Power outage history
Mercer County Kentucky
4.1hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
103rd most of 119 in Kentucky 37% 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 Mercer's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2023 was the worst well-recorded year, at 12 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Mercer, 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 3, 2023 | Windstorm | 3,261 | 28% | 3.9 d | 2.1 d | 95k |
| May 26, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,878 | 25% | 2.1 d | 4.8 h | 33k |
| Sep 27, 2024 | Hurricane Helene | 1,289 | 11% | 35 h | 34 h | 17k |
| Jun 25, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 1,618 | 14% | 17 h | 15 h | 12k |
| Jan 12, 2023 | Tornadoes | 6,309 | 54% | 4.0 h | 3.2 h | 12k |
| Jul 20, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,864 | 16% | 28 h | 23 h | 11k |
| Apr 2, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 895 | 8% | 25 h | 23 h | 9.2k |
| Feb 11, 2021 | Ice storm | 863 | 7% | 16 h | 8.2 h | 8.1k |
| Jun 25, 2016 | No storm report | 3,080 | 26% | 2.5 h | 2.2 h | 7.3k |
| Jan 5, 2025 | Winter storm | 636 | 5% | 19 h | 23 h | 7.2k |
| Mar 1, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 742 | 6% | 11 h | 10 h | 4.9k |
| Jan 21, 2024 | No storm report | 695 | 6% | 6.0 h | 30 min | 4.2k |
| Jul 26, 2022 | No storm report | 2,594 | 22% | 1.5 h | 2.2 h | 3.4k |
| Jul 11, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,644 | 14% | 3.5 h | 2.8 h | 3.3k |
| Feb 9, 2023 | No storm report | 920 | 8% | 8.0 h | 2.0 h | 3.3k |
| Feb 20, 2015 | No storm report | 633 | 5% | 4.8 h | 4.8 h | 2.9k |
| Oct 23, 2015 | No storm report | 2,240 | 19% | 1.2 h | 5.2 h | 2.8k |
| Aug 16, 2016 | No storm report | 640 | 6% | 5.2 h | 4.5 h | 2.7k |
| Feb 17, 2022 | No storm report | 537 | 5% | 6.8 h | – | 2.6k |
| Dec 24, 2015 | No storm report | 441 | 4% | 6.5 h | – | 2.5k |
| Jul 14, 2015 | Flooding | 678 | 6% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 2.4k |
| Feb 16, 2018 | No storm report | 423 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 2.2k |
| Jan 6, 2025 | Winter storm | 141 | 1% | 15 h | – | 2.1k |
| Aug 3, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 636 | 5% | 3.8 h | 9.0 h | 2.0k |
| Nov 27, 2019 | No storm report | 450 | 4% | 9.0 h | – | 2.0k |
| Aug 20, 2023 | No storm report | 376 | 3% | 9.5 h | – | 1.9k |
| Mar 12, 2018 | Winter storm | 517 | 4% | 13 h | – | 1.8k |
| Jul 18, 2022 | No storm report | 1,022 | 9% | 1.8 h | 4.2 h | 1.8k |
| Oct 24, 2024 | No storm report | 339 | 3% | 4.8 h | – | 1.6k |
| Dec 28, 2021 | No storm report | 695 | 6% | 2.5 h | 30 min | 1.6k |
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 Mercer from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Windstorm 32%
- No storm on record 27%
- Thunderstorms 24%
- Tropical storm 5.9%
- Tornadoes 4.0%
- Winter storm 3.8%
- Ice storm 2.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Mercer
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Kentucky territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky Utilities Co | Investor Owned | 197 | 89 | 1.14 | 11.9 | 454k |
| Blue Grass Energy Coop Corp | Cooperative | 426 | 255 | 1.91 | 12.6 | 62k |
| Salt River Electric Coop Corp | Cooperative | 512 | 126 | 2.31 | 10.9 | 54k |
| Inter County Energy Coop Corp | Cooperative | 293 | 117 | 1.78 | 13.7 | 27k |
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 11,645 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 →