Power outage history
Dakota County Minnesota
1.7hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
40th most of 54 in Minnesota 75% 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 Dakota'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 2.9 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Dakota, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 1, 2023 | Winter storm | 21,324 | 11% | 27 h | 16 h | 190k |
| Sep 17, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 15,619 | 8% | 32 h | 31 h | 178k |
| Jul 28, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 11,695 | 6% | 15 h | 17 h | 86k |
| Aug 26, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 5,604 | 3% | 22 h | 19 h | 73k |
| Oct 9, 2023 | No storm report | 13,612 | 7% | 4.5 h | 4.0 h | 36k |
| Jun 14, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 7,239 | 4% | 9.0 h | 9.2 h | 33k |
| May 29, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 4,919 | 3% | 6.5 h | – | 29k |
| Aug 29, 2024 | Tornadoes | 7,421 | 4% | 5.5 h | 17 h | 28k |
| Aug 16, 2015 | No storm report | 4,036 | 2% | 6.5 h | – | 24k |
| Aug 3, 2022 | Heat | 8,611 | 4% | 3.5 h | 9.5 h | 23k |
| Jun 4, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 4,825 | 2% | 4.5 h | – | 18k |
| Aug 15, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,665 | 2% | 4.8 h | – | 16k |
| Jul 26, 2023 | No storm report | 6,656 | 3% | 3.2 h | 7.2 h | 16k |
| Jun 27, 2020 | No storm report | 6,216 | 3% | 4.0 h | 48 min | 14k |
| Aug 24, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 7,039 | 4% | 3.2 h | 4.8 h | 14k |
| Jan 14, 2024 | No storm report | 4,653 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 14k |
| Jan 20, 2022 | No storm report | 9,994 | 5% | 1.8 h | 1.0 h | 13k |
| Aug 1, 2022 | No storm report | 8,413 | 4% | 1.5 h | 12 min | 12k |
| Sep 24, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 5,625 | 3% | 3.0 h | 2.5 h | 11k |
| Jan 12, 2023 | No storm report | 3,429 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 11k |
| Aug 20, 2019 | No storm report | 2,575 | 1% | 4.5 h | – | 10k |
| Aug 6, 2022 | No storm report | 3,968 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 9.2k |
| Jul 14, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 4,037 | 2% | 2.8 h | – | 8.9k |
| Apr 27, 2025 | No storm report | 2,920 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 8.7k |
| Jun 9, 2015 | No storm report | 5,316 | 3% | 1.5 h | 30 min | 8.0k |
| Jul 4, 2018 | No storm report | 4,155 | 2% | 2.2 h | – | 7.5k |
| Aug 17, 2022 | No storm report | 2,959 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 7.1k |
| Jun 14, 2023 | No storm report | 7,618 | 4% | 1.2 h | 30 min | 7.0k |
| Jun 6, 2016 | No storm report | 3,299 | 2% | 2.0 h | – | 6.4k |
| Jul 19, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 4,012 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 6.4k |
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 Dakota from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 41%
- No storm on record 35%
- Winter storm 19%
- Tornadoes 2.6%
- Heat 2.0%
- Windstorm 0.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Dakota
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Minnesota territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern States Power Co - Minnesota | Investor Owned | 226 | 115 | 1.38 | 17.1 | 1.2M |
| Dakota Electric Association | Cooperative | 29 | 21 | 0.35 | 15.6 | 109k |
| Goodhue County Coop Elec Assn | MN | 111 | 28 | 1.08 | 12.7 | 89k |
| Minnesota Valley Electric Coop | Cooperative | 87 | 50 | 0.73 | 14.4 | 44k |
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
- Washington 4.9 h
- Goodhue 4.3 h
- Hennepin 3.1 h
- Ramsey 3.0 h
- Rice 2.8 h
- Dakota (this county) 1.7 h
- Pierce, WI 1.2 h
- Scott 1.2 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 193,827 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 →