Power outage history
Rutherford County North Carolina
27hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
8th most of 100 in North Carolina 4.1× 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 Rutherford's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2024 was the worst well-recorded year, at 6.1 days for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Rutherford, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 27, 2024 | Hurricane Helene | 39,767 | 100% | 17.7 d | 7.6 d | 5.5M |
| Oct 29, 2020 | Hurricane Zeta | 20,725 | 52% | 4.3 d | 3.2 d | 840k |
| Dec 9, 2018 | Winter storm | 14,250 | 36% | 3.8 d | 3.1 d | 619k |
| Oct 23, 2017 | Tornadoes | 3,091 | 8% | 32 h | 43 h | 84k |
| Sep 11, 2017 | Windstorm | 3,079 | 8% | 40 h | 40 h | 54k |
| Feb 24, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 5,418 | 14% | 31 h | 21 h | 49k |
| Aug 7, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 3,837 | 10% | 25 h | 20 h | 46k |
| Jul 8, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 2,191 | 6% | 42 h | 40 h | 45k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | No storm report | 4,222 | 11% | 11 h | 8.5 h | 32k |
| Apr 11, 2024 | No storm report | 4,556 | 11% | 12 h | 5.5 h | 28k |
| Aug 17, 2021 | Tropical Storm Fred | 11,345 | 29% | 23 h | 2.0 h | 27k |
| Apr 13, 2020 | No storm report | 3,900 | 10% | 14 h | 11 h | 25k |
| Oct 11, 2018 | Hurricane Michael | 2,703 | 7% | 17 h | 9.8 h | 21k |
| Aug 31, 2018 | No storm report | 1,622 | 4% | 16 h | – | 20k |
| Mar 12, 2022 | No storm report | 3,063 | 8% | 8.0 h | 7.0 h | 20k |
| Jan 7, 2017 | Winter storm | 2,086 | 5% | 15 h | 7.2 h | 18k |
| Nov 29, 2016 | Wildfire | 1,656 | 4% | 16 h | – | 18k |
| Jun 17, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,934 | 10% | 14 h | 12 min | 17k |
| Feb 19, 2021 | No storm report | 1,634 | 4% | 14 h | – | 16k |
| Nov 6, 2024 | No storm report | 3,259 | 8% | 5.8 h | 5.8 h | 15k |
| Jun 12, 2025 | No storm report | 3,966 | 10% | 4.0 h | 3.2 h | 15k |
| Dec 11, 2024 | No storm report | 2,233 | 6% | 7.5 h | 6.8 h | 14k |
| Dec 27, 2020 | No storm report | 1,752 | 4% | 11 h | – | 14k |
| Aug 22, 2019 | No storm report | 1,641 | 4% | 10 h | – | 14k |
| Dec 24, 2022 | Winter storm | 3,377 | 8% | 5.5 h | 3.5 h | 14k |
| Dec 2, 2023 | No storm report | 1,714 | 4% | 12 h | – | 13k |
| Jul 19, 2020 | No storm report | 3,099 | 8% | 5.5 h | 4.5 h | 13k |
| Sep 10, 2022 | No storm report | 1,648 | 4% | 10 h | – | 13k |
| Jul 15, 2021 | No storm report | 1,665 | 4% | 7.5 h | – | 12k |
| Mar 12, 2023 | No storm report | 2,890 | 7% | 6.5 h | 6.0 h | 12k |
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 Rutherford from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 81%
- No storm on record 9.2%
- Winter storm 8.1%
- Thunderstorms 1.5%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Rutherford
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 |
| Rutherford Elec Member Corp | Cooperative | 149 | 135 | 1.24 | 13.0 | 72k |
| Town of Forest City | NC | – | – | – | 13.0 | 36k |
| Town of Bostic | NC | – | – | – | – | 2.3k |
| Broad River Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | – | – | – | 16.6 | 490 |
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
- Polk 62 h
- McDowell 41 h
- Henderson 32 h
- Rutherford (this county) 27 h
- Spartanburg, SC 25 h
- Buncombe 20 h
- Burke 13 h
- Cherokee, SC 10 h
- Cleveland 10 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 39,767 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 →