Power outage history
Lee County Iowa
4.4hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
38th most of 98 in Iowa 33% 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 Lee's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2023 was the worst well-recorded year, at 13 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Lee, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 30, 2023 | No storm report | 4,478 | 29% | 2.4 d | 37 h | 89k |
| Jun 29, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 14,325 | 93% | 5.0 h | 3.2 h | 58k |
| Jun 3, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 6,395 | 41% | 21 h | 16 h | 42k |
| Jul 19, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 6,316 | 41% | 26 h | 7.0 h | 42k |
| Jun 20, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 3,067 | 20% | 27 h | 24 h | 29k |
| Apr 16, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,208 | 14% | 20 h | 18 h | 20k |
| Aug 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 3,870 | 25% | 13 h | 11 h | 19k |
| Apr 14, 2023 | No storm report | 3,940 | 25% | 3.8 h | 3.2 h | 9.9k |
| Jul 11, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,525 | 10% | 11 h | 8.8 h | 8.7k |
| Jun 25, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 3,704 | 24% | 11 h | 4.2 h | 8.2k |
| Aug 5, 2023 | Flooding | 2,151 | 14% | 6.8 h | 5.0 h | 8.2k |
| Mar 14, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,744 | 11% | 6.5 h | 6.0 h | 8.0k |
| Jun 16, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 3,919 | 25% | 3.8 h | 1.0 h | 7.2k |
| Jun 27, 2018 | No storm report | 3,910 | 25% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 6.8k |
| Mar 31, 2023 | No storm report | 1,223 | 8% | 7.0 h | 5.2 h | 6.8k |
| Mar 6, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 980 | 6% | 7.5 h | 3.8 h | 5.8k |
| Aug 11, 2021 | No storm report | 3,262 | 21% | 5.5 h | 1.8 h | 4.5k |
| May 25, 2022 | No storm report | 2,216 | 14% | 2.0 h | 30 min | 4.2k |
| Oct 2, 2016 | No storm report | 2,534 | 16% | 1.5 h | 7.8 h | 3.8k |
| Jun 2, 2018 | No storm report | 1,060 | 7% | 3.5 h | 2.5 h | 3.6k |
| Jul 7, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 298 | 2% | 14 h | – | 3.0k |
| Jul 9, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 1,615 | 10% | 5.5 h | 3.2 h | 2.9k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Winter storm | 1,062 | 7% | 4.2 h | 3.5 h | 2.7k |
| Jun 14, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,573 | 10% | 2.0 h | 1.2 h | 2.6k |
| Jul 24, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,891 | 12% | 2.2 h | – | 2.5k |
| Feb 20, 2019 | No storm report | 837 | 5% | 4.0 h | 9.5 h | 2.3k |
| Jun 22, 2015 | No storm report | 1,329 | 9% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 2.3k |
| Jan 8, 2019 | No storm report | 1,021 | 7% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 2.3k |
| Jun 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 722 | 5% | 7.0 h | – | 2.3k |
| Jul 17, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,017 | 13% | 2.0 h | 48 min | 2.2k |
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 Lee from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 50%
- No storm on record 46%
- Flooding 3.0%
- Winter storm 0.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Lee
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 |
| Access Energy Coop | Cooperative | 83 | 83 | 0.77 | 14.8 | 8.9k |
| West Point Utility System | IA | – | – | – | – | 6.5k |
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
- Henderson, IL 9.2 h
- Hancock, IL 5.3 h
- Van Buren 5.2 h
- Clark, MO 5.0 h
- Lee (this county) 4.4 h
- Des Moines 3.6 h
- Henry 1.9 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 15,486 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 →