July 10, 2026 - Cleveland - Over the July 4 holiday weekend, Cleveland Public Power experienced a series of significant outages caused by an unusual combination of extreme heat, record electrical demand, and severe storms.
What happened
CPP's electric system typically carries about 300 megawatts of demand during the summer. During last week's prolonged heat dome, peak demand exceeded 320 megawatts, placing sustained stress on portions of the electric system.
The greatest impact occurred on the near west side of Cleveland, where much of the electric system is served by underground cables connected to the Western Substation. While underground electric systems are generally protected from weather-related damage, they are more sensitive to prolonged heavy electrical load because the heat that is generated cannot dissipate as easily as it can on overhead lines.
On July 1, Western Substation was served by four underground feeder cables. These four cables provide redundancy in the system — or the ability to switch between them if issues arise, minimizing impact to customers.
As electrical demand continued to climb during the extreme heat, one of these underground cables failed, forcing the remaining feeders to carry additional load. This created a cascading effect causing the three remaining feeder cables to failed sequentially — at approximately 1 a.m., 3 a.m., and 9:30 a.m. As each feeder went out of service, the remaining cables carried even greater demand.
On Friday evening, severe thunderstorms with strong winds also moved through the area, creating additional outages and damage while crews were responding to the underground system failures.
Why repairs took time
Repairing underground electrical equipment is significantly more complex than repairing overhead power lines.
Underground cables are accessed through manholes, generally between 150 to 300 feet apart. Crews must first locate the exact point of failure, remove the damaged cable, install replacement cable, and complete specialized splicing before the line can be safely returned to service. Depending on the location and complexity of the damage, a single underground cable repair can take anywhere from 4 to 12 hours, not including the time required to locate and troubleshoot the fault.
Why some outages were restored before others
CPP's restoration strategy is designed to restore power to the greatest number of customers as quickly and safely as possible.
When a feeder outage occurs, restoring that main line is always the first priority because it returns power to the largest number of customers. Once the feeder has been restored and energized, crews can identify and repair remaining localized outages, such as damaged transformers, individual service connections, tree-related damage, or isolated pockets without power.
This approach is also necessary because electrical equipment cannot be fully tested until power has been restored to the circuit.
Addressing misinformation
During the outage event, several misconceptions circulated in the community.
First, CPP did not intentionally shut off power to conserve electricity. There were no planned power shutoffs or rolling outages. Every outage experienced during this event was the result of equipment failures caused by the extraordinary strain on the electric system and subsequent storm damage.
Second, some customers believed they had been forgotten because their outage did not appear on CPP's outage map. The current outage map displays feeder outages — the major circuits that serve neighborhoods. Smaller outages caused by damaged transformers, tree limbs, vehicle crashes, or other isolated issues may not appear on the map even though crews are actively working to restore service.
Additional work completed
While responding to the heat-related outages, CPP crews also addressed numerous storm-related emergencies, including approximately:
- 53 downed wire reports
- Five utility poles struck by vehicles
- Ten transformer repairs
These emergency repairs occurred while crews continued working to restore underground feeder outages and remaining isolated outages across the system.
Moving forward
We recognize the frustration and hardship these extended outages caused for our customers, particularly during a period of extreme heat and over a holiday weekend.
CPP remains committed to improving communication during outage events while continuing to invest in the reliability of the electric system. We appreciate the patience of our customers and the dedication of our lineworkers, dispatchers, system operators, customer service representatives, contractors, and support staff who worked around the clock to restore power safely.
If you are experiencing an outage or low voltage, please first check your circuit breaker. If the issue continues, contact our 24-hour Emergency Service Dispatch at 216-664-3156.
If you experienced losses, including the loss of groceries, damage to appliances, and concerns regarding refrigerated medications, we recommend filing a claim with your homeowners or renters insurance provider.
Residents who receive government food assistance may contact our Customer Care Center at 216-664-4600 to request an outage verification letter. This letter, available by email or postal mail, confirms that an extended outage occurred at your service address and may be used when requesting replacement food assistance benefits or filing a claim through residential or small business insurance.