Power outage history
Surry County North Carolina
5.2hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
79th most of 100 in North Carolina 21% 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 Surry'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 16 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Surry, 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 | 19,967 | 42% | 3.4 d | 26 h | 612k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 5,454 | 11% | 33 h | 28 h | 96k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 3,722 | 8% | 24 h | 24 h | 42k |
| Mar 24, 2018 | Winter storm | 3,997 | 8% | 20 h | 13 h | 40k |
| Apr 28, 2023 | Tornadoes | 4,219 | 9% | 26 h | 25 h | 34k |
| May 16, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 2,807 | 6% | 16 h | 17 h | 28k |
| Apr 1, 2023 | Windstorm | 4,366 | 9% | 18 h | 15 h | 28k |
| Dec 9, 2018 | Winter storm | 2,156 | 5% | 23 h | – | 27k |
| Apr 26, 2019 | Windstorm | 2,274 | 5% | 25 h | – | 26k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | No storm report | 3,559 | 7% | 13 h | 5.2 h | 21k |
| Aug 28, 2023 | Flooding | 3,042 | 6% | 13 h | 9.0 h | 19k |
| Dec 21, 2018 | No storm report | 1,809 | 4% | 11 h | – | 19k |
| Jan 13, 2019 | Winter storm | 2,705 | 6% | 13 h | 10 h | 18k |
| Mar 12, 2022 | No storm report | 2,161 | 5% | 14 h | – | 16k |
| Feb 14, 2015 | No storm report | 1,479 | 3% | 21 h | – | 16k |
| Feb 4, 2018 | No storm report | 2,081 | 4% | 9.0 h | – | 16k |
| Jan 16, 2022 | Winter storm | 3,421 | 7% | 8.0 h | 7.0 h | 14k |
| Jan 6, 2025 | No storm report | 5,411 | 11% | 4.2 h | 3.2 h | 13k |
| Jun 15, 2017 | No storm report | 1,219 | 3% | 11 h | – | 13k |
| Oct 9, 2016 | No storm report | 1,119 | 2% | 14 h | – | 12k |
| Jul 27, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 2,820 | 6% | 6.5 h | 5.2 h | 12k |
| Jun 2, 2019 | No storm report | 3,135 | 7% | 4.0 h | 3.0 h | 12k |
| Dec 24, 2022 | Winter storm | 4,216 | 9% | 4.2 h | 2.8 h | 11k |
| Jul 26, 2022 | No storm report | 1,355 | 3% | 7.8 h | – | 10k |
| May 7, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 3,022 | 6% | 5.2 h | 2.5 h | 9.3k |
| Sep 30, 2022 | Hurricane Ian | 1,284 | 3% | 9.8 h | – | 8.6k |
| Jun 28, 2023 | No storm report | 5,469 | 11% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 8.2k |
| Dec 23, 2017 | No storm report | 1,620 | 3% | 5.0 h | – | 8.1k |
| Oct 29, 2020 | Hurricane Zeta | 1,251 | 3% | 8.2 h | – | 7.8k |
| Mar 2, 2024 | No storm report | 3,010 | 6% | 3.8 h | 9.2 h | 7.7k |
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 Surry from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 42%
- No storm on record 26%
- Windstorm 11%
- Thunderstorms 9.3%
- Winter storm 7.6%
- Tornadoes 2.2%
- Flooding 1.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Surry
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 |
| Surry-Yadkin Elec Member Corp | Cooperative | 249 | 176 | 1.81 | 17.5 | 28k |
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
- Grayson, VA 53 h
- Patrick, VA 32 h
- Carroll, VA 31 h
- Alleghany 11 h
- Stokes 9.9 h
- Wilkes 7.8 h
- Yadkin 6.1 h
- Forsyth 5.3 h
- Surry (this county) 5.2 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 47,914 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 →