Power outage history
Alpena County Michigan
11hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
53rd most of 83 in Michigan 1.6× 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 Alpena's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2025 was the worst well-recorded year, at 2.2 days for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Alpena, 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 29, 2025 | Ice storm | 3,528 | 19% | 17.3 d | 12.4 d | 920k |
| Apr 12, 2024 | No storm report | 1,927 | 11% | 34 h | 25 h | 43k |
| Dec 16, 2021 | Windstorm | 1,345 | 7% | 2.5 d | 2.7 d | 43k |
| Nov 15, 2022 | No storm report | 1,465 | 8% | 38 h | 29 h | 21k |
| Dec 12, 2020 | Winter storm | 2,060 | 11% | 21 h | 19 h | 14k |
| Nov 5, 2022 | No storm report | 697 | 4% | 24 h | – | 9.8k |
| Mar 11, 2021 | No storm report | 782 | 4% | 8.5 h | – | 4.7k |
| Aug 11, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 894 | 5% | 6.0 h | – | 3.9k |
| Jun 16, 2022 | No storm report | 712 | 4% | 15 h | – | 3.8k |
| Apr 13, 2020 | No storm report | 598 | 3% | 8.0 h | – | 3.0k |
| Aug 29, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 658 | 4% | 8.5 h | – | 3.0k |
| Aug 12, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 303 | 2% | 12 h | – | 2.9k |
| Nov 21, 2021 | No storm report | 682 | 4% | 5.2 h | – | 2.9k |
| Dec 30, 2024 | No storm report | 497 | 3% | 6.5 h | – | 2.9k |
| Apr 29, 2025 | No storm report | 564 | 3% | 6.0 h | – | 2.3k |
| Jan 10, 2024 | Winter storm | 536 | 3% | 5.8 h | – | 2.3k |
| Oct 26, 2024 | No storm report | 543 | 3% | 4.0 h | – | 2.0k |
| Nov 23, 2021 | No storm report | 393 | 2% | 3.8 h | – | 1.5k |
| Dec 28, 2025 | No storm report | 465 | 3% | 2.8 h | – | 1.3k |
| Sep 3, 2020 | No storm report | 508 | 3% | 4.0 h | – | 1.3k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | No storm report | 585 | 3% | 3.0 h | – | 1.2k |
| Apr 11, 2024 | No storm report | 407 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 1.0k |
| Sep 18, 2024 | No storm report | 493 | 3% | 1.8 h | – | 862 |
| Mar 29, 2025 | Ice storm | 334 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 835 |
| Aug 30, 2021 | No storm report | 201 | 1% | 3.8 h | – | 731 |
| Jul 24, 2025 | No storm report | 526 | 3% | 1.8 h | – | 682 |
| Jul 6, 2021 | No storm report | 277 | 2% | 2.2 h | – | 623 |
| Nov 5, 2025 | No storm report | 389 | 2% | 2.0 h | – | 622 |
| Mar 30, 2022 | Ice storm | 1,547 | 8% | 48 min | 1.2 h | 604 |
| Mar 5, 2024 | No storm report | 272 | 1% | 2.0 h | – | 544 |
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 Alpena from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Ice storm 84%
- No storm on record 10%
- Windstorm 3.9%
- Winter storm 1.5%
- Thunderstorms 0.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Alpena
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Michigan territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presque Isle Elec & Gas Coop | Cooperative | 9,074 | 307 | 2.91 | 23.9 | 33k |
| Alpena Power Co | Investor Owned | 2,994 | 63 | 2.50 | 18.7 | 14k |
| Wolverine Power Supply Coop | Cooperative | – | – | – | – | – |
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
- Alcona 72 h
- Montmorency 61 h
- Oscoda 57 h
- Presque Isle 37 h
- Alpena (this county) 11 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 18,236 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 →