Power outage history
Passaic County New Jersey
4.1hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
11th most of 21 in New Jersey 37% 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 Passaic'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 15 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Passaic, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2020 | Hurricane Isaias | 53,688 | 26% | 5.0 d | 4.1 d | 2.9M |
| Mar 7, 2018 | Winter storm | 17,286 | 8% | 2.8 d | 2.8 d | 472k |
| Jul 6, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 12,735 | 6% | 18 h | 22 h | 86k |
| May 15, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 14,075 | 7% | 15 h | 23 h | 77k |
| Jun 12, 2016 | No storm report | 5,916 | 3% | 12 h | 9.5 h | 64k |
| Jun 26, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 6,712 | 3% | 18 h | 16 h | 59k |
| Mar 3, 2018 | Winter storm | 4,644 | 2% | 19 h | – | 47k |
| Oct 8, 2022 | No storm report | 13,604 | 6% | 4.2 h | 3.8 h | 41k |
| Jan 12, 2018 | No storm report | 9,096 | 4% | 5.2 h | 4.8 h | 39k |
| Dec 18, 2023 | Flooding | 4,843 | 2% | 8.2 h | – | 31k |
| Jul 8, 2021 | Flooding | 9,298 | 4% | 5.5 h | 4.5 h | 30k |
| Sep 10, 2018 | No storm report | 3,019 | 1% | 10 h | – | 29k |
| Mar 11, 2024 | No storm report | 8,999 | 4% | 3.8 h | 4.0 h | 28k |
| Jun 27, 2024 | No storm report | 2,723 | 1% | 10 h | – | 26k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Winter storm | 5,397 | 3% | 9.2 h | 18 h | 25k |
| Jun 2, 2024 | No storm report | 2,611 | 1% | 8.5 h | – | 22k |
| Apr 3, 2016 | No storm report | 7,675 | 4% | 5.8 h | 5.8 h | 21k |
| Feb 25, 2016 | No storm report | 9,304 | 4% | 3.2 h | 15 h | 21k |
| Jan 1, 2022 | No storm report | 2,461 | 1% | 7.0 h | – | 17k |
| Sep 7, 2018 | No storm report | 4,685 | 2% | 4.5 h | – | 17k |
| Apr 3, 2017 | No storm report | 3,054 | 1% | 5.0 h | – | 15k |
| Mar 15, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 4,661 | 2% | 6.5 h | – | 15k |
| Dec 24, 2020 | Windstorm | 3,598 | 2% | 6.2 h | – | 15k |
| Apr 4, 2016 | No storm report | 4,963 | 2% | 3.5 h | – | 14k |
| Apr 24, 2015 | No storm report | 9,934 | 5% | 2.8 h | 1.5 h | 13k |
| Mar 31, 2017 | No storm report | 7,380 | 4% | 3.0 h | 2.2 h | 13k |
| Jul 8, 2024 | No storm report | 12,478 | 6% | 1.2 h | 2.0 h | 12k |
| May 16, 2018 | No storm report | 3,454 | 2% | 7.5 h | – | 12k |
| Jun 19, 2015 | No storm report | 5,270 | 3% | 4.5 h | 1.8 h | 11k |
| Aug 17, 2015 | No storm report | 2,521 | 1% | 4.5 h | – | 11k |
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 Passaic from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 67%
- No storm on record 13%
- Winter storm 13%
- Thunderstorms 5.7%
- Flooding 1.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Passaic
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole New Jersey territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Service Elec & Gas Co | Investor Owned | 66 | 43 | 0.72 | 25.0 | 2.1M |
| Jersey Central Power & Lt Co | Investor Owned | 391 | 234 | 2.21 | 18.4 | 1.0M |
| Borough of Butler | NJ | – | – | – | 11.9 | 98k |
| Rockland Electric Co | Investor Owned | 144 | 106 | 1.30 | 23.2 | 67k |
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
- Sussex 31 h
- Morris 14 h
- Orange, NY 7.8 h
- Rockland, NY 5.5 h
- Passaic (this county) 4.1 h
- Bergen 3.9 h
- Essex 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 210,325 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 →