Power outage history
Sumter County South Carolina
4.5hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
34th most of 46 in South Carolina 32% 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 Sumter'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 8.1 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Sumter, 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 | 26,512 | 62% | 5.0 d | 3.3 d | 1.4M |
| Oct 11, 2018 | Hurricane Michael | 10,397 | 24% | 29 h | 26 h | 108k |
| Oct 8, 2016 | Hurricane Matthew | 27,446 | 65% | 10 h | 13 h | 106k |
| Sep 27, 2024 | Hurricane Helene | 8,947 | 21% | 30 h | 15 h | 84k |
| Sep 2, 2016 | Hurricane Hermine | 6,506 | 15% | 42 h | 23 h | 79k |
| Sep 15, 2018 | Hurricane Florence | 3,964 | 9% | 34 h | 23 h | 61k |
| Apr 8, 2021 | No storm report | 15,457 | 36% | 5.8 h | 5.8 h | 48k |
| Jan 3, 2022 | Windstorm | 3,979 | 9% | 16 h | 8.8 h | 33k |
| Jan 16, 2022 | Winter storm | 6,496 | 15% | 16 h | 10 h | 31k |
| Sep 30, 2022 | Hurricane Ian | 9,719 | 23% | 17 h | 3.5 h | 31k |
| Feb 28, 2021 | No storm report | 4,932 | 12% | 7.8 h | 7.5 h | 30k |
| Jun 22, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 5,233 | 12% | 11 h | 9.0 h | 27k |
| Apr 15, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 3,124 | 7% | 13 h | 11 h | 24k |
| Jul 13, 2019 | No storm report | 14,520 | 34% | 2.8 h | 1.5 h | 21k |
| Oct 7, 2020 | No storm report | 5,165 | 12% | 4.8 h | 3.8 h | 17k |
| Sep 11, 2017 | Windstorm | 3,904 | 9% | 9.0 h | 6.5 h | 16k |
| Aug 30, 2023 | Hurricane Idalia | 2,856 | 7% | 13 h | 8.2 h | 15k |
| Feb 19, 2015 | No storm report | 7,167 | 17% | 2.5 h | 2.2 h | 14k |
| Jun 17, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 2,398 | 6% | 8.2 h | 8.2 h | 13k |
| Aug 29, 2017 | No storm report | 7,795 | 18% | 1.8 h | 30 min | 12k |
| Sep 26, 2021 | No storm report | 559 | 1% | 20 h | – | 11k |
| Jun 20, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 4,139 | 10% | 6.0 h | 4.8 h | 11k |
| Feb 24, 2016 | No storm report | 3,899 | 9% | 5.2 h | 4.8 h | 10k |
| Mar 28, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 2,944 | 7% | 6.8 h | 6.2 h | 10k |
| Apr 25, 2021 | No storm report | 1,800 | 4% | 6.0 h | – | 10k |
| Jun 22, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 3,329 | 8% | 4.2 h | 3.2 h | 9.4k |
| Jun 14, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 6,415 | 15% | 3.8 h | 2.5 h | 9.2k |
| Oct 5, 2015 | No storm report | 956 | 2% | 10 h | – | 8.3k |
| Nov 3, 2024 | No storm report | 2,778 | 7% | 3.0 h | 9.8 h | 8.3k |
| Aug 13, 2016 | No storm report | 4,040 | 10% | 2.0 h | 48 min | 8.1k |
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 Sumter from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 44%
- Tropical storm 30%
- Thunderstorms 19%
- Windstorm 4.1%
- Winter storm 3.2%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Sumter
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 |
| City of Camden | SC | – | – | – | 12.3 | 110k |
| Black River Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 96 | 96 | 1.09 | 15.1 | 31k |
| Tri-County Electric Coop, Inc (SC) | Cooperative | 265 | 112 | 2.45 | 19.9 | 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.
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 42,515 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 →