Power outage history
Columbia County Wisconsin
1.4hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
61st most of 72 in Wisconsin 79% 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 Columbia's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2020 was the worst well-recorded year, at 2.1 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Columbia, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 4,506 | 8% | 44 h | 37 h | 91k |
| Jun 2, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 8,271 | 15% | 23 h | 19 h | 69k |
| Aug 16, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 5,229 | 10% | 20 h | 19 h | 39k |
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 4,552 | 8% | 15 h | 15 h | 26k |
| Dec 15, 2022 | Winter storm | 3,480 | 6% | 17 h | 3.2 h | 25k |
| Aug 24, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 2,377 | 4% | 10 h | – | 14k |
| Jun 15, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 4,267 | 8% | 8.2 h | 16 h | 13k |
| Aug 27, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 2,017 | 4% | 7.0 h | – | 8.2k |
| Dec 16, 2021 | Windstorm | 1,231 | 2% | 8.5 h | – | 8.0k |
| Oct 29, 2018 | No storm report | 2,769 | 5% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 7.7k |
| Jun 14, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 2,892 | 5% | 5.2 h | 3.2 h | 7.1k |
| Sep 23, 2017 | No storm report | 1,168 | 2% | 5.5 h | – | 6.2k |
| Jun 23, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,571 | 3% | 6.5 h | – | 5.5k |
| Apr 10, 2019 | Winter storm | 1,425 | 3% | 4.0 h | – | 4.4k |
| Jun 30, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,486 | 3% | 3.2 h | – | 4.4k |
| May 30, 2015 | No storm report | 1,255 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 3.8k |
| Aug 10, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 1,875 | 3% | 3.8 h | – | 3.7k |
| Oct 16, 2024 | No storm report | 1,502 | 3% | 2.0 h | – | 2.9k |
| Jul 24, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 871 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 2.6k |
| Oct 28, 2015 | No storm report | 1,277 | 2% | 2.0 h | – | 2.5k |
| Jun 1, 2019 | No storm report | 1,181 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 2.5k |
| Jun 27, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,246 | 2% | 2.8 h | – | 2.4k |
| Aug 2, 2019 | No storm report | 2,195 | 4% | 1.2 h | – | 2.4k |
| Apr 18, 2019 | Flooding | 1,363 | 3% | 1.8 h | – | 2.4k |
| Feb 8, 2024 | No storm report | 1,832 | 3% | 2.0 h | – | 2.3k |
| Apr 14, 2018 | Winter storm | 3,079 | 6% | 48 min | 30 min | 2.3k |
| Jul 19, 2019 | No storm report | 872 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 2.3k |
| Aug 6, 2024 | No storm report | 607 | 1% | 3.8 h | – | 2.2k |
| Jul 13, 2015 | Flooding | 967 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 2.1k |
| Jun 28, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,610 | 3% | 1.5 h | – | 2.0k |
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 Columbia from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 73%
- No storm on record 13%
- Winter storm 9.8%
- Windstorm 2.1%
- Flooding 1.5%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Columbia
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Wisconsin territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin Electric Power Co | Investor Owned | 185 | 93 | 0.90 | 20.5 | 1.1M |
| Wisconsin Power & Light Co | Investor Owned | 96 | 75 | 0.79 | 18.5 | 441k |
| Adams-Columbia Electric Coop | Cooperative | 108 | 66 | 0.87 | 19.0 | 36k |
| Wisconsin Dells Electric Util | WI | – | – | – | – | 12k |
| Village of Pardeeville | WI | – | – | – | – | 9.0k |
| City of Columbus | Municipal | – | – | – | 12.8 | 2.5k |
| City of Lodi | Municipal | – | – | – | 13.8 | 1.5k |
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 53,762 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 →