Power outage history
Polk County Iowa
3.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
45th most of 98 in Iowa 41% 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 Polk'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 21 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Polk, 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 | 114,873 | 40% | 5.0 d | 3.8 d | 5.6M |
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 26,999 | 9% | 15 h | 14 h | 185k |
| Jun 30, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 19,193 | 7% | 8.2 h | 1.5 h | 88k |
| Jul 28, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 23,726 | 8% | 6.8 h | 5.8 h | 83k |
| Jul 11, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 18,190 | 6% | 8.2 h | 6.5 h | 71k |
| May 24, 2024 | Tornadoes | 16,836 | 6% | 6.8 h | 7.0 h | 68k |
| Jul 15, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 11,726 | 4% | 7.5 h | 19 h | 66k |
| Jul 31, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 15,730 | 5% | 7.5 h | 6.8 h | 61k |
| May 17, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 16,113 | 6% | 5.5 h | 8.0 h | 59k |
| Aug 20, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 16,814 | 6% | 6.8 h | 7.2 h | 55k |
| Mar 5, 2025 | Winter storm | 8,989 | 3% | 7.0 h | 8.2 h | 50k |
| Aug 21, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 13,679 | 5% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 37k |
| Jul 14, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 13,110 | 5% | 5.0 h | 4.8 h | 37k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 9,343 | 3% | 5.8 h | 7.2 h | 35k |
| May 16, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 10,372 | 4% | 3.5 h | 4.2 h | 32k |
| Apr 26, 2024 | Tornadoes | 11,614 | 4% | 3.2 h | 4.8 h | 29k |
| May 29, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 8,165 | 3% | 4.0 h | 3.2 h | 28k |
| Jul 6, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 6,162 | 2% | 5.2 h | 2.2 h | 28k |
| Jul 30, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 4,974 | 2% | 6.0 h | – | 20k |
| Sep 10, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 7,329 | 3% | 3.5 h | 5.8 h | 19k |
| Jul 30, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 9,659 | 3% | 2.8 h | 3.8 h | 18k |
| Apr 17, 2017 | No storm report | 9,354 | 3% | 2.0 h | 1.2 h | 17k |
| Aug 31, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 8,325 | 3% | 2.8 h | 3.5 h | 16k |
| Mar 14, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 6,391 | 2% | 2.5 h | 4.5 h | 14k |
| Jul 11, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 3,496 | 1% | 5.0 h | – | 14k |
| Jul 2, 2017 | No storm report | 8,961 | 3% | 1.8 h | 2.2 h | 14k |
| Aug 28, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 6,439 | 2% | 5.0 h | 5.0 h | 13k |
| Jul 30, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 6,042 | 2% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 13k |
| Aug 11, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 4,944 | 2% | 2.8 h | – | 12k |
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 6,489 | 2% | 4.0 h | 4.0 h | 12k |
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 Polk from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 94%
- No storm on record 3.7%
- Tornadoes 1.5%
- Winter storm 0.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Polk
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 |
| Waverly Municipal Elec Utility | IA | 7 | 7 | 0.14 | 14.1 | 41k |
| Midland Power Coop | Cooperative | 488 | 91 | 1.79 | 13.7 | 12k |
| Consumers Energy Coop | Cooperative | 94 | 94 | 0.74 | 14.8 | 7.1k |
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 287,095 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 →