Power outage history
Charles County Maryland
4.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
8th most of 24 in Maryland 34% 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 Charles's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2022 was the worst well-recorded year, at 9.4 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Charles, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 3, 2022 | Winter storm | 17,414 | 24% | 3.5 d | 2.0 d | 472k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 12,269 | 17% | 2.7 d | 2.1 d | 326k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 20,058 | 27% | 23 h | 18 h | 248k |
| Mar 14, 2017 | Winter storm | 10,932 | 15% | 24 h | 12 h | 76k |
| Jun 20, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 20,883 | 28% | 6.8 h | 1.8 h | 45k |
| Feb 25, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 14,108 | 19% | 3.0 h | 48 min | 26k |
| Aug 4, 2020 | Hurricane Isaias | 2,197 | 3% | 12 h | – | 22k |
| Apr 15, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 6,216 | 8% | 5.2 h | 3.0 h | 19k |
| May 16, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 12,812 | 17% | 3.5 h | 1.8 h | 19k |
| Jun 3, 2021 | No storm report | 8,391 | 11% | 2.8 h | 1.8 h | 16k |
| Apr 1, 2023 | No storm report | 4,065 | 6% | 8.5 h | 3.0 h | 16k |
| Feb 25, 2024 | No storm report | 1,491 | 2% | 16 h | – | 15k |
| Jul 14, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 4,353 | 6% | 5.8 h | 6.0 h | 14k |
| Jul 6, 2020 | Flooding | 2,644 | 4% | 9.8 h | – | 13k |
| Jun 26, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,585 | 4% | 8.5 h | – | 13k |
| Jun 15, 2025 | Flooding | 1,961 | 3% | 8.5 h | – | 12k |
| May 29, 2024 | No storm report | 5,332 | 7% | 3.2 h | 3.0 h | 12k |
| Jul 12, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 3,715 | 5% | 4.8 h | 5.5 h | 11k |
| Oct 31, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 5,901 | 8% | 7.0 h | 48 min | 11k |
| Sep 23, 2020 | No storm report | 1,799 | 2% | 8.5 h | – | 11k |
| Jul 20, 2020 | Heat | 1,765 | 2% | 6.8 h | – | 9.8k |
| Jul 21, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 3,370 | 5% | 5.2 h | – | 8.5k |
| Apr 7, 2015 | No storm report | 10,015 | 14% | 1.8 h | 1.2 h | 8.1k |
| Apr 2, 2016 | No storm report | 2,119 | 3% | 6.0 h | – | 8.0k |
| Nov 1, 2020 | No storm report | 3,221 | 4% | 5.2 h | – | 7.7k |
| Nov 29, 2025 | No storm report | 7,216 | 10% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 7.0k |
| Jul 9, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,308 | 5% | 2.8 h | – | 6.8k |
| Aug 4, 2020 | Hurricane Isaias | 1,935 | 3% | 6.5 h | – | 6.7k |
| Jun 15, 2025 | No storm report | 7,189 | 10% | 1.2 h | 12 min | 6.6k |
| Jun 23, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 1,335 | 2% | 7.0 h | – | 6.5k |
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 Charles from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Winter storm 28%
- Thunderstorms 24%
- No storm on record 23%
- Windstorm 19%
- Flooding 2.3%
- Tropical storm 1.9%
- Heat 0.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Charles
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Maryland Elec Coop Inc | Cooperative | 173 | 118 | 1.56 | 16.4 | 163k |
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
- Calvert 4.8 h
- St. Mary's 4.5 h
- Charles (this county) 4.3 h
- Fairfax, VA 3.5 h
- Prince George's 3.2 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 73,494 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 →