Power outage history
Franklin County Virginia
23hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
32nd most of 123 in Virginia 3.5× 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 Franklin's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2025 was the worst well-recorded year, at 3.0 days for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Franklin, 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 12, 2025 | Winter storm | 26,423 | 81% | 5.8 d | 4.0 d | 1.5M |
| Jan 6, 2025 | Winter storm | 13,633 | 42% | 3.6 d | 3.0 d | 613k |
| Feb 13, 2021 | Winter storm | 13,189 | 41% | 4.4 d | 3.0 d | 546k |
| Mar 1, 2018 | Windstorm | 14,585 | 45% | 3.9 d | 2.2 d | 397k |
| Feb 16, 2016 | Winter storm | 12,169 | 37% | 2.5 d | 32 h | 207k |
| Mar 24, 2018 | Winter storm | 6,683 | 21% | 2.6 d | 2.0 d | 169k |
| Oct 11, 2018 | Hurricane Michael | 2,856 | 9% | 2.3 d | 35 h | 98k |
| Feb 24, 2019 | Windstorm | 10,041 | 31% | 28 h | 18 h | 91k |
| Feb 20, 2019 | Winter storm | 4,471 | 14% | 41 h | 20 h | 75k |
| Oct 31, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 3,341 | 10% | 2.1 d | 46 h | 59k |
| Nov 20, 2024 | No storm report | 2,282 | 7% | 25 h | 19 h | 32k |
| Feb 24, 2018 | No storm report | 4,593 | 14% | 4.8 h | 5.8 h | 20k |
| May 2, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 4,041 | 12% | 5.0 h | 3.8 h | 17k |
| Dec 9, 2018 | Winter storm | 2,082 | 6% | 21 h | 9.0 h | 16k |
| Jun 21, 2015 | Tropical Storm Bill | 1,941 | 6% | 19 h | 18 h | 16k |
| Nov 14, 2016 | No storm report | 2,196 | 7% | 7.0 h | 13 h | 14k |
| Dec 11, 2024 | No storm report | 944 | 3% | 23 h | – | 14k |
| Jul 8, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 731 | 2% | 24 h | – | 14k |
| Jul 3, 2016 | No storm report | 1,695 | 5% | 36 h | 36 h | 14k |
| Feb 14, 2015 | Windstorm | 916 | 3% | 16 h | – | 13k |
| Feb 18, 2017 | No storm report | 1,984 | 6% | 7.8 h | 7.0 h | 13k |
| Jan 19, 2016 | No storm report | 2,180 | 7% | 7.0 h | 7.2 h | 12k |
| Jul 22, 2025 | No storm report | 1,629 | 5% | 7.0 h | 1.5 h | 11k |
| Jan 11, 2020 | No storm report | 1,420 | 4% | 13 h | – | 11k |
| Nov 17, 2020 | No storm report | 4,224 | 13% | 4.2 h | 2.0 h | 11k |
| Feb 9, 2017 | No storm report | 1,749 | 5% | 20 h | 16 h | 11k |
| Sep 1, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,596 | 8% | 8.2 h | 30 min | 10k |
| May 19, 2017 | No storm report | 1,885 | 6% | 5.5 h | 4.2 h | 10.0k |
| Oct 19, 2016 | No storm report | 2,698 | 8% | 5.0 h | 1.5 h | 9.9k |
| Oct 21, 2018 | Windstorm | 1,472 | 5% | 16 h | – | 9.9k |
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 Franklin from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Winter storm 72%
- Windstorm 12%
- No storm on record 8.7%
- Thunderstorms 3.6%
- Tropical storm 2.5%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Franklin
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 |
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
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 32,464 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 →