Power outage history
Covington County Alabama
2.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
56th most of 60 in Alabama 60% 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 Covington'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 9.2 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Covington, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 7,212 | 24% | 44 h | 39 h | 150k |
| Sep