Power outage history
Iowa County Iowa
9.7hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
12th most of 98 in Iowa 1.5× 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 Iowa'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 33 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Iowa, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 6,828 | 98% | 6.3 d | 3.0 d | 220k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | No storm report | 6,623 | 95% | 8.2 h | 3.8 h | 29k |
| Aug 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,935 | 42% | 31 h | 5.0 h | 18k |
| May 16, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,817 | 40% | 20 h | 7.2 h | 13k |
| Aug 21, 2017 | No storm report | 4,655 | 67% | 4.5 h | 3.0 h | 13k |
| Aug 4, 2016 | No storm report | 4,064 | 58% | 14 h | 1.0 h | 11k |
| Jul 5, 2025 | No storm report | 2,982 | 43% | 3.8 h | 3.8 h | 9.5k |
| Jul 21, 2016 | No storm report | 2,073 | 30% | 19 h | 9.0 h | 8.0k |
| May 27, 2019 | No storm report | 1,589 | 23% | 7.0 h | 4.5 h | 7.3k |
| Dec 17, 2016 | No storm report | 2,819 | 40% | 4.8 h | 2.2 h | 7.2k |
| Dec 2, 2023 | No storm report | 2,074 | 30% | 3.2 h | 2.8 h | 5.9k |
| Aug 12, 2021 | No storm report | 679 | 10% | 11 h | 9.2 h | 5.0k |
| Apr 15, 2017 | No storm report | 1,905 | 27% | 7.2 h | 2.5 h | 4.9k |
| Mar 14, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,877 | 27% | 3.0 h | 1.8 h | 4.7k |
| Sep 3, 2019 | No storm report | 2,690 | 39% | 5.5 h | 3.2 h | 4.5k |
| Mar 6, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,204 | 17% | 8.2 h | 6.8 h | 4.5k |
| Jul 6, 2016 | No storm report | 1,193 | 17% | 11 h | 8.5 h | 4.2k |
| Apr 14, 2018 | No storm report | 2,082 | 30% | 2.0 h | 48 min | 3.9k |
| Jan 25, 2017 | No storm report | 566 | 8% | 13 h | 11 h | 3.8k |
| Dec 14, 2024 | Ice storm | 417 | 6% | 13 h | 11 h | 3.7k |
| Sep 22, 2023 | No storm report | 1,390 | 20% | 3.8 h | 3.5 h | 3.6k |
| Mar 3, 2015 | No storm report | 2,021 | 29% | 2.8 h | 2.2 h | 3.6k |
| Jan 30, 2019 | Winter storm | 2,724 | 39% | 2.0 h | 48 min | 3.5k |
| Oct 5, 2022 | No storm report | 696 | 10% | 5.0 h | 10 h | 3.5k |
| Jun 14, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,173 | 17% | 12 h | 3.2 h | 3.5k |
| Mar 24, 2018 | Winter storm | 2,176 | 31% | 8.5 h | 48 min | 3.5k |
| May 3, 2021 | No storm report | 4,896 | 70% | 1.2 h | 1.8 h | 3.2k |
| Aug 2, 2018 | No storm report | 869 | 12% | 6.2 h | 4.0 h | 3.2k |
| Apr 13, 2015 | No storm report | 748 | 11% | 4.2 h | 4.8 h | 3.1k |
| Apr 11, 2019 | No storm report | 811 | 12% | 4.8 h | 3.2 h | 2.8k |
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 Iowa from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 55%
- No storm on record 41%
- Winter storm 2.4%
- Ice storm 0.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Iowa
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 |
| T I P Rural Electric Coop | IA | 156 | 156 | 1.33 | 11.9 | 82k |
| Corridor Energy Cooperative | Cooperative | 135 | 135 | 1.77 | 14.2 | 31k |
| Farmers Electric Coop | IA | 87 | 51 | 1.03 | 12.3 | 12k |
| East-Central Iowa Rural Elec Coop | Cooperative | 67 | 67 | 0.88 | 13.1 | 7.4k |
| Amana Society Service Co | Investor Owned | – | – | – | 17.0 | 709 |
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
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 6,965 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 →