Power outage history
Madison County Iowa
2.1hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
75th most of 98 in Iowa 68% 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 Madison's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2025 was the worst well-recorded year, at 4.9 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Madison, 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 4, 2025 | Winter storm | 1,839 | 20% | 21 h | 17 h | 24k |
| May 24, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,191 | 13% | 19 h | 18 h | 12k |
| Mar 5, 2022 | Tornadoes | 1,887 | 20% | 19 h | 4.8 h | 8.6k |
| Jun 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 771 | 8% | 22 h | 18 h | 7.3k |
| Aug 11, 2020 | No storm report | 253 | 3% | 18 h | – | 4.4k |
| Dec 10, 2025 | No storm report | 1,046 | 11% | 4.5 h | 5.8 h | 3.9k |
| Aug 12, 2020 | No storm report | 270 | 3% | 17 h | – | 3.6k |
| Jul 11, 2025 | No storm report | 660 | 7% | 9.5 h | 10 h | 3.4k |
| Jun 14, 2017 | No storm report | 1,194 | 13% | 2.5 h | 2.2 h | 2.9k |
| May 10, 2022 | No storm report | 461 | 5% | 5.5 h | – | 2.5k |
| Aug 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 167 | 2% | 15 h | – | 2.1k |
| Jul 28, 2025 | No storm report | 419 | 4% | 6.8 h | – | 2.0k |
| Jun 24, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,078 | 12% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 1.9k |
| Sep 9, 2019 | No storm report | 886 | 9% | 2.8 h | 2.2 h | 1.9k |
| Aug 21, 2017 | No storm report | 568 | 6% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 1.7k |
| Aug 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 327 | 3% | 7.0 h | – | 1.6k |
| May 4, 2019 | No storm report | 455 | 5% | 3.5 h | – | 1.6k |
| Oct 22, 2024 | No storm report | 1,026 | 11% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 1.4k |
| May 11, 2019 | No storm report | 458 | 5% | 2.8 h | – | 1.3k |
| Aug 3, 2023 | No storm report | 516 | 6% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 1.2k |
| May 7, 2025 | No storm report | 750 | 8% | 1.5 h | 11 h | 1.1k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 519 | 6% | 2.0 h | 1.0 h | 1.0k |
| Dec 27, 2022 | No storm report | 486 | 5% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 972 |
| Jul 30, 2025 | No storm report | 539 | 6% | 4.5 h | 4.8 h | 966 |
| Apr 6, 2023 | No storm report | 388 | 4% | 6.0 h | – | 959 |
| Aug 20, 2019 | Tornadoes | 234 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 956 |
| Apr 2, 2023 | No storm report | 744 | 8% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 948 |
| Jan 14, 2024 | Winter storm | 188 | 2% | 6.2 h | – | 931 |
| Dec 26, 2024 | No storm report | 371 | 4% | 2.5 h | – | 928 |
| Oct 28, 2021 | No storm report | 443 | 5% | 3.0 h | – | 915 |
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 Madison from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 48%
- Thunderstorms 22%
- Winter storm 21%
- Tornadoes 8.2%
- Windstorm 0.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Madison
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MidAmerican Energy Co | Investor Owned | 205 | 82 | 1.19 | 11.2 | 640k |
| Interstate Power and Light Co | Investor Owned | 89 | 74 | 0.82 | 17.8 | 419k |
| Clarke Electric Coop Inc | IA | 113 | 96 | 1.33 | 13.4 | 69k |
| Farmers Electric Coop, Inc | IA | 90 | 90 | 1.63 | 13.8 | 67k |
| Waverly Municipal Elec Utility | IA | 7 | 7 | 0.14 | 14.1 | 41k |
| City of Winterset | IA | – | – | – | 13.4 | 21k |
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 9,366 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 →