Anderson Township's Washington Woods neighborhood loses power roughly 100 hours a year, according to one resident's generator data. The national average for outages not caused by major storms is about two hours.

Katie Aldridge, who has lived in Washington Woods since 2021, tracks every outage through her home generator's activation log. Since August 2021, the generator has run more than 486 hours total, WCPO reported on Friday, Aug. 21.

"I had no idea it was this bad," Aldridge told WCPO. "We are 10 times the national average for a severe weather year and five times the Duke average."

Those figures are Aldridge's own calculations based on her generator log. Federal data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration puts the national average for non-major-event outages at about two hours per year. Even in 2024, when Hurricanes Beryl, Helene and Milton drove the average up, U.S. customers lost power for 11 hours total.

Ken Kushner, who has lived in Washington Woods nearly his entire life, said the neighborhood's electrical infrastructure is almost 60 years old. Power lines run through backyards surrounded by trees, and WCPO's reporter observed branches leaning against and hanging off the lines during an Aug. 21 visit.

"This infrastructure is almost 60 years old. It's time for Duke Energy to upgrade our immediate area," Kushner told WCPO.

Both residents said they have reported every outage and repeatedly asked Duke Energy to address the problem. Nothing has changed, they said.

Aldridge described the toll as more than inconvenience. Families struggle to keep food and medicine refrigerated. A utility pole near her backyard was pulled down by a falling tree during the Aug. 11 storms that knocked out power to more than 260,000 Duke Energy customers across Greater Cincinnati.

Duke's response

Duke Energy Ohio told WCPO it is "actively reviewing reliability performance in the Washington Woods area" and will work with customers and local leaders to evaluate improvements. The statement mentioned investments in self-healing technology and vegetation management but committed to no specific timeline or upgrade for the neighborhood.

The utility's reliability record extends beyond Washington Woods. Duke Energy Ohio missed its 2025 reliability targets set by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for average outages per customer, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. At least one Ohio utility has missed state reliability standards every year for a decade.

A proposed compromise between Duke and PUCO staff would loosen the allowable outage frequency from 0.75 per customer annually to 0.87. The Ohio Consumers' Counsel, a state agency advocating for residential customers, opposed the change in an April 2026 filing, warning it would permit more than 90,000 additional outages above the current standard. A PUCO ruling was pending as of the May 26 report; no final order has been confirmed.

Duke Energy Ohio serves approximately 840,000 customers across southwest Ohio, including Hamilton County.

What's next

The Anderson Township Board of Trustees has not publicly addressed the Washington Woods outage issue. The board's next regular meeting falls on Thursday, Sept. 17. No agenda confirming the topic has been published.