Power outage history
Wichita County Texas
2.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
225th most of 240 in Texas 57% 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 Wichita's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2021 was the worst well-recorded year, at 8.6 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Wichita, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 15, 2021 | Winter storm | 14,558 | 16% | 2.7 d | 2.2 d | 561k |
| Aug 10, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 10,610 | 12% | 47 h | 45 h | 213k |
| Oct 10, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 6,853 | 8% | 42 h | 41 h | 122k |
| Oct 27, 2020 | Ice storm | 6,856 | 8% | 18 h | 12 h | 43k |
| Dec 26, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 12,100 | 13% | 11 h | 10 h | 42k |
| Aug 16, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 3,118 | 3% | 21 h | – | 32k |
| Jun 7, 2018 | Windstorm | 5,128 | 6% | 16 h | 17 h | 32k |
| Apr 13, 2019 | Windstorm | 3,664 | 4% | 18 h | – | 26k |
| Jun 3, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,831 | 4% | 20 h | – | 24k |
| Jul 6, 2025 | No storm report | 2,251 | 2% | 4.5 h | – | 9.0k |
| Nov 12, 2020 | No storm report | 3,464 | 4% | 2.0 h | – | 6.9k |
| Feb 6, 2021 | No storm report | 2,713 | 3% | 2.8 h | – | 6.7k |
| Apr 15, 2025 | No storm report | 1,151 | 1% | 6.2 h | – | 6.3k |
| Jul 27, 2020 | No storm report | 2,889 | 3% | 3.0 h | – | 5.6k |
| Jun 10, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 2,563 | 3% | 3.0 h | – | 5.3k |
| Aug 24, 2018 | No storm report | 2,103 | 2% | 3.5 h | – | 4.9k |
| Dec 11, 2019 | No storm report | 1,138 | 1% | 3.8 h | – | 4.3k |
| May 15, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,505 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 3.9k |
| May 21, 2020 | No storm report | 2,201 | 2% | 2.2 h | – | 3.8k |
| May 7, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 3,948 | 4% | 2.8 h | – | 3.7k |
| May 22, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 2,187 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 3.5k |
| Jun 4, 2020 | No storm report | 3,285 | 4% | 1.2 h | – | 3.4k |
| Sep 26, 2022 | No storm report | 3,221 | 4% | 1.2 h | – | 3.1k |
| Mar 28, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,796 | 2% | 1.8 h | – | 3.1k |
| Dec 13, 2022 | No storm report | 3,382 | 4% | 1.0 h | – | 2.9k |
| Jun 16, 2019 | No storm report | 2,262 | 2% | 1.2 h | – | 2.8k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | No storm report | 1,392 | 2% | 2.0 h | – | 2.8k |
| Jul 27, 2021 | No storm report | 1,236 | 1% | 2.2 h | – | 2.8k |
| Feb 18, 2025 | No storm report | 1,907 | 2% | 2.2 h | – | 2.7k |
| May 15, 2018 | No storm report | 1,634 | 2% | 1.8 h | – | 2.6k |
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 Wichita from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Winter storm 44%
- Thunderstorms 37%
- No storm on record 11%
- Windstorm 4.8%
- Ice storm 3.4%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Wichita
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Texas territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Rural Elec Assn Inc | OK | – | – | – | 11.9 | 29k |
| City of Electra | TX | – | – | – | – | 13k |
| Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC | Investor Owned | 232 | 67 | 1.55 | – | – |
| AEP Texas North Company | Investor Owned | 133 | 106 | 1.41 | – | – |
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
- Archer 13 h
- Tillman, OK 10 h
- Baylor 9.7 h
- Clay 7.5 h
- Cotton, OK 6.5 h
- Wilbarger 5.7 h
- Wichita (this county) 2.8 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 90,763 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 →