Power outage history
Clarendon County South Carolina
3.7hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
37th most of 46 in South Carolina 44% 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 Clarendon's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2019 was the worst well-recorded year, at 5.9 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Clarendon, 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 8, 2016 | Hurricane Matthew | 6,285 | 35% | 5.7 d | 4.5 d | 445k |
| Oct 4, 2015 | No storm report | 3,275 | 18% | 19 h | 6.2 h | 46k |
| Sep 27, 2024 | Hurricane Helene | 4,593 | 26% | 29 h | 13 h | 37k |
| Aug 30, 2023 | Hurricane Idalia | 2,121 | 12% | 19 h | 5.8 h | 28k |
| Sep 30, 2022 | Hurricane Ian | 2,303 | 13% | 23 h | 20 h | 18k |
| Apr 19, 2019 | Tornadoes | 5,407 | 30% | 14 h | 11 h | 16k |
| Jun 22, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,385 | 13% | 9.2 h | 8.0 h | 16k |
| Sep 2, 2016 | Hurricane Hermine | 1,766 | 10% | 23 h | 4.5 h | 15k |
| Jun 20, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 3,331 | 19% | 10 h | 4.5 h | 14k |
| Sep 15, 2018 | Hurricane Florence | 1,607 | 9% | 14 h | 1.0 h | 12k |
| Oct 8, 2016 | Hurricane Matthew | 6,298 | 35% | 6.0 h | 13 h | 10k |
| Oct 11, 2018 | Hurricane Michael | 3,283 | 18% | 12 h | 4.8 h | 10k |
| Jun 22, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,466 | 14% | 7.5 h | 5.0 h | 9.1k |
| Jun 16, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 1,866 | 10% | 11 h | 7.0 h | 8.4k |
| Jan 3, 2022 | No storm report | 1,557 | 9% | 14 h | 9.2 h | 8.2k |
| Oct 13, 2017 | No storm report | 6,701 | 38% | 3.2 h | 1.2 h | 8.1k |
| Jun 24, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,469 | 14% | 11 h | 5.8 h | 8.0k |
| Aug 5, 2018 | No storm report | 3,450 | 19% | 5.5 h | 1.2 h | 7.5k |
| Sep 11, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,047 | 6% | 14 h | 7.0 h | 5.7k |
| May 4, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,371 | 13% | 7.5 h | 3.2 h | 5.6k |
| Sep 5, 2019 | Hurricane Dorian | 1,658 | 9% | 9.2 h | 30 min | 4.7k |
| Aug 23, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,705 | 10% | 4.0 h | 3.5 h | 4.4k |
| Dec 24, 2020 | Tornadoes | 907 | 5% | 9.5 h | 12 h | 4.2k |
| Aug 17, 2018 | No storm report | 3,020 | 17% | 4.0 h | 3.2 h | 4.0k |
| Jan 22, 2025 | No storm report | 289 | 2% | 14 h | – | 3.4k |
| Feb 7, 2020 | No storm report | 1,519 | 9% | 6.2 h | 2.2 h | 3.1k |
| Jan 10, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 905 | 5% | 5.5 h | 5.2 h | 3.1k |
| Aug 13, 2020 | No storm report | 2,099 | 12% | 3.2 h | 3.0 h | 3.0k |
| Aug 23, 2017 | No storm report | 1,357 | 8% | 2.2 h | 1.0 h | 3.0k |
| Feb 20, 2023 | No storm report | 601 | 3% | 6.5 h | – | 3.0k |
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 Clarendon from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 39%
- Tropical storm 31%
- Thunderstorms 25%
- Tornadoes 5.3%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Clarendon
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole South 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 Progress | Investor Owned | 119 | 106 | 1.14 | 14.1 | 144k |
| Santee Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 211 | 147 | – | 16.4 | 35k |
| Black River Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 96 | 96 | 1.09 | 15.1 | 31k |
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
- Calhoun 4.9 h
- Williamsburg 4.6 h
- Sumter 4.5 h
- Clarendon (this county) 3.7 h
- Florence 3.6 h
- Orangeburg 3.0 h
- Berkeley 2.6 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 17,809 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 →