Power outage history
Worcester County Massachusetts
4.0hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
9th most of 14 in Massachusetts 39% 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 Worcester'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 8.8 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Worcester, 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 4, 2020 | Hurricane Isaias | 70,225 | 17% | 2.2 d | 42 h | 1.5M |
| Mar 7, 2018 | Winter storm | 64,022 | 15% | 44 h | 31 h | 1.4M |
| Oct 7, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 44,540 | 11% | 45 h | 42 h | 862k |
| Oct 29, 2017 | Windstorm | 43,714 | 10% | 37 h | 27 h | 750k |
| Mar 14, 2023 | Winter storm | 30,832 | 7% | 34 h | 27 h | 523k |
| Jan 23, 2023 | Winter storm | 15,865 | 4% | 34 h | 34 h | 340k |
| Dec 18, 2023 | No storm report | 25,526 | 6% | 27 h | 32 h | 308k |
| Oct 17, 2019 | Windstorm | 15,354 | 4% | 34 h | 44 h | 263k |
| Feb 25, 2019 | Windstorm | 18,095 | 4% | 27 h | 26 h | 258k |
| Dec 5, 2020 | Winter storm | 19,064 | 5% | 23 h | 20 h | 205k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 11,559 | 3% | 28 h | 29 h | 189k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | Windstorm | 13,403 | 3% | 22 h | 22 h | 165k |
| Mar 1, 2021 | Windstorm | 16,577 | 4% | 16 h | 13 h | 162k |
| Apr 13, 2020 | Windstorm | 19,844 | 5% | 11 h | 17 h | 117k |
| Feb 5, 2016 | Winter storm | 18,833 | 4% | 14 h | 14 h | 113k |
| Nov 1, 2019 | Windstorm | 10,180 | 2% | 12 h | 19 h | 84k |
| Mar 2, 2017 | Windstorm | 25,158 | 6% | 7.2 h | 3.5 h | 83k |
| Oct 27, 2021 | Tropical Storm Wanda | 9,452 | 2% | 13 h | 10 h | 66k |
| May 3, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 12,731 | 3% | 10 h | 14 h | 57k |
| Apr 5, 2018 | No storm report | 7,716 | 2% | 8.5 h | 10 h | 55k |
| Nov 30, 2020 | Windstorm | 11,914 | 3% | 6.0 h | 8.2 h | 51k |
| Oct 31, 2025 | No storm report | 10,102 | 2% | 7.0 h | 15 h | 47k |
| May 15, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 7,960 | 2% | 7.5 h | 19 h | 46k |
| Jul 22, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 6,825 | 2% | 8.0 h | 14 h | 44k |
| Jun 6, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 13,481 | 3% | 6.8 h | 13 h | 41k |
| Jul 16, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 11,735 | 3% | 6.2 h | 14 h | 40k |
| Feb 17, 2025 | No storm report | 8,476 | 2% | 6.5 h | 7.0 h | 40k |
| Aug 22, 2021 | Hurricane Henri | 10,233 | 2% | 6.2 h | 7.8 h | 39k |
| Apr 4, 2024 | No storm report | 8,267 | 2% | 9.0 h | 18 h | 39k |
| Mar 14, 2017 | Winter storm | 20,087 | 5% | 5.0 h | 2.5 h | 35k |
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 Worcester from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Winter storm 34%
- Tropical storm 22%
- Windstorm 19%
- Thunderstorms 16%
- No storm on record 9.4%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Worcester
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Massachusetts territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts Electric Co | Investor Owned | 133 | 91 | 1.00 | 33.7 | 1.2M |
| Town of Holden | MA | – | – | – | – | 65k |
| Town of Templeton | MA | – | – | – | – | 27k |
| Fitchburg Gas & Elec Light Co | Investor Owned | 74 | 74 | 1.08 | 36.2 | 26k |
| Town of West Boylston | MA | – | – | – | – | 26k |
| Town of Ashburnham | MA | 18 | 1 | 18.07 | – | 22k |
| Town of Boylston | MA | – | – | – | – | 21k |
| Town of Paxton | MA | – | – | – | – | 16k |
| Town of Shrewsbury | Municipal | 831 | 38 | 2.55 | 15.5 | 15k |
| Town of Princeton | MA | – | – | – | – | 12k |
| Town of Sterling | Municipal | 3 | 3 | 0.06 | 15.2 | 3.6k |
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
- Windham, CT 12 h
- Cheshire, NH 11 h
- Tolland, CT 8.5 h
- Hampden 5.8 h
- Middlesex 5.5 h
- Norfolk 4.9 h
- Hillsborough, NH 4.6 h
- Providence, RI 4.5 h
- Worcester (this county) 4.0 h
- Franklin 3.6 h
- Hampshire 2.9 h
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 422,911 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 →