Power outage history
Caroline County Maryland
1.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
22nd most of 24 in Maryland 71% 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 Caroline'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 3.9 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Caroline, 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 | 4,051 | 23% | 30 h | 26 h | 42k |
| Jan 23, 2025 | No storm report | 3,562 | 20% | 6.2 h | 4.2 h | 11k |
| Feb 24, 2016 | No storm report | 2,827 | 16% | 5.2 h | 3.2 h | 10.0k |
| Jan 28, 2025 | No storm report | 3,159 | 18% | 3.0 h | 14 h | 9.5k |
| Jul 12, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 3,358 | 19% | 8.5 h | 2.2 h | 9.2k |
| Aug 3, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,888 | 11% | 5.8 h | 4.8 h | 8.8k |
| Jun 19, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 4,754 | 27% | 6.0 h | 5.0 h | 7.9k |
| May 26, 2019 | No storm report | 1,184 | 7% | 10 h | 8.8 h | 5.9k |
| Oct 12, 2016 | No storm report | 5,519 | 31% | 1.2 h | 48 min | 5.6k |
| Oct 31, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 5,105 | 29% | 4.8 h | 1.0 h | 5.5k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | No storm report | 1,619 | 9% | 6.0 h | 3.2 h | 5.2k |
| Apr 9, 2017 | No storm report | 1,458 | 8% | 8.8 h | 8.8 h | 5.1k |
| Apr 13, 2020 | No storm report | 5,791 | 33% | 2.5 h | 30 min | 5.1k |
| Jun 21, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,727 | 10% | 2.8 h | 10 h | 4.2k |
| Mar 12, 2017 | No storm report | 1,934 | 11% | 3.8 h | 1.2 h | 4.1k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 1,400 | 8% | 6.0 h | 1.5 h | 4.0k |
| Oct 24, 2017 | No storm report | 1,558 | 9% | 4.5 h | 4.8 h | 3.0k |
| Aug 8, 2015 | No storm report | 1,078 | 6% | 3.8 h | 48 min | 2.4k |
| May 15, 2016 | No storm report | 538 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 2.4k |
| Aug 1, 2016 | No storm report | 1,524 | 9% | 1.8 h | 1.0 h | 2.4k |
| Jan 10, 2016 | No storm report | 1,894 | 11% | 1.2 h | 1.5 h | 2.4k |
| Jun 7, 2017 | No storm report | 576 | 3% | 3.8 h | – | 2.2k |
| Apr 13, 2017 | No storm report | 854 | 5% | 3.2 h | – | 2.0k |
| Sep 22, 2024 | No storm report | 680 | 4% | 2.8 h | – | 1.9k |
| Apr 15, 2019 | No storm report | 1,383 | 8% | 1.8 h | 30 min | 1.8k |
| Jul 21, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 740 | 4% | 6.8 h | – | 1.8k |
| May 9, 2017 | No storm report | 490 | 3% | 4.2 h | – | 1.8k |
| May 30, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,183 | 7% | 2.5 h | 2.0 h | 1.7k |
| Aug 16, 2020 | No storm report | 264 | 2% | 7.8 h | – | 1.7k |
| Oct 14, 2016 | No storm report | 282 | 2% | 6.0 h | – | 1.7k |
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 Caroline from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 55%
- Tropical storm 24%
- Thunderstorms 18%
- Windstorm 2.2%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Caroline
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Maryland territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delmarva Power | Investor Owned | 114 | 66 | 0.93 | 21.8 | 188k |
| Choptank Electric Cooperative, Inc | Cooperative | 217 | 121 | 1.80 | 17.1 | 51k |
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
- Dorchester 2.2 h
- Queen Anne's 2.1 h
- Caroline (this county) 1.9 h
- Sussex, DE 1.4 h
- Talbot 1.2 h
- Kent, DE 0.9 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 17,587 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 →