Animal Intruders: The Critters Behind the Outages

Feb. 27, 2023
When the lights go out, it could be due to a severe storm or a curious animal. Here are some of the top causes of wildlife-caused outages.

Mother Nature can cause her share of power outages. The second leading cause of power disruptions, however, is due to animal interference. 

When snakes slither into substations or squirrels gnaw on equipment or wires, they can cause widespread outages. In fact, animal-caused outages can cost utility companies between $15 million and $18 million per year, according Critter Guard's statistics page. 

The company, which produces devices to minimize animal-caused outages and protect wildlife, tracked outage statistics and created this infographic below. For more information, check out our  photo gallery of some of the most popular critters behind the animal-caused outages. 

Infographic by Critter Guard
About the Author

Amy Fischbach | Amy Fischbach, EUO Contributing Editor

Amy Fischbach is the Field Editor for T&D World magazine and manages the Electric Utility Operations section. She is the host of the Line Life Podcast, which celebrates the grit, courage and inspirational teamwork of the line trade.  She also works on the annual Lineworker Supplement and the Vegetation Management Supplement as well as the Lineman Life and Lineman's Rodeo News enewsletters. Amy also covers events such as the Trees & Utilities conference and the International Lineman's Rodeo. She is the past president of the ASBPE Educational Foundation and ASBPE and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Kansas State University. She can be reached at [email protected]

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