Will NV Energy have blackouts? Not on the evidence so far: NV Energy has announced no rolling blackouts in 2026, and NERC rated Southern Nevada's grid region "Normal" for summer 2026. The outages Nevada did see were planned wildfire shutoffs. The pressure to watch is data-center demand later this decade.
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The 30-Second Version
NV Energy has not announced rolling blackouts for Southern Nevada in 2026, and none has been found through October 7, 2026. NERC's 2026 Summer Reliability Assessment rates WECC-Southwest, the grid region that covers most of Nevada including Las Vegas and Henderson, as Normal: "Expected resources meet operating reserve requirements under the assessed scenarios."
The power cuts Nevadans did experience in 2026 were deliberate. On May 17–18, NV Energy de-energized lines around Mt. Charleston to prevent wildfires, leaving just over 1,600 Clark County customers without power that morning. The longer-term question is demand: NV Energy reports about 22,000 MW of interest in new load against a current system peak of roughly 8,500 MW, and NERC projects the region's reserve margin narrowing from 41.1% in 2026 to 10.7% by 2035.
NV Energy's live outage map is the only authoritative answer for a current outage, and it updates faster than any article, including this one.
If your lights are out now, check the NV Energy outage map or the utility's current outages page, which list the affected area, cause, and estimated restoration time. Independent trackers aggregate the same utility feeds. When Solar Resource USA checked poweroutage.us late on September 27, 2026 (Pacific time), it showed 0 of 1,475,473 tracked Nevada customers out, including 0 of 1,431,000 NV Energy customers.
A local outage and a blackout are different events. A local outage is a single feeder, transformer, or storm-damaged line. A blackout, or rolling blackout, is a deliberate rotation of outages when a grid region runs short of supply. The rest of this page answers the second question: whether Southern Nevada's grid is at risk of running short.
Yes. A PSOM (Public Safety Outage Management) event is a planned shutoff in which NV Energy de-energizes lines in a high-fire-risk zone, and Southern Nevada had one on May 17–18, 2026.
NV Energy uses PSOM when high winds, low humidity, and heat combine in wildfire-prone terrain. The May event cut power across the Mt. Charleston neighborhoods; News 3 Las Vegas reported "just over 1,600 customers were still without power around Clark County" at 6:30 a.m. on May 18, 2026 (News 3 Las Vegas). The Southern Nevada zones named in coverage were Kyle Canyon and Angel Peak.
A PSOM Watch comes first. In NV Energy's watch language, as reported by 2News, "a Watch means that certain weather conditions, including high winds, low humidity, and high temperatures, may require NV Energy to proactively de-energize equipment to prevent potential wildfire ignition." A September 9–12, 2026 watch covered about 10,276 customers in 13 Northern Nevada zones and was cancelled with no shutoff (2News, Sept. 11, 2026). A PSOM shutoff is a fire-safety tool for mountain and wildland zones, not a sign the valley grid is short of power. NV Energy explains the program on its PSOM page.
Southern Nevada's grid risk is rated Normal for summer 2026, and NERC's ten-year outlook keeps the region at Normal while its supply cushion shrinks.
NERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, is the federally overseen body that sets and enforces reliability standards for the U.S. bulk power system. Its assessments sort North America into assessment areas. Most of Nevada, including NV Energy's Southern Nevada territory, sits in WECC-Southwest, which NERC describes as including "all of Arizona and New Mexico, most of Nevada, and small parts of California and Texas." The reserve margin in the table is the spare supply above expected peak demand; NERC compares it to a reference margin level of roughly 11–13%.
| Horizon | NERC rating or figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Summer 2026 | Normal risk: "Expected resources meet operating reserve requirements under the assessed scenarios" | NERC 2026 Summer Reliability Assessment, May 2026 |
| 2026 reserve margin | 41.1% anticipated vs. 13.3% reference level | NERC 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment, Jan. 2026 |
| 2030 reserve margin | 36.1% anticipated vs. 12.2% reference level | NERC 2025 LTRA |
| 2035 reserve margin | 10.7% anticipated vs. 11.1% reference level | NERC 2025 LTRA |
| Large-load additions through 2035 | 9,422 MW; demand growing about 3.9% a year, led by data centers | NERC 2025 LTRA |
The summer answer is reassuring on paper. NERC's 2026 summer assessment says WECC-Southwest's anticipated reserve margins "exceed the NERC-prescribed Reference Margin Level," and its probabilistic model found no expected hours of unserved energy under a range of demand scenarios. The same assessment names the two things that could still cut power: extreme heat that derates generators and limits imports, and "significant wildland fire potential this summer" (NERC 2026 Summer Reliability Assessment).
