Power outage history
Louisa County Iowa
5.2hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
31st most of 98 in Iowa 21% 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 Louisa's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2018 was the worst well-recorded year, at 11 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Louisa, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 19, 2018 | Winter storm | 170 | 4% | 8.0 d | – | 30k |
| Feb 3, 2019 | No storm report | 543 | 12% | 3.9 d | 8.5 h | 9.5k |
| Jul 13, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 960 | 21% | 11 h | 21 h | 7.0k |
| Feb 11, 2019 | No storm report | 702 | 15% | 22 h | 2.8 h | 6.8k |
| Apr 12, 2022 | No storm report | 698 | 15% | 13 h | 20 h | 5.8k |
| Apr 2, 2017 | No storm report | 1,273 | 28% | 4.2 h | 3.0 h | 5.4k |
| Jul 24, 2018 | No storm report | 1,435 | 32% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 5.0k |
| Mar 18, 2019 | Flooding | 291 | 6% | 17 h | 4.0 h | 4.8k |
| Jul 10, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,197 | 26% | 8.5 h | 6.0 h | 4.7k |
| Mar 6, 2017 | Tornadoes | 528 | 12% | 15 h | 12 h | 4.1k |
| Mar 31, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 388 | 9% | 22 h | 17 h | 4.1k |
| Jul 20, 2016 | No storm report | 1,884 | 41% | 7.2 h | 3.8 h | 3.9k |
| Jul 12, 2018 | No storm report | 1,441 | 32% | 2.5 h | 48 min | 3.6k |
| Jun 29, 2023 | No storm report | 1,366 | 30% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 3.1k |
| Aug 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,001 | 22% | 6.0 h | 5.2 h | 3.0k |
| Jul 19, 2020 | No storm report | 653 | 14% | 6.5 h | 5.0 h | 2.9k |
| Oct 16, 2020 | No storm report | 1,135 | 25% | 2.5 h | 2.5 h | 2.8k |
| Jan 27, 2019 | No storm report | 252 | 6% | 27 h | 32 h | 2.7k |
| Jul 28, 2023 | No storm report | 742 | 16% | 4.0 h | 3.5 h | 2.5k |
| May 6, 2023 | No storm report | 448 | 10% | 5.5 h | 6.8 h | 2.5k |
| Jul 15, 2024 | Flooding | 918 | 20% | 12 h | 4.5 h | 2.4k |
| Mar 24, 2018 | No storm report | 725 | 16% | 8.8 h | 6.8 h | 2.3k |
| Feb 14, 2020 | No storm report | 1,134 | 25% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 2.3k |
| May 20, 2020 | No storm report | 374 | 8% | 5.5 h | 5.2 h | 1.9k |
| Sep 21, 2017 | No storm report | 548 | 12% | 5.8 h | 2.5 h | 1.8k |
| Jun 22, 2021 | No storm report | 1,406 | 31% | 1.8 h | 1.2 h | 1.8k |
| Mar 24, 2017 | No storm report | 308 | 7% | 5.8 h | 18 h | 1.8k |
| Jan 4, 2021 | No storm report | 547 | 12% | 5.5 h | 3.8 h | 1.7k |
| Jul 13, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,439 | 32% | 3.5 h | 30 min | 1.7k |
| Jun 16, 2024 | No storm report | 469 | 10% | 4.5 h | 30 min | 1.7k |
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 Louisa from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 65%
- Winter storm 20%
- Thunderstorms 8.0%
- Flooding 6.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Louisa
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 |
| Waverly Municipal Elec Utility | IA | 7 | 7 | 0.14 | 14.1 | 41k |
| Eastern Iowa Light & Power Coop | Cooperative | 92 | 79 | 0.93 | 14.8 | 20k |
| Access Energy Coop | Cooperative | 83 | 83 | 0.77 | 14.8 | 8.9k |
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
- Mercer, IL 17 h
- Rock Island, IL 6.3 h
- Johnson 5.5 h
- Washington 5.3 h
- Louisa (this county) 5.2 h
- Des Moines 3.6 h
- Henry 1.9 h
- Muscatine 1.3 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 4,554 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 →