Blackout tracker

Eaton Corporation has tracked power outage information in the United States and Canada since 16 February 2008 in an effort to educate visitors on the causes and impact of power outages.

A power outage is just one of nine common power problems that impact power quality and availability. In many cases, they occur within a building or facility and are not reported publicly. As a result, power-related problems occur far more frequently than what is shown in the Blackout Tracker. The nine most common power problems are: Power outage (also, power failure and blackout); power sag; power surge; undervoltage; brownout); overvoltage; switching transient; line noise; frequency variation; and harmonic distortion.

The company says a comprehensive power protection plan should not only address power failure, but also other problems such as power sags and surges, line noise and frequency variation.