Power outage history
King County Washington
7.5hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
14th most of 31 in Washington close to 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 King'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 27 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
King, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 19, 2024 | No storm report | 518,386 | 54% | 5.8 d | 7.8 h | 22M |
| Jan 13, 2021 | Flooding | 215,586 | 22% | 2.5 d | 35 h | 3.8M |
| Aug 29, 2015 | No storm report | 117,262 | 12% | 41 h | 33 h | 1.8M |
| Oct 25, 2025 | No storm report | 122,136 | 13% | 35 h | 20 h | 1.8M |
| Nov 17, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 114,507 | 12% | 34 h | 25 h | 1.8M |
| Oct 24, 2021 | No storm report | 110,243 | 11% | 32 h | 20 h | 1.4M |
| Feb 6, 2017 | No storm report | 76,835 | 8% | 39 h | 33 h | 1.3M |
| Mar 13, 2016 | No storm report | 129,685 | 13% | 21 h | 18 h | 1.2M |
| Nov 13, 2017 | No storm report | 132,417 | 14% | 24 h | 19 h | 1.2M |
| Nov 4, 2022 | No storm report | 64,404 | 7% | 26 h | 17 h | 702k |
| Nov 29, 2022 | No storm report | 63,606 | 7% | 23 h | 19 h | 586k |
| Feb 25, 2025 | No storm report | 63,233 | 7% | 17 h | 10 h | 580k |
| Sep 17, 2021 | No storm report | 40,660 | 4% | 18 h | 21 h | 483k |
| Dec 14, 2018 | No storm report | 46,213 | 5% | 17 h | 18 h | 461k |
| Dec 9, 2015 | No storm report | 51,236 | 5% | 12 h | 16 h | 365k |
| Oct 13, 2020 | No storm report | 49,535 | 5% | 13 h | 16 h | 361k |
| Sep 7, 2020 | No storm report | 32,631 | 3% | 18 h | 4.8 h | 342k |
| Dec 27, 2022 | No storm report | 22,394 | 2% | 25 h | 24 h | 333k |
| Nov 15, 2021 | No storm report | 46,760 | 5% | 13 h | 13 h | 330k |
| Jan 6, 2019 | No storm report | 50,401 | 5% | 11 h | 13 h | 319k |
| Jan 4, 2023 | No storm report | 21,938 | 2% | 19 h | 15 h | 291k |
| Dec 26, 2022 | No storm report | 54,759 | 6% | 11 h | 12 h | 275k |
| Feb 11, 2019 | No storm report | 36,557 | 4% | 14 h | 14 h | 268k |
| Dec 18, 2024 | No storm report | 40,120 | 4% | 7.8 h | 7.2 h | 205k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | No storm report | 37,447 | 4% | 10 h | 17 h | 186k |
| Jan 9, 2023 | No storm report | 35,807 | 4% | 8.0 h | 13 h | 164k |
| Jun 3, 2024 | No storm report | 40,014 | 4% | 7.5 h | 17 h | 153k |
| Aug 18, 2024 | No storm report | 39,331 | 4% | 6.5 h | 7.5 h | 150k |
| May 18, 2022 | No storm report | 26,989 | 3% | 8.8 h | 11 h | 147k |
| Feb 17, 2018 | No storm report | 27,026 | 3% | 6.8 h | 9.2 h | 131k |
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 King from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 90%
- Flooding 10%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving King
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Washington territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puget Sound Energy Inc | Investor Owned | 580 | 178 | 1.60 | 17.0 | 1.1M |
| City of Seattle | Municipal | 158 | 129 | 1.04 | 14.7 | 472k |
| City of Tacoma | Municipal | 172 | 70 | 0.89 | 11.4 | 178k |
| Tanner Electric Coop | WA | – | – | – | 13.3 | 62k |
| PUD No 1 of Chelan County | Political Subdivision | 327 | 77 | 0.82 | 3.8 | 43k |
| Bonneville Power Administration | Federal | – | – | – | – | – |
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.
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 963,744 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 →