The long-term answer is a narrowing cushion, not a shortfall. In the 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment, NERC finds "13 of 23 assessment areas face resource adequacy challenges over the next 10 years," but WECC-Southwest is not rated elevated or high. Its anticipated reserve margin falls from 41.1% in 2026 to 10.7% in 2035, dipping just under the 11.1% reference level in the final year unless planned projects beyond the firm list are built.
Earlier versions of this page said Nevada sits in the WECC-Basin assessment area, which NERC lists among its elevated- and high-risk areas. That was wrong. NERC's 2025 assessment defines WECC-Basin as Utah, southern Idaho, and a portion of western Wyoming; most of Nevada, including the Las Vegas valley, is in WECC-Southwest. Solar Resource USA's citation tracking logged Bing Copilot citing this page in 14 of 18 checks between June 25 and September 24, 2026, so the earlier label may still appear in AI answers. We are noting the fix here rather than quietly editing it out.
NERC's warning was national and technical: on May 4, 2026 it issued a Level 3 alert, its highest tier, because very large data-center loads can drop off the grid all at once.
A Level 3 "Essential Actions" alert requires registered utilities and grid operators to act and report back. NERC states the purpose directly: "The purpose of this Level 3 NERC Alert is to ensure Essential Actions are taken by registered entities to address the risks posed by existing and new computational loads interacting with the bulk power system (BPS)" (NERC Level 3 Alert, May 4, 2026). Responses were due by August 3, 2026.
The trigger was a pattern of "widespread and unexpected" load reductions in 2024 and 2025 during which 1,000 MW or more dropped off the bulk power system (Utility Dive, April 21, 2026). When that much demand vanishes in a second, grid frequency jumps and protective equipment can trip generators, which is how a local disturbance becomes a wider outage.
The alert has since become mandatory rulemaking. On July 16, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) directed NERC, in Docket RD26-7-000, "to develop and submit new or modified Reliability Standards addressing the reliability risks associated with the integration of computational loads into the Bulk-Power System," with the standards due December 31, 2026 (FERC, July 2026 meeting summaries). NERC's drafting project is Project 2026-02 Computational Loads.
NV Energy reports interest in about 22,000 MW of potential new demand, roughly 2.6 times Nevada's current system peak of about 8,500 MW, and not all of it will be built.
Those figures come from NV Energy's 2026 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), the long-range supply plan the utility files with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (News 4 Reno, May 19, 2026). Western Resource Advocates, summarizing the filing, reports that data centers make up 3% of sales today at Nevada Power Company, the Southern Nevada utility, and are projected to reach 42% by 2046. The plan proposes about 1.2 GW of new gas turbines, over 4.3 GW of solar, over 5.4 GW of storage, and 180 MW of geothermal (Western Resource Advocates, May 19, 2026). No commission order on the plan had been reported as of October 7, 2026.
That is the honest shape of the risk: supply is being planned, the question is whether it arrives as fast as the load. NERC's shrinking WECC-Southwest reserve margin is the same question in numbers. For the Southern Nevada build-out and how it reaches bills, see Las Vegas data centers and your power bill; for the national picture, see AI data centers and the U.S. power grid.
Yes, and as of October 8, 2026 it changes nothing inside a Nevada home. On August 26, 2026 the President signed Executive Order 14421, a national emergency over foreign-produced equipment in the bulk-power system.
It is a supply-chain security order, not an outage order. Its definition of the bulk-power system "includes transmission lines rated at 69,000 volts (69 kV) or more, but does not include facilities used in the local distribution of electric energy," per Executive Order 14421, section 5(a) (91 FR 55995). A rooftop system connects to local distribution. The Department of Energy's request for information on implementation (91 FR 57322) asks where the line should sit for grid-connected inverters and battery storage, with an October 9, 2026 deadline for responses, so the residential question is open, not answered. The details are in Executive Order 14421 and home solar in Nevada.
The average U.S. electricity customer went about 11 hours without power in 2024, and about 2 hours when major events such as hurricanes are excluded.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that "Major events such as Hurricanes Beryl, Helene, and Milton accounted for 80% of the hours without electricity in 2024" (EIA, Today in Energy, Dec. 1, 2025). Southern Nevada has no hurricane season, so its exposure is mostly heat, wind, wildfire shutoffs in the mountains, and equipment failures. NV Energy's own reliability record, measured in average outage minutes per customer, is on the Las Vegas grid reliability and power outages hub, which indexes every outage and backup-power guide on this site.
Former FERC chair Jon Wellinghoff warned, as AL.com reported on August 24, 2026, that knocking out nine substations could black out the United States. No agency forecasts a months-long outage for Nevada. Solar plus a battery recharges daily and can run essential loads (refrigerator, lights, internet) indefinitely.
The full breakdown, including where the 18-month figure comes from, is in Could Nevada lose power for 18 months?
