Power outage history
Dickinson County Iowa
2.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
60th most of 98 in Iowa 57% 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 Dickinson's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2019 was the worst well-recorded year, at 5.2 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Dickinson, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 9, 2019 | Winter storm | 6,731 | 100% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 13k |
| Jun 14, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 3,770 | 56% | 11 h | 7.5 h | 13k |
| Jun 17, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 3,604 | 54% | 11 h | 1.8 h | 12k |
| Apr 23, 2022 | Windstorm | 6,731 | 100% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 11k |
| Apr 14, 2018 | Winter storm | 4,275 | 64% | 8.8 h | 12 min | 7.6k |
| Apr 11, 2019 | Ice storm | 1,372 | 20% | 15 h | 11 h | 7.4k |
| Sep 20, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,672 | 25% | 5.0 h | 1.0 h | 5.3k |
| May 11, 2022 | No storm report | 4,139 | 61% | 5.5 h | 48 min | 5.0k |
| Jul 5, 2022 | No storm report | 3,786 | 56% | 1.5 h | 30 min | 4.2k |
| Dec 1, 2019 | No storm report | 3,911 | 58% | 48 min | 12 min | 2.9k |
| Jun 15, 2024 | Flooding | 691 | 10% | 4.0 h | 2.2 h | 2.8k |
| Aug 20, 2019 | No storm report | 2,200 | 33% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 2.7k |
| Mar 14, 2023 | No storm report | 2,373 | 35% | 1.5 h | 30 min | 2.6k |
| Jun 22, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 1,833 | 27% | 4.2 h | 48 min | 2.3k |
| Jun 8, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 1,303 | 19% | 2.0 h | 1.8 h | 2.3k |
| Dec 26, 2017 | Winter storm | 567 | 8% | 3.8 h | 3.0 h | 2.1k |
| Aug 21, 2017 | No storm report | 4,160 | 62% | 48 min | 12 min | 2.1k |
| Dec 17, 2022 | Winter storm | 1,540 | 23% | 1.2 h | 48 min | 1.9k |
| Feb 16, 2021 | Winter storm | 865 | 13% | 3.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.8k |
| Jul 31, 2024 | Heat | 887 | 13% | 3.5 h | 2.5 h | 1.7k |
| Oct 31, 2024 | No storm report | 1,315 | 20% | 1.2 h | 30 min | 1.6k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | No storm report | 1,316 | 20% | 1.2 h | 1.0 h | 1.6k |
| May 26, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 595 | 9% | 7.8 h | 5.8 h | 1.6k |
| Dec 20, 2025 | No storm report | 220 | 3% | 6.8 h | – | 1.5k |
| Jun 28, 2017 | No storm report | 1,300 | 19% | 1.5 h | 1.2 h | 1.4k |
| May 30, 2023 | No storm report | 718 | 11% | 2.5 h | 9.8 h | 1.3k |
| Oct 12, 2023 | No storm report | 876 | 13% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 1.3k |
| Aug 27, 2021 | No storm report | 1,479 | 22% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 1.3k |
| Oct 25, 2025 | No storm report | 225 | 3% | 5.5 h | – | 1.2k |
| Dec 16, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 307 | 5% | 7.8 h | – | 1.0k |
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 Dickinson from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 37%
- Winter storm 21%
- Thunderstorms 19%
- Windstorm 8.8%
- Ice storm 6.2%
- Flooding 4.5%
- Heat 2.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Dickinson
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Iowa territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interstate Power and Light Co | Investor Owned | 89 | 74 | 0.82 | 17.8 | 419k |
| Osceola Electric Coop, Inc | IA | 452 | 103 | 3.79 | 10.8 | 34k |
| City of Milford | IA | – | – | – | 10.4 | 15k |
| Iowa Lakes Electric Coop | Cooperative | 55 | 54 | 0.44 | 13.8 | 9.8k |
| City of Lake Park | IA | – | – | – | – | 5.7k |
| Federated Rural Electric Assn | Cooperative | – | – | – | 12.9 | 53 |
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.
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 6,731 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 →