Power outage history
Larimer County Colorado
1.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
33rd most of 39 in Colorado 73% below the national median
Every day since 2015
Eleven years, one night at a time
Each cell is a day. The brighter it is, the larger the share of Larimer's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2020 was the worst well-recorded year, at 2.9 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Larimer, hours without power per customer
The record
The biggest outages since 2015
Ranked by customer-hours lost: customers out multiplied by how long they stayed out. Times are local.
| Began | Storm | Peak out | Share | Lasted | 90% restored | Customer-hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 6, 2024 | Windstorm | 17,236 | 11% | 28 h | 18 h | 312k |
| Mar 23, 2016 | Winter storm | 20,820 | 13% | 38 h | 28 h | 293k |
| Mar 14, 2021 | Winter storm | 12,879 | 8% | 37 h | 33 h | 195k |
| Sep 25, 2020 | Wildfire | 2,734 | 2% | 2.1 d | – | 138k |
| Dec 19, 2025 | Windstorm | 5,025 | 3% | 27 h | 31 h | 121k |
| Dec 17, 2025 | Windstorm | 8,624 | 6% | 17 h | 5.8 h | 69k |
| Nov 7, 2015 | No storm report | 7,267 | 5% | 20 h | 32 h | 63k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 5,269 | 3% | 14 h | 14 h | 45k |
| Feb 15, 2016 | No storm report | 2,849 | 2% | 16 h | – | 44k |
| Jun 16, 2021 | No storm report | 3,021 | 2% | 20 h | – | 42k |
| Oct 20, 2021 | No storm report | 4,231 | 3% | 7.8 h | – | 32k |
| Apr 17, 2015 | Winter storm | 4,026 | 3% | 6.5 h | – | 24k |
| Sep 15, 2019 | No storm report | 2,805 | 2% | 9.0 h | – | 23k |
| Mar 17, 2025 | No storm report | 4,863 | 3% | 4.8 h | – | 21k |
| Jan 19, 2019 | No storm report | 2,953 | 2% | 6.8 h | – | 20k |
| Mar 16, 2018 | Winter storm | 5,836 | 4% | 3.5 h | 3.2 h | 16k |
| Apr 30, 2020 | No storm report | 3,024 | 2% | 5.5 h | – | 16k |
| Mar 13, 2019 | No storm report | 2,315 | 2% | 7.8 h | – | 15k |
| Jun 17, 2021 | No storm report | 6,299 | 4% | 4.0 h | 1.0 h | 15k |
| Jun 6, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 5,163 | 3% | 3.5 h | 2.5 h | 14k |
| Aug 23, 2025 | No storm report | 3,036 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 8.9k |
| Oct 9, 2022 | No storm report | 3,233 | 2% | 3.5 h | – | 8.5k |
| Feb 5, 2019 | No storm report | 2,613 | 2% | 4.8 h | – | 8.2k |
| Dec 29, 2017 | Windstorm | 4,324 | 3% | 2.2 h | – | 7.7k |
| Jun 16, 2023 | No storm report | 3,252 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 7.7k |
| Mar 29, 2021 | No storm report | 1,856 | 1% | 5.2 h | – | 7.6k |
| Apr 4, 2016 | No storm report | 2,944 | 2% | 3.5 h | – | 7.4k |
| Jun 3, 2022 | No storm report | 4,686 | 3% | 3.0 h | – | 7.0k |
| Feb 5, 2018 | Winter storm | 1,858 | 1% | 3.8 h | – | 6.3k |
| Jul 9, 2025 | No storm report | 5,533 | 4% | 1.2 h | 30 min | 6.0k |
After the peak
How fast the lights come back
Each line is one major outage, from its peak. The amber line is the typical path.
When it happens
The outage clock
Customer-hours out by month (rings, January innermost) and local hour, 2018–2025.
What was happening
Weather behind the outages
Each outage is matched to NOAA storm reports for Larimer from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Windstorm 44%
- No storm on record 25%
- Winter storm 18%
- Wildfire 11%
- Thunderstorms 1.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Larimer
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Colorado territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Service Co of Colorado | Investor Owned | 360 | 149 | 1.58 | 15.9 | 1.4M |
| City of Fort Collins | Municipal | 8 | 8 | 0.13 | 14.3 | 72k |
| Town of Estes Park | CO | – | – | – | 14.2 | 60k |
| Poudre Valley REA, Inc | Cooperative | 151 | 49 | 1.03 | 12.5 | 51k |
| City of Loveland | Municipal | 27 | 27 | 0.34 | 15.3 | 37k |
| Mountain Parks Electric, Inc | Cooperative | 181 | 122 | 2.42 | 17.5 | 20k |
| High West Energy, Inc | Cooperative | – | – | – | 15.1 | 671 |
| WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration | Federal | – | – | – | – | – |
EIA Form 861, latest year each utility reported. Outage minutes are SAIDI, the yearly minutes the average customer goes without power; outages a year are SAIFI.
Next door
Neighbouring counties
- Jackson 65 h
- Grand 5.5 h
- Boulder 5.3 h
- Weld 3.8 h
- Albany, WY 3.3 h
- Larimer (this county) 1.8 h
- Laramie, WY 1.0 h
About these numbers
Notes
Outages come from the EAGLE-I record of utility outage maps collected every 15 minutes by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Hours without power are customer-hours divided by the county's 154,680 electricity customers. Averages use well-covered years from 2018. Outages shorter than 15 minutes, and utilities that publish no outage map, are not in the record, so these figures understate the total. How every number is made →