's own reporting channel, a phone number or an app, separate from checking status. Keep those two actions distinct: one tells you what's already known and published, the other tells the utility something it might not know yet, and mixing the two up wastes the time of both without actually speeding up restoration.
Open Instinct to try it. That is the product's own site; this guide is not part of it.
Limits and confirmation points
- The source reports an estimated restoration time read from a city update; it does not report whether power actually returned by then.
- Utility outage information updates on its own schedule, which can lag behind the actual state of the outage.
- An estimated restoration time is the utility's own estimate, not a guarantee, and can move earlier or later as crews assess the cause.
- This only reads published outage information; it does not report the outage, contact the utility, or diagnose a problem specific to your home.
Editorial, not from the source
- Before it starts: confirm which utility serves your address.
- On the first check: note the reported cause and estimated restoration time.
- If the outage continues: check again rather than relying on the first estimate.
Editorial, not from the source
- No outage is shown even though your power is out
- Check that the address or area matches exactly what the utility's map uses; some pages lag behind reports or require a specific zip code or account number.
- The restoration estimate keeps moving later
- Treat each estimate as current only at the time it was read; re-check rather than planning around the first number given.
- The outage isn't on the utility's map at all
- That may mean it hasn't been reported yet; use the utility's own reporting channel to report it, separate from checking the status.
Common questions
How accurate is the restoration time given?
It's the utility's own current estimate, which can move earlier or later as crews learn more about the cause. Treat it as a working estimate, not a promise.
Can it report my outage to the utility?
Not as part of this check. Reporting an outage is a separate action through the utility's own channel; this only reads what's already published.
What if my outage isn't showing on the utility's map?
That usually means it hasn't been reported yet. Use the utility's reporting channel directly rather than assuming the map is simply wrong.
Why does the estimate keep changing?
Because it's based on what crews currently know about the cause and scope, which gets more accurate as the assessment continues. Re-check rather than relying on the first number.
Does this work for any utility?
Only for utilities that publish outage information online. If yours doesn't, this check won't have anything to read.
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