Power outage history
Butte County South Dakota
3.0hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
26th most of 32 in South Dakota 55% 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 Butte'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 4.7 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Butte, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 13, 2025 | No storm report | 3,573 | 76% | 4.0 h | 30 min | 6.7k |
| Mar 11, 2023 | Windstorm | 1,402 | 30% | 5.2 h | 4.8 h | 6.4k |
| Jun 25, 2024 | No storm report | 258 | 5% | 47 h | 47 h | 6.0k |
| Jun 12, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 971 | 21% | 10 h | 4.8 h | 4.9k |
| Aug 1, 2018 | No storm report | 1,696 | 36% | 4.2 h | 4.0 h | 4.7k |
| May 8, 2024 | No storm report | 184 | 4% | 27 h | – | 4.4k |
| Jul 13, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 175 | 4% | 20 h | – | 2.4k |
| Jan 3, 2022 | No storm report | 76 | 2% | 25 h | – | 1.9k |
| Sep 4, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 373 | 8% | 8.0 h | 9.2 h | 1.8k |
| Feb 11, 2016 | No storm report | 2,382 | 51% | 48 min | 48 min | 1.8k |
| Jan 14, 2021 | Windstorm | 115 | 2% | 21 h | – | 1.7k |
| Mar 24, 2022 | No storm report | 1,177 | 25% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 1.7k |
| Oct 8, 2020 | No storm report | 168 | 4% | 10 h | – | 1.7k |
| Jul 14, 2022 | No storm report | 754 | 16% | 2.8 h | 4.5 h | 1.6k |
| Oct 4, 2017 | No storm report | 604 | 13% | 5.5 h | 1.8 h | 1.5k |
| Feb 4, 2020 | No storm report | 175 | 4% | 8.2 h | – | 1.4k |
| Apr 14, 2023 | No storm report | 69 | 1% | 20 h | – | 1.4k |
| Dec 31, 2021 | No storm report | 76 | 2% | 17 h | – | 1.3k |
| Jan 30, 2023 | No storm report | 176 | 4% | 5.8 h | – | 1.0k |
| May 21, 2024 | No storm report | 169 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 930 |
| Jun 6, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 96 | 2% | 10 h | – | 915 |
| Jun 11, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 270 | 6% | 3.8 h | 1.0 h | 836 |
| May 28, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 750 | 16% | 1.2 h | 1.0 h | 803 |
| Jun 10, 2023 | No storm report | 160 | 3% | 5.0 h | – | 754 |
| May 20, 2021 | No storm report | 172 | 4% | 4.2 h | – | 704 |
| Dec 16, 2022 | Winter storm | 516 | 11% | 4.0 h | 48 min | 694 |
| May 7, 2024 | Windstorm | 585 | 12% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 686 |
| Jun 11, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 167 | 4% | 7.2 h | – | 680 |
| Jan 10, 2022 | No storm report | 76 | 2% | 8.2 h | – | 627 |
| Apr 8, 2022 | No storm report | 165 | 4% | 3.8 h | – | 619 |
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 Butte from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 68%
- Thunderstorms 17%
- Windstorm 11%
- Winter storm 3.3%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Butte
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole South Dakota territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Hills Power, Inc. | Investor Owned | 541 | 43 | 2.27 | 15.1 | 68k |
| Butte Electric Coop, Inc | SD | 48 | 48 | 0.64 | 13.6 | 68k |
| Grand Electric Coop, Inc | SD | – | – | – | 11.7 | 52k |
| WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration | Federal | – | – | – | – | – |
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 4,717 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 →