Better Grid, Better Service: What We’re Doing for You

At Alabama Power, we’re committed to delivering safe, reliable and affordable electricity. But what does that really mean for you, our customer? It means that every day, we take steps to improve reliability, strengthen our grid and make sure you're getting the best value for your money.

Striving for reliable, resilient service

At Alabama Power, our mission is to deliver reliable and resilient power to homes and businesses. Reliability means you can count on us to keep the power running, whether it’s blue skies or stormy weather. Think of a reliable person – someone you can depend on, especially when you need them most. That’s the goal as we strengthen our grid: to create a system that can handle even the most extreme conditions and continue providing you with power. Resiliency, on the other hand, is about bouncing back when things go wrong – like during a storm or natural disaster. Just like a resilient person, our grid recovers quickly, restoring service and getting back to work even in the toughest situations.

The power of a self-healing grid

A self-healing grid is like a smart highway system for electricity, where power can be quickly rerouted to reach its destination. When a tree or debris hits a pole or power line, our system automatically detects the problem and reroutes power through other parts of the grid, keeping fewer customers from experiencing an outage. This is actually what’s happening when you experience a blink in your power at home. Our technology is automatically restoring service – imagine an accident blocking a highway, and instantly, electronic signs and GPS signals reroute cars onto a clear path. That’s how our self-healing grid works to minimize disruptions and keep the lights on. And 99% of Alabama Power customers are served by this advanced system!

How you benefit from the self-healing grid

Alabama Power’s grid is truly one of the most advanced in the nation. Since we introduced self-healing technology in 2019, we’ve seen some amazing results:

• Shorter outage times: The average customer now experiences an 11% reduction in outage times.
• Faster restorations: In 2024, 16% of outages were immediately fixed by our system – up from just 2% in 2019!
• Saving customers from outages: Thanks to this technology, since 2019, we have avoided 2.1 million customer outages and a total of 466 million minutes of interruption. This year alone, nearly 700,000 customers have been spared from power interruptions.

Even with more severe weather and increased vegetation, the number of customers impacted by outages has decreased by 20% compared to the past five years.

Tree care: Preventing outages before they happen

71% of Alabama’s land area is covered by trees. That’s nearly twice the national average and the highest percentage in the Southeast. That’s important because tree-related incidents are the No. 1 cause of power outages.

While we can’t prevent all outages – since trees outside our power line areas can still fall – keeping trees and shrubs trimmed near our lines helps prevent many problems and lets us restore power faster. So, if you see us trimming, please know we’re working to stop outages before they happen.

We’re invested in delivering value

At the end of the day, all this technology and effort is to give you:

• Fewer outages: With our self-healing grid, you spend less time in the dark.
• Faster recovery: When outages do happen, we get the lights back on faster than ever.
• Safer power: With smart tree care and ongoing grid improvements, we’re working to reduce the risks of power interruptions caused by storms and other hazards.

By investing in the latest technology and continuously improving our grid, we’re working to give you the most reliable, resilient and cost-effective service possible. After safety, our top priority is keeping your power on, even during extreme conditions, and we’re always looking for new ways to serve you better.

Find out more about the work we do to improve your service every day.