Power outage history
Erie County New York
3.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
54th most of 62 in New York 49% 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 Erie's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2022 was the worst well-recorded year, at 5.5 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Erie, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 23, 2022 | Winter storm | 34,999 | 7% | 3.6 d | 3.8 d | 2.0M |
| Mar 8, 2017 | Windstorm | 38,779 | 7% | 3.0 d | 2.9 d | 1.1M |
| Feb 24, 2019 | Windstorm | 48,865 | 9% | 32 h | 25 h | 1.0M |
| Oct 31, 2019 | Windstorm | 52,555 | 10% | 39 h | 25 h | 739k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Windstorm | 31,140 | 6% | 33 h | 39 h | 545k |
| Dec 11, 2021 | Windstorm | 46,288 | 9% | 28 h | 25 h | 526k |
| Apr 4, 2018 | Windstorm | 28,725 | 6% | 31 h | 31 h | 457k |
| Feb 23, 2023 | Ice storm | 30,137 | 6% | 26 h | 32 h | 414k |
| Nov 15, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 29,559 | 6% | 26 h | 23 h | 409k |
| Jan 12, 2020 | Windstorm | 52,605 | 10% | 11 h | 8.2 h | 268k |
| Mar 26, 2021 | Windstorm | 38,138 | 7% | 10 h | 11 h | 202k |
| May 4, 2018 | Windstorm | 26,202 | 5% | 11 h | 11 h | 178k |
| Dec 29, 2025 | Windstorm | 26,515 | 5% | 14 h | 18 h | 172k |
| Jan 11, 2017 | Windstorm | 24,094 | 5% | 7.5 h | 9.5 h | 130k |
| Jan 1, 2019 | Windstorm | 14,966 | 3% | 12 h | 13 h | 130k |
| Jul 10, 2020 | No storm report | 11,684 | 2% | 15 h | 27 h | 124k |
| Aug 24, 2023 | No storm report | 9,905 | 2% | 12 h | 13 h | 95k |
| Jul 20, 2017 | Tornadoes | 21,892 | 4% | 7.2 h | 12 h | 83k |
| Mar 10, 2019 | Windstorm | 16,013 | 3% | 5.2 h | 4.5 h | 78k |
| Nov 27, 2025 | Winter storm | 10,592 | 2% | 9.5 h | 12 h | 72k |
| Aug 20, 2016 | No storm report | 17,054 | 3% | 4.8 h | 2.2 h | 54k |
| Aug 17, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 18,029 | 3% | 3.0 h | 3.2 h | 45k |
| Sep 4, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 10,874 | 2% | 4.8 h | 11 h | 43k |
| Apr 11, 2018 | No storm report | 17,852 | 3% | 2.5 h | 1.5 h | 42k |
| Aug 15, 2015 | Flooding | 13,674 | 3% | 4.5 h | 6.8 h | 41k |
| Mar 1, 2018 | Winter storm | 9,565 | 2% | 7.2 h | 18 h | 39k |
| Jun 18, 2024 | No storm report | 13,066 | 3% | 4.5 h | 4.8 h | 37k |
| Jul 4, 2018 | No storm report | 9,946 | 2% | 5.2 h | 3.5 h | 36k |
| Oct 3, 2024 | No storm report | 8,888 | 2% | 4.5 h | 4.5 h | 35k |
| Jul 20, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 12,961 | 2% | 4.2 h | 16 h | 34k |
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 Erie from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Windstorm 52%
- Winter storm 26%
- No storm on record 10%
- Thunderstorms 7.0%
- Ice storm 5.4%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Erie
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole New York territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. | Investor Owned | 242 | 140 | 1.39 | 19.9 | 1.5M |
| New York State Elec & Gas Corp | Investor Owned | 302 | 146 | 1.85 | 22.6 | 794k |
| Village of Arcade | NY | – | – | – | 5.4 | 76k |
| Village of Springville | NY | – | – | – | – | 26k |
| Village of Akron | NY | – | – | – | – | 18k |
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
- Cattaraugus 10 h
- Wyoming 5.3 h
- Chautauqua 4.4 h
- Genesee 3.6 h
- Erie (this county) 3.3 h
- Niagara 3.1 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 521,085 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 →