Power outage history
Wright County Iowa
5.4hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
28th most of 98 in Iowa 18% 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 Wright's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2021 was the worst well-recorded year, at 17 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Wright, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 15, 2021 | Tornadoes | 5,538 | 100% | 41 h | 14 h | 66k |
| Mar 4, 2025 | Winter storm | 1,914 | 35% | 38 h | 25 h | 32k |
| Jul 17, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 2,580 | 47% | 29 h | 7.0 h | 23k |
| Oct 18, 2021 | No storm report | 2,871 | 52% | 8.8 h | 8.5 h | 17k |
| Jun 11, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,042 | 55% | 14 h | 2.2 h | 12k |
| Apr 18, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 2,377 | 43% | 17 h | 2.5 h | 8.6k |
| Jun 29, 2019 | No storm report | 1,945 | 35% | 6.2 h | 6.2 h | 7.7k |
| Jan 8, 2019 | No storm report | 2,306 | 42% | 3.0 h | 4.5 h | 6.2k |
| May 16, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,674 | 30% | 14 h | 7.0 h | 6.0k |
| Nov 27, 2019 | Winter storm | 984 | 18% | 9.2 h | 5.0 h | 5.2k |
| Jul 7, 2016 | No storm report | 1,206 | 22% | 9.5 h | 2.8 h | 4.3k |
| Mar 15, 2021 | Winter storm | 2,338 | 42% | 6.5 h | 1.0 h | 4.1k |
| May 24, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,110 | 38% | 4.8 h | 1.5 h | 3.5k |
| May 21, 2024 | No storm report | 1,036 | 19% | 4.5 h | 1.2 h | 3.4k |
| Jul 11, 2016 | No storm report | 1,844 | 33% | 3.8 h | 48 min | 3.2k |
| Jun 26, 2025 | No storm report | 2,373 | 43% | 2.2 h | 1.0 h | 3.0k |
| Mar 24, 2016 | No storm report | 2,588 | 47% | 1.2 h | 1.0 h | 2.6k |
| Jul 28, 2024 | No storm report | 1,189 | 21% | 2.2 h | 12 h | 2.2k |
| Jun 13, 2017 | No storm report | 1,216 | 22% | 1.8 h | 1.0 h | 2.1k |
| Jan 2, 2016 | No storm report | 1,460 | 26% | 3.5 h | 1.5 h | 2.1k |
| Apr 13, 2018 | Windstorm | 643 | 12% | 4.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.9k |
| Sep 20, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,394 | 43% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 1.9k |
| May 26, 2022 | No storm report | 1,779 | 32% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 1.8k |
| Oct 21, 2024 | No storm report | 165 | 3% | 17 h | – | 1.6k |
| Aug 27, 2021 | No storm report | 1,429 | 26% | 2.0 h | 4.5 h | 1.6k |
| Mar 19, 2025 | Winter storm | 456 | 8% | 16 h | 18 h | 1.5k |
| Sep 14, 2023 | No storm report | 913 | 16% | 1.5 h | 48 min | 1.4k |
| Apr 20, 2025 | No storm report | 74 | 1% | 20 h | – | 1.3k |
| Jun 22, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 211 | 4% | 7.5 h | – | 1.3k |
| Nov 9, 2016 | No storm report | 825 | 15% | 4.0 h | 4.0 h | 1.3k |
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 Wright from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 34%
- Tornadoes 31%
- Winter storm 21%
- Thunderstorms 13%
- Windstorm 0.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Wright
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 |
| Franklin Rural Electric Coop | IA | 178 | 178 | 1.48 | 12.7 | 31k |
| Midland Power Coop | Cooperative | 488 | 91 | 1.79 | 13.7 | 12k |
| Boone Valley Electric Coop | IA | – | – | – | – | 5.6k |
| Prairie Energy Coop | Cooperative | 428 | 121 | 3.11 | 14.1 | 3.4k |
| Cass Electric Coop | IA | – | – | – | – | 1.2k |
| City of Woolstock | IA | – | – | – | – | 790 |
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 5,538 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 →