Power outage history
Buena Vista City Virginia
2.0hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
120th most of 123 in Virginia 69% 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 Buena Vista'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 3.4 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Buena Vista, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 17, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 227 | 7% | 27 h | 27 h | 4.3k |
| May 26, 2021 | No storm report | 1,402 | 42% | 3.0 h | 2.8 h | 4.2k |
| Aug 26, 2016 | No storm report | 1,420 | 42% | 2.0 h | 12 min | 2.8k |
| Sep 27, 2024 | Windstorm | 607 | 18% | 14 h | 4.5 h | 2.8k |
| May 4, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 705 | 21% | 20 h | 19 h | 2.4k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 195 | 6% | 14 h | 4.5 h | 2.2k |
| Feb 23, 2024 | No storm report | 467 | 14% | 4.8 h | 11 h | 2.2k |
| Jun 13, 2021 | No storm report | 724 | 22% | 13 h | 12 h | 2.2k |
| Nov 14, 2025 | No storm report | 719 | 21% | 3.5 h | 4.0 h | 2.1k |
| Jan 24, 2020 | No storm report | 1,373 | 41% | 5.8 h | 2.2 h | 2.0k |
| May 27, 2022 | No storm report | 403 | 12% | 4.8 h | 4.8 h | 1.9k |
| Jan 19, 2018 | No storm report | 1,930 | 57% | 1.2 h | 1.5 h | 1.9k |
| Jul 5, 2016 | No storm report | 1,408 | 42% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.7k |
| Jul 14, 2017 | No storm report | 962 | 29% | 2.2 h | 48 min | 1.5k |
| Jun 26, 2025 | No storm report | 461 | 14% | 4.8 h | 5.0 h | 1.2k |
| Dec 28, 2020 | No storm report | 947 | 28% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 1.1k |
| May 2, 2016 | No storm report | 147 | 4% | 7.5 h | – | 1.1k |
| May 29, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 589 | 18% | 6.8 h | 4.0 h | 1.1k |
| Apr 16, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 141 | 4% | 7.2 h | – | 1.0k |
| Mar 24, 2017 | No storm report | 388 | 12% | 2.5 h | 2.5 h | 970 |
| Sep 29, 2024 | No storm report | 148 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 814 |
| Feb 8, 2017 | No storm report | 1,400 | 42% | 1.5 h | 3.5 h | 736 |
| Jun 23, 2016 | No storm report | 51 | 2% | 14 h | – | 680 |
| Sep 17, 2018 | Hurricane Florence | 345 | 10% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 630 |
| Sep 17, 2022 | No storm report | 402 | 12% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 599 |
| Feb 16, 2025 | Windstorm | 152 | 5% | 3.8 h | – | 569 |
| May 31, 2016 | No storm report | 147 | 4% | 3.8 h | – | 551 |
| Sep 18, 2022 | No storm report | 66 | 2% | 8.0 h | – | 528 |
| May 16, 2025 | No storm report | 84 | 3% | 6.2 h | – | 525 |
| May 11, 2020 | No storm report | 505 | 15% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 505 |
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 Buena Vista from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 64%
- Thunderstorms 20%
- Windstorm 12%
- Tropical storm 2.4%
- Winter storm 0.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Buena Vista
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 |
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
- Rockbridge 12 h
- Buena Vista (this county) 2.0 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 3,365 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 →