Power outage history
Russell County Kansas
2.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
65% 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 Russell's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2024 was the worst well-recorded year, at 4.2 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Russell, 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 | Wildfire | 904 | 15% | 3.1 d | 2.8 d | 34k |
| Mar 19, 2025 | Winter storm | 1,221 | 21% | 34 h | 33 h | 22k |
| Jul 16, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 442 | 7% | 3.6 d | 3.8 h | 14k |
| Jan 16, 2017 | Ice storm | 552 | 9% | 25 h | 1.8 h | 10k |
| Apr 2, 2024 | No storm report | 1,375 | 23% | 8.0 h | 6.2 h | 7.5k |
| Jul 13, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 635 | 11% | 15 h | 12 h | 7.0k |
| May 19, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 658 | 11% | 21 h | 17 h | 5.7k |
| Dec 21, 2022 | No storm report | 567 | 10% | 12 h | 3.2 h | 4.7k |
| Nov 26, 2018 | No storm report | 457 | 8% | 29 h | 25 h | 4.1k |
| Jan 16, 2017 | Ice storm | 473 | 8% | 8.8 h | 4.2 h | 4.0k |
| Dec 20, 2021 | No storm report | 100 | 2% | 41 h | – | 3.9k |
| Dec 12, 2023 | No storm report | 575 | 10% | 6.8 h | 6.5 h | 3.8k |
| Nov 25, 2018 | Winter storm | 606 | 10% | 15 h | 7.8 h | 3.7k |
| Jun 10, 2025 | No storm report | 616 | 10% | 6.5 h | 6.5 h | 3.3k |
| Mar 22, 2022 | No storm report | 325 | 5% | 25 h | 26 h | 2.9k |
| Jun 21, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 403 | 7% | 6.5 h | 5.8 h | 2.6k |
| Nov 5, 2015 | No storm report | 456 | 8% | 5.0 h | 9.2 h | 2.3k |
| May 25, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 344 | 6% | 7.2 h | 7.0 h | 2.2k |
| Jun 26, 2020 | No storm report | 403 | 7% | 5.2 h | 5.0 h | 2.1k |
| Apr 19, 2024 | No storm report | 582 | 10% | 4.0 h | 2.2 h | 2.1k |
| May 16, 2017 | No storm report | 459 | 8% | 6.0 h | 11 h | 2.1k |
| Jun 25, 2024 | No storm report | 501 | 8% | 4.5 h | 1.8 h | 2.1k |
| May 31, 2020 | No storm report | 610 | 10% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 2.0k |
| Oct 6, 2016 | No storm report | 453 | 8% | 4.0 h | 4.0 h | 1.8k |
| Sep 18, 2021 | No storm report | 449 | 8% | 4.0 h | 4.0 h | 1.8k |
| Oct 31, 2024 | No storm report | 788 | 13% | 2.2 h | 5.5 h | 1.8k |
| May 27, 2019 | No storm report | 414 | 7% | 4.2 h | 8.2 h | 1.7k |
| Aug 21, 2025 | No storm report | 583 | 10% | 2.8 h | 30 min | 1.6k |
| Jun 8, 2017 | No storm report | 458 | 8% | 3.0 h | 4.8 h | 1.3k |
| Apr 14, 2016 | No storm report | 454 | 8% | 2.8 h | 2.8 h | 1.2k |
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 Russell from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 40%
- Wildfire 23%
- Winter storm 19%
- Thunderstorms 16%
- Windstorm 2.1%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Russell
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Kansas territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolling Hills Electric Coop | KS | – | – | – | 17.3 | 74k |
| Midwest Energy Inc | Cooperative | 581 | 314 | 2.68 | 12.0 | 30k |
| City of Russell | KS | 101 | 5 | 3.48 | 11.4 | 23k |
| Western Coop Electric Assn Inc | Cooperative | – | – | – | 14.6 | 5.8k |
| City of Lucas | KS | – | – | – | – | 1.8k |
| City of Luray | KS | – | – | – | – | 1.4k |
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 5,948 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 →