Power outage history
Person County North Carolina
6.1hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
68th most of 100 in North Carolina close to 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 Person's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2021 was the worst well-recorded year, at 18 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Person, 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 13, 2021 | Winter storm | 14,263 | 45% | 3.7 d | 35 h | 521k |
| Oct 11, 2018 | Hurricane Michael | 13,866 | 44% | 2.9 d | 45 h | 369k |
| Sep 30, 2022 | Hurricane Ian | 5,220 | 16% | 24 h | 9.0 h | 71k |
| Jun 20, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 6,687 | 21% | 24 h | 22 h | 50k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | No storm report | 2,608 | 8% | 33 h | 29 h | 37k |
| Jul 8, 2016 | No storm report | 3,441 | 11% | 11 h | 6.8 h | 19k |
| Feb 26, 2015 | Winter storm | 1,546 | 5% | 16 h | – | 16k |
| Dec 9, 2018 | Winter storm | 1,627 | 5% | 18 h | 6.0 h | 15k |
| Jun 17, 2022 | No storm report | 1,594 | 5% | 18 h | 16 h | 13k |
| Sep 23, 2023 | Tropical Storm Ophelia | 2,745 | 9% | 13 h | 9.5 h | 9.3k |
| Jun 20, 2015 | Tropical Storm Bill | 3,350 | 11% | 5.8 h | 5.2 h | 9.1k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,131 | 4% | 17 h | – | 9.1k |
| Sep 10, 2023 | No storm report | 2,264 | 7% | 4.0 h | 2.5 h | 9.0k |
| Feb 20, 2019 | No storm report | 1,021 | 3% | 9.0 h | – | 8.9k |
| Oct 31, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,182 | 7% | 6.8 h | 6.8 h | 8.5k |
| Jan 6, 2025 | No storm report | 2,291 | 7% | 4.2 h | 4.0 h | 8.5k |
| Dec 12, 2022 | No storm report | 15,873 | 50% | 30 min | 1.5 h | 7.9k |
| Jun 17, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 1,118 | 4% | 9.8 h | – | 7.2k |
| Oct 29, 2020 | Hurricane Zeta | 2,080 | 7% | 6.5 h | 18 h | 6.8k |
| Jun 5, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,790 | 6% | 5.0 h | 4.5 h | 6.8k |
| Jan 28, 2021 | Winter storm | 1,174 | 4% | 8.8 h | – | 6.7k |
| Dec 2, 2020 | No storm report | 8,109 | 26% | 1.0 h | – | 6.7k |
| Jan 23, 2018 | Windstorm | 3,990 | 13% | 2.0 h | 1.8 h | 6.5k |
| Jul 6, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 2,135 | 7% | 4.5 h | 4.0 h | 6.4k |
| Jul 22, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,308 | 7% | 4.8 h | 5.2 h | 6.1k |
| Feb 7, 2020 | Windstorm | 1,273 | 4% | 9.8 h | – | 5.6k |
| Feb 14, 2015 | No storm report | 1,214 | 4% | 7.5 h | – | 5.3k |
| Jan 13, 2019 | Winter storm | 1,801 | 6% | 4.0 h | 3.8 h | 4.9k |
| Mar 25, 2018 | Winter storm | 932 | 3% | 6.5 h | – | 4.9k |
| Apr 8, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,226 | 4% | 8.2 h | – | 4.6k |
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 Person from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Winter storm 41%
- Tropical storm 34%
- No storm on record 15%
- Thunderstorms 8.4%
- Windstorm 1.1%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Person
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC | Investor Owned | 216 | 172 | 1.35 | 13.4 | 2.0M |
| Duke Energy Progress | Investor Owned | 183 | 145 | 1.41 | 15.2 | 1.4M |
| Virginia Electric & Power Co | Investor Owned | 286 | 137 | 1.49 | 12.7 | 109k |
| Piedmont Electric Member Corp | Cooperative | 503 | 146 | 1.75 | 15.6 | 31k |
| 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
- Halifax, VA 20 h
- Caswell 10 h
- Granville 7.5 h
- Orange 6.4 h
- Person (this county) 6.1 h
- Durham 5.5 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 31,667 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 →