Power Out Map
– 0% of Amherst out 0 customers out in Virginia

Power outage history

Amherst County Virginia

19hours

without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025

44th most of 123 in Virginia 2.8× the national median

Worst outage on record Mar 2, 2018 41% of customers out · 90% back in 3.1 days
Hours without power, average customer per year 19h / yr State average 8.7 h · national median 6.6 h
Major outages a year 3.9 Peaks over 10% of customers or 50,000 customers
Typical time to restore 90% 12hours Median across major outages, from the peak
Longest single outage 3.8days Mar 1, 2018, over 1% of customers out
Outage hours on storm days 74% Share falling on days with a NOAA storm report here
Worst year 2022 39 hours without power, average customer
Electricity customers 18,016 ORNL customer model · 8 well-covered years

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 Amherst's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.

20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
0%100% of customers out

Year by year

Hours in the dark, per customer

2022 was the worst well-recorded year, at 39 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.

Amherst, hours without power per customer

AmherstUS median countyVirginia average
0 10 20 30 40 50 5.3 ’15 5.3 ’16 4.1 ’17 35 ’18 16 ’19 5.3 ’20 15 ’21 39 ’22 13 ’23 11 ’24 15 ’25 VA 8.7 US 6.6

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
Mar 1, 2018 Windstorm 7,416 41% 3.8 d 3.1 d 337k
Jun 17, 2022 Thunderstorms 8,180 45% 3.0 d 24 h 256k
Jan 3, 2022 Winter storm 5,002 28% 3.3 d 2.1 d 158k
May 4, 2021 Thunderstorms 5,286 29% 47 h 36 h 139k
Apr 15, 2018 Tornadoes 4,496 25% 3.2 d 24 h 113k
Jan 6, 2025 Winter storm 4,708 26% 2.5 d 2.1 d 98k
Feb 20, 2019 Winter storm 3,508 19% 29 h 12 h 58k
Jul 21, 2019 Thunderstorms 5,322 30% 24 h 16 h 46k
Dec 23, 2022 Winter storm 1,806 10% 2.2 d 29 h 42k
Apr 1, 2023 Windstorm 3,587 20% 29 h 20 h 41k
Feb 17, 2022 No storm report 1,363 8% 28 h 14 h 36k
Feb 16, 2025 Windstorm 3,182 18% 25 h 19 h 35k

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.

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% peak+24h+48h+72h+96h half back by +12h 90% by +34h

When it happens

The outage clock

Customer-hours out by month (rings, January innermost) and local hour, 2018–2025.

00061218 Jan inside

What was happening

Weather behind the outages

Each outage is matched to NOAA storm reports for Amherst from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.

  • No storm on record 26%
  • Thunderstorms 26%
  • Windstorm 20%
  • Winter storm 19%
  • Tornadoes 4.9%
  • Tropical storm 4.0%
  • Flooding 0.5%

Who keeps the lights on

Utilities serving Amherst

As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Virginia territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.

Utility Type Outage min / yr Excl. major storms Outages / yr Residential ¢/kWh Customers
Virginia Electric & Power Co Investor Owned 307 144 1.78 15.2 2.4M
Appalachian Power Co Investor Owned 1,116 328 2.36 17.2 468k
Central Virginia Electric Coop Cooperative 796 501 5.03 16.2 35k

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

Across Virginia

Where it is darkest

Hours / yr64+

All Virginia counties →

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 18,016 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 →