Power Out Map
– 0% of Sierra out 0 customers out in New Mexico

Power outage history

Sierra County New Mexico

The outage record here is too thin for a reliable yearly average. Raw events are listed below.

Worst outage on record Dec 17, 2020 9% of customers out · 90% back in 1.0 hours
Hours without power, average customer per year –h / yr State average 2.8 h · national median 6.6 h
Major outages a year – Peaks over 10% of customers or 50,000 customers
Typical time to restore 90% – Median across major outages, from the peak
Longest single outage 6hours Jun 9, 2024, over 1% of customers out
Outage hours on storm days 5% Share falling on days with a NOAA storm report here
Worst year –
Electricity customers 2,974 ORNL customer model · 0 well-covered years

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 Sierra's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.

20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
0%100% of customers out

Year by year

Hours in the dark, per customer

Sierra, hours without power per customer

SierraUS median countyNew Mexico average
0 2 4 6 8 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19 ’20 ’21 ’22 ’23 ’24 ’25 US 6.6 NM 2.8

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
Dec 17, 2020 No storm report 274 9% 1.5 h 1.0 h 354
Jun 9, 2024 No storm report 38 1% 6.2 h – 238
Jul 20, 2015 No storm report 172 6% 1.8 h – 179
Sep 6, 2017 No storm report 193 6% 48 min 48 min 145
Jan 21, 2018 No storm report 43 1% 2.5 h – 108
Mar 31, 2024 No storm report 36 1% 4.2 h – 72
Jun 8, 2022 Thunderstorms 33 1% 1.5 h – 50
May 17, 2025 No storm report 76 3% 48 min – 48
Sep 17, 2019 No storm report 85 3% 30 min – 42
Sep 30, 2017 No storm report 82 3% 30 min – 34
Sep 11, 2022 No storm report 33 1% 1.0 h – 33
Jul 28, 2022 No storm report 33 1% 48 min – 25

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.

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% peak+24h+48h+72h+96h half back by +2h 90% by +2h

When it happens

The outage clock

Customer-hours out by month (rings, January innermost) and local hour, 2018–2025.

00061218 Jan inside

What was happening

Weather behind the outages

Each outage is matched to NOAA storm reports for Sierra from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.

  • No storm on record 95%
  • Thunderstorms 5.1%

Who keeps the lights on

Utilities serving Sierra

As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole New Mexico territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.

Utility Type Outage min / yr Excl. major storms Outages / yr Residential ¢/kWh Customers
El Paso Electric Co Investor Owned 116 116 1.24 10.3 97k
Socorro Electric Coop, Inc NM – – – 15.9 68k
City of Truth or Consequences NM – – – – 29k
Sierra Electric Coop, Inc NM 167 52 – 19.3 22k

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

Across New Mexico

Where it is darkest

Hours / yr64+

All New Mexico counties →

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 2,974 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 →