Power outage history
Deer Lodge County Montana
4.0hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
26th most of 35 in Montana 40% 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 Deer Lodge'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 7.9 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Deer Lodge, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 11, 2024 | No storm report | 6,663 | 100% | 2.2 h | 1.2 h | 13k |
| Oct 18, 2020 | No storm report | 6,027 | 90% | 4.2 h | 1.5 h | 11k |
| Oct 13, 2020 | No storm report | 1,649 | 25% | 8.0 h | 5.2 h | 7.7k |
| Jan 13, 2021 | Windstorm | 1,679 | 25% | 14 h | 1.8 h | 5.5k |
| Dec 17, 2025 | Windstorm | 1,442 | 22% | 13 h | 10 h | 4.8k |
| Dec 4, 2021 | No storm report | 1,402 | 21% | 5.0 h | 8.8 h | 4.2k |
| Feb 4, 2024 | No storm report | 1,224 | 18% | 3.2 h | 2.8 h | 3.9k |
| Aug 7, 2023 | No storm report | 1,437 | 22% | 2.0 h | 1.0 h | 2.9k |
| Jun 8, 2020 | Winter storm | 524 | 8% | 6.0 h | 16 h | 2.7k |
| May 7, 2024 | No storm report | 1,495 | 22% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 2.6k |
| Dec 11, 2020 | No storm report | 1,445 | 22% | 1.5 h | 5.0 h | 2.2k |
| Dec 6, 2023 | No storm report | 1,190 | 18% | 2.0 h | 1.0 h | 2.1k |
| Jul 9, 2025 | No storm report | 813 | 12% | 4.2 h | 3.2 h | 2.1k |
| Sep 20, 2021 | No storm report | 1,330 | 20% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 2.0k |
| Mar 29, 2021 | Windstorm | 638 | 10% | 8.2 h | 3.0 h | 1.8k |
| Jul 16, 2020 | No storm report | 1,433 | 22% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.8k |
| Nov 24, 2020 | No storm report | 630 | 9% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 1.6k |
| May 15, 2020 | Winter storm | 348 | 5% | 7.5 h | 3.5 h | 1.6k |
| Jun 8, 2020 | Winter storm | 390 | 6% | 6.8 h | 18 h | 1.5k |
| Apr 30, 2024 | No storm report | 1,502 | 23% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 1.5k |
| Aug 31, 2020 | No storm report | 827 | 12% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 1.4k |
| Jul 25, 2024 | No storm report | 1,402 | 21% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 1.4k |
| Mar 6, 2021 | No storm report | 645 | 10% | 3.2 h | 2.0 h | 1.4k |
| Jun 22, 2020 | No storm report | 1,669 | 25% | 1.8 h | 48 min | 1.4k |
| Mar 8, 2021 | No storm report | 1,305 | 20% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 1.3k |
| Aug 27, 2021 | No storm report | 496 | 7% | 2.5 h | 1.5 h | 1.2k |
| Oct 13, 2025 | Winter storm | 155 | 2% | 8.0 h | – | 1.2k |
| May 17, 2020 | No storm report | 527 | 8% | 4.0 h | 1.8 h | 1.1k |
| Jul 30, 2023 | No storm report | 282 | 4% | 4.0 h | – | 1.1k |
| Jul 6, 2022 | No storm report | 296 | 4% | 4.8 h | – | 1.1k |
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 Deer Lodge from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 80%
- Windstorm 12%
- Winter storm 7.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Deer Lodge
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Montana territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NorthWestern Energy LLC | Investor Owned | 125 | 117 | 1.10 | 14.4 | 334k |
| Vigilante Electric Coop, Inc | MT | – | – | – | 8.6 | 119k |
| Bonneville Power Administration | Federal | – | – | – | – | – |
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
- Granite 11 h
- Jefferson 7.1 h
- Powell 6.7 h
- Deer Lodge (this county) 4.0 h
- Ravalli 3.9 h
- Beaverhead 3.7 h
- Silver Bow 2.3 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 6,663 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 →