Power outage history
Kent County Rhode Island
3.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
4th most of 5 in Rhode Island 45% 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 Kent's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2018 was the worst well-recorded year, at 9.5 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Kent, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 2017 | Windstorm | 35,199 | 29% | 4.1 d | 3.4 d | 1.6M |
| Aug 4, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 53,780 | 45% | 2.5 d | 2.1 d | 1.4M |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 31,149 | 26% | 3.3 d | 2.4 d | 923k |
| Aug 4, 2020 | Hurricane Isaias | 22,186 | 18% | 2.2 d | 39 h | 525k |
| Oct 27, 2021 | Tropical Storm Wanda | 33,386 | 28% | 39 h | 19 h | 383k |
| Aug 22, 2021 | Hurricane Henri | 13,682 | 11% | 36 h | 32 h | 240k |
| Feb 5, 2016 | Winter storm | 15,245 | 13% | 42 h | 34 h | 171k |
| Mar 13, 2018 | Winter storm | 6,367 | 5% | 34 h | 29 h | 83k |
| Oct 31, 2019 | Windstorm | 6,045 | 5% | 23 h | 24 h | 75k |
| Dec 18, 2023 | Windstorm | 7,083 | 6% | 26 h | 24 h | 63k |
| Jul 4, 2025 | No storm report | 15,691 | 13% | 3.8 h | 14 h | 59k |
| Dec 19, 2025 | No storm report | 5,274 | 4% | 17 h | 23 h | 45k |
| Sep 30, 2020 | Windstorm | 8,983 | 7% | 12 h | 9.8 h | 43k |
| Oct 17, 2019 | Windstorm | 2,078 | 2% | 28 h | – | 41k |
| Jul 22, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 5,003 | 4% | 9.8 h | 7.2 h | 37k |
| Apr 13, 2020 | Windstorm | 2,663 | 2% | 16 h | – | 29k |
| Nov 30, 2020 | Windstorm | 5,120 | 4% | 11 h | 13 h | 24k |
| Mar 7, 2018 | Winter storm | 2,229 | 2% | 12 h | – | 21k |
| Feb 9, 2017 | Winter storm | 5,405 | 4% | 7.5 h | 6.2 h | 20k |
| Mar 21, 2025 | No storm report | 3,487 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 14k |
| Aug 14, 2016 | No storm report | 4,467 | 4% | 3.2 h | – | 13k |
| Jul 23, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,590 | 1% | 7.5 h | – | 11k |
| Aug 18, 2018 | No storm report | 2,829 | 2% | 8.0 h | – | 11k |
| Jun 18, 2022 | No storm report | 9,646 | 8% | 1.5 h | 4.0 h | 11k |
| Mar 2, 2017 | No storm report | 3,978 | 3% | 2.8 h | – | 11k |
| Jul 4, 2025 | No storm report | 1,947 | 2% | 9.8 h | – | 10k |
| Oct 7, 2020 | No storm report | 3,965 | 3% | 2.5 h | – | 9.6k |
| Dec 11, 2023 | No storm report | 4,490 | 4% | 2.2 h | – | 9.4k |
| Sep 30, 2024 | No storm report | 1,310 | 1% | 7.0 h | – | 9.0k |
| Jul 9, 2025 | No storm report | 9,173 | 8% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 8.5k |
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 Kent from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Windstorm 43%
- Tropical storm 40%
- No storm on record 12%
- Winter storm 3.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Kent
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Rhode Island territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Narragansett Electric Co | Investor Owned | 183 | 60 | 0.96 | 29.4 | 458k |
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
- Washington 16 h
- Windham, CT 12 h
- New London, CT 9.2 h
- Providence 4.5 h
- Kent (this county) 3.6 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 120,795 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 →