Power outage history
Northampton County North Carolina
8.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
51st most of 100 in North Carolina 1.3× 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 Northampton'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 22 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Northampton, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 16, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 4,999 | 83% | 42 h | 19 h | 74k |
| Jun 19, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 2,465 | 41% | 24 h | 17 h | 35k |
| Aug 4, 2020 | Hurricane Isaias | 2,583 | 43% | 30 h | 9.2 h | 23k |
| Oct 8, 2016 | Hurricane Matthew | 1,000 | 17% | 27 h | 2.2 h | 15k |
| Oct 11, 2018 | Hurricane Michael | 704 | 12% | 38 h | 34 h | 12k |
| Feb 20, 2020 | Winter storm | 693 | 11% | 39 h | 33 h | 10k |
| May 21, 2015 | No storm report | 795 | 13% | 12 h | 1.0 h | 9.1k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | No storm report | 2,098 | 35% | 13 h | 3.5 h | 8.5k |
| Jun 1, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,844 | 30% | 4.5 h | 1.8 h | 8.2k |
| Sep 2, 2015 | No storm report | 2,233 | 37% | 3.5 h | 2.2 h | 7.4k |
| Jan 28, 2021 | Winter storm | 2,130 | 35% | 16 h | 5.2 h | 7.0k |
| Jul 28, 2017 | Flooding | 2,072 | 34% | 5.2 h | 5.2 h | 6.4k |
| Sep 1, 2024 | No storm report | 1,605 | 27% | 14 h | 15 h | 5.9k |
| Sep 6, 2019 | Hurricane Dorian | 1,261 | 21% | 17 h | 3.0 h | 5.2k |
| Aug 24, 2019 | No storm report | 1,321 | 22% | 16 h | 6.0 h | 5.0k |
| Jul 31, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,193 | 20% | 7.5 h | 2.0 h | 4.7k |
| Sep 2, 2016 | Hurricane Hermine | 2,052 | 34% | 3.2 h | 6.2 h | 4.7k |
| Jun 24, 2022 | No storm report | 1,330 | 22% | 3.8 h | 4.0 h | 4.6k |
| Apr 15, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 730 | 12% | 16 h | 10 h | 4.4k |
| Mar 17, 2025 | No storm report | 893 | 15% | 6.0 h | 17 h | 4.4k |
| Nov 19, 2017 | No storm report | 164 | 3% | 27 h | – | 4.3k |
| Nov 1, 2019 | No storm report | 1,477 | 24% | 10 h | 3.0 h | 4.1k |
| Jan 7, 2018 | No storm report | 1,054 | 17% | 13 h | 3.2 h | 3.9k |
| Apr 19, 2019 | Tornadoes | 1,048 | 17% | 5.5 h | 3.2 h | 3.9k |
| Jun 30, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 261 | 4% | 15 h | – | 3.8k |
| Jul 13, 2016 | No storm report | 2,064 | 34% | 5.0 h | 5.2 h | 3.7k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | No storm report | 316 | 5% | 16 h | 4.0 h | 3.6k |
| May 12, 2015 | Tropical Storm Ana | 1,429 | 24% | 6.0 h | 2.8 h | 3.4k |
| Jan 3, 2022 | No storm report | 657 | 11% | 14 h | 6.8 h | 3.3k |
| Jul 28, 2018 | No storm report | 2,097 | 35% | 4.5 h | 4.5 h | 3.3k |
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 Northampton from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 43%
- Thunderstorms 36%
- Tropical storm 14%
- Winter storm 5.8%
- Tornadoes 1.1%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Northampton
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole North Carolina territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Electric & Power Co | Investor Owned | 286 | 137 | 1.49 | 12.7 | 109k |
| Roanoke Electric Member Corp | Cooperative | 179 | 179 | 1.48 | 20.7 | 12k |
| Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative | Cooperative | – | – | – | 13.9 | 138 |
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
- Brunswick, VA 24 h
- Southampton, VA 14 h
- Northampton (this county) 8.6 h
- Warren 8.0 h
- Bertie 7.8 h
- Greensville, VA 5.6 h
- Halifax 4.3 h
- Hertford 3.5 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 6,048 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 →