Start by matching the response to your actual exposure: a Mt. Charleston cabin in a PSOM zone and a Henderson tract home face very different odds of a long outage.
Homes in or near wildland zones such as Kyle Canyon or Angel Peak can be shut off on purpose during red-flag weather, sometimes overnight. Homes in the valley are exposed mainly to heat-driven equipment failures and storms. NV Energy's outage alerts and PSOM notices are the first layer of preparation for both.
If someone in the home depends on refrigeration for medicine, powered medical equipment, or cooling during 110°F heat, write down those loads and how long they can go without power. That list, not a generic product count, is what any backup plan, from a portable generator to a home battery, should be sized against. Our guides on whether solar panels work during a power outage and how home battery backup options compare cover the hardware side.
A backup system is only as dependable as the company standing behind its warranty, so check the financial standing of whoever installs and finances it before signing. Our Freedom Forever customer-help guide shows what homeowners face when an installer fails.
Home backup is a poor fit in two cases: you rent, so the roof and the electrical panel are not yours to change, or your roof is shaded most of the day, so solar cannot refill a battery on its own. In either case, a charged power bank and NV Energy's outage alerts cover the basics.
A Normal grid rating is not one of those cases. NERC's rating describes summer 2026, and its own outlook has the WECC-Southwest reserve margin narrowing to 10.7% by 2035 as data-center load grows, so this year's record says little about the next decade. For a household that relies on a medical device, refrigerated medicine or cooling in 110°F heat, backup is a safety question as much as a cost one. Once NV Energy's daily demand charge takes effect (NV Energy says January 2027; appeals were pending as of October 7, 2026), the same battery can also hold down that charge on ordinary days, as the demand-charge guide explains.
Will NV Energy have blackouts in 2026?
Not on the evidence so far. As of October 7, 2026, NV Energy had announced no rolling blackouts for Southern Nevada in 2026, and NERC's 2026 Summer Reliability Assessment rated WECC-Southwest, the grid region covering most of Nevada, as Normal risk. The outages that did occur were planned PSOM wildfire shutoffs, such as the May 17–18 Mt. Charleston event, which left just over 1,600 Clark County customers without power that morning.
Is the power out in Las Vegas right now?
Check NV Energy's live outage map or its current-outages page; they show affected areas, causes, and estimated restoration times, and they update faster than any article. A local outage is not a blackout: blackouts are deliberate rotations when a region runs short of supply.
What is an NV Energy PSOM outage?
PSOM stands for Public Safety Outage Management. NV Energy proactively de-energizes power lines in high-fire-risk zones when high winds, low humidity, and heat combine, to prevent a line from starting a wildfire. A PSOM Watch comes first and is often cancelled; the September 9–12, 2026 watch covered about 10,276 Northern Nevada customers and ended with no shutoff. In Southern Nevada, the zones named in 2026 coverage were Kyle Canyon and Angel Peak on Mt. Charleston.
Is Las Vegas in a high-risk grid region?
No. NERC's 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment places most of Nevada, including the Las Vegas valley, in WECC-Southwest, which it does not rate elevated or high risk. The region's anticipated reserve margin is 41.1% in 2026 and is projected to narrow to 10.7% by 2035. WECC-Basin, which NERC lists among its elevated- and high-risk areas, covers Utah, southern Idaho, and part of western Wyoming, not Southern Nevada.
What is the NERC Level 3 alert about data centers?
On May 4, 2026, NERC issued a Level 3 "Essential Actions" alert, its highest tier, requiring utilities and grid operators to address the risks of large computational loads such as data centers. The trigger was a series of events in 2024 and 2025 in which 1,000 MW or more of load dropped off the grid at once. Responses were due August 3, 2026, and on July 16, 2026 FERC ordered NERC to file mandatory standards by December 31, 2026.
Could data centers cause blackouts in Nevada later this decade?
It is a planning risk, not a forecast. NV Energy reports interest in about 22,000 MW of potential new demand against a current system peak of roughly 8,500 MW, and not all of it will be built. NERC counts 9,422 MW of large-load additions in WECC-Southwest through 2035 and projects the region's reserve margin falling to 10.7% that year, just under its 11.1% reference level, unless more planned supply is built.
Is it true Lake Tahoe residents are about to lose power to Nevada data centers?
Partly, and the viral version overstated it. NV Energy told Liberty Utilities, the separate utility serving the California side of Lake Tahoe, that it will stop supplying that load once its Greenlink Nevada transmission line enters service, which NV Energy expects on December 31, 2027, according to T&D World (May 26, 2026). Liberty has not stopped service; NV Energy extended a temporary transition arrangement while Liberty lines up new supply. It is a wholesale-supply change between two utilities, not a Las Vegas or Henderson outage risk.
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