Power outage history
Washington County Wisconsin
3.4hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
28th most of 72 in Wisconsin 49% 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 Washington's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2022 was the worst well-recorded year, at 5.0 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Washington, 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 5, 2022 | Windstorm | 10,619 | 15% | 34 h | 15 h | 109k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 5,018 | 7% | 40 h | 36 h | 99k |
| Jan 12, 2024 | Winter storm | 4,603 | 7% | 2.1 d | 2.3 d | 95k |
| Jun 12, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 7,305 | 10% | 39 h | 38 h | 93k |
| Jul 28, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 10,109 | 14% | 30 h | 18 h | 85k |
| Aug 10, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 7,759 | 11% | 40 h | 40 h | 80k |
| Aug 9, 2025 | Flooding | 5,821 | 8% | 31 h | 16 h | 68k |
| Aug 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 3,265 | 5% | 24 h | – | 51k |
| Jul 23, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 3,220 | 5% | 20 h | – | 49k |
| Jun 28, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 4,645 | 7% | 11 h | 15 h | 35k |
| Aug 27, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 6,085 | 9% | 11 h | 9.2 h | 33k |
| Mar 24, 2016 | Winter storm | 5,750 | 8% | 15 h | 11 h | 33k |
| Mar 5, 2022 | No storm report | 3,076 | 4% | 15 h | – | 25k |
| Jun 27, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,593 | 4% | 12 h | – | 25k |
| Aug 12, 2025 | Flooding | 3,287 | 5% | 14 h | – | 24k |
| Jun 2, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 3,529 | 5% | 8.0 h | 6.2 h | 19k |
| Jul 25, 2023 | No storm report | 2,667 | 4% | 13 h | – | 19k |
| Aug 27, 2018 | Flooding | 4,153 | 6% | 6.5 h | 17 h | 16k |
| Aug 14, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 2,611 | 4% | 6.0 h | – | 13k |
| Apr 3, 2024 | Winter storm | 2,385 | 3% | 8.8 h | – | 12k |
| Jun 10, 2020 | Tropical Storm Cristobal | 1,064 | 2% | 12 h | – | 12k |
| Jun 22, 2015 | No storm report | 1,786 | 3% | 7.2 h | – | 12k |
| Mar 16, 2016 | Windstorm | 2,981 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 11k |
| Aug 3, 2021 | No storm report | 7,596 | 11% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 11k |
| Jul 20, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 4,326 | 6% | 3.8 h | 3.2 h | 11k |
| Nov 27, 2019 | Windstorm | 1,797 | 3% | 9.5 h | – | 10k |
| Mar 15, 2025 | No storm report | 1,524 | 2% | 7.5 h | – | 9.9k |
| Jun 18, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,016 | 1% | 11 h | – | 9.7k |
| Jul 19, 2020 | No storm report | 2,410 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 9.6k |
| Nov 29, 2022 | No storm report | 2,959 | 4% | 5.0 h | – | 9.6k |
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 Washington from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 32%
- Thunderstorms 31%
- Windstorm 17%
- Winter storm 11%
- Flooding 8.1%
- Tropical storm 0.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Washington
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 |
| Hartford Electric | Municipal | 17 | 0 | 0.17 | 11.9 | 7.0k |
| Slinger Utilities | Municipal | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 12.4 | 2.8k |
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 69,773 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 →