Power outage history
Chittenden County Vermont
2.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
14th most of 14 in Vermont 64% 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 Chittenden's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2024 was the worst well-recorded year, at 6.9 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Chittenden, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 30, 2017 | Windstorm | 21,446 | 19% | 3.0 d | 3.3 d | 597k |
| Aug 9, 2024 | Hurricane Debby | 18,305 | 16% | 46 h | 42 h | 304k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | Windstorm | 18,073 | 16% | 2.6 d | 2.1 d | 296k |
| Jan 10, 2024 | Windstorm | 9,883 | 9% | 2.4 d | 44 h | 217k |
| Apr 19, 2022 | Winter storm | 11,317 | 10% | 13 h | 11 h | 85k |
| Jan 13, 2024 | Windstorm | 2,994 | 3% | 15 h | – | 32k |
| Jul 20, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 8,162 | 7% | 8.0 h | 7.8 h | 21k |
| Jul 8, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 5,420 | 5% | 6.5 h | 7.5 h | 19k |
| Aug 11, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 6,433 | 6% | 3.0 h | 2.2 h | 15k |
| Feb 7, 2020 | Winter storm | 2,412 | 2% | 6.8 h | – | 14k |
| Dec 12, 2021 | Windstorm | 4,570 | 4% | 4.2 h | – | 14k |
| Oct 1, 2024 | No storm report | 2,577 | 2% | 5.2 h | – | 14k |
| Apr 16, 2018 | Windstorm | 2,291 | 2% | 6.5 h | – | 13k |
| May 18, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 4,614 | 4% | 3.5 h | – | 12k |
| Oct 14, 2016 | No storm report | 6,206 | 5% | 2.0 h | 3.0 h | 12k |
| Nov 29, 2018 | No storm report | 1,450 | 1% | 9.0 h | – | 12k |
| Jul 5, 2022 | No storm report | 7,240 | 6% | 2.8 h | 4.0 h | 11k |
| Nov 2, 2017 | No storm report | 2,658 | 2% | 5.2 h | – | 10k |
| Nov 28, 2018 | Winter storm | 5,207 | 5% | 3.8 h | 8.0 h | 10k |
| Aug 5, 2021 | No storm report | 3,944 | 3% | 2.8 h | – | 10k |
| Feb 27, 2021 | No storm report | 2,393 | 2% | 4.8 h | – | 10k |
| Nov 2, 2017 | No storm report | 2,492 | 2% | 7.0 h | – | 10k |
| Aug 21, 2021 | No storm report | 11,119 | 10% | 1.8 h | 1.0 h | 9.8k |
| Nov 24, 2024 | No storm report | 2,449 | 2% | 6.5 h | – | 9.8k |
| Jul 30, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 4,375 | 4% | 3.0 h | – | 9.7k |
| May 4, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 3,076 | 3% | 5.0 h | – | 9.7k |
| Jul 23, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 3,114 | 3% | 3.2 h | – | 8.6k |
| Dec 11, 2023 | Winter storm | 2,536 | 2% | 4.5 h | – | 8.5k |
| Apr 13, 2015 | No storm report | 4,842 | 4% | 3.5 h | – | 8.2k |
| Jan 19, 2023 | Winter storm | 1,702 | 2% | 4.8 h | – | 8.1k |
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 Chittenden from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Windstorm 41%
- Tropical storm 22%
- No storm on record 18%
- Winter storm 12%
- Thunderstorms 6.5%
- Flooding 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Chittenden
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Vermont territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green Mountain Power Corp | Investor Owned | 265 | 190 | 1.75 | 23.3 | 228k |
| Vermont Electric Cooperative, Inc | Cooperative | 251 | 151 | 2.06 | 24.3 | 36k |
| City of Burlington Electric | Municipal | – | – | – | 19.8 | 18k |
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
- Essex, NY 17 h
- Addison 9.5 h
- Grand Isle 9.1 h
- Washington 7.7 h
- Lamoille 5.2 h
- Franklin 4.5 h
- Clinton, NY 4.3 h
- Chittenden (this county) 2.3 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 113,089 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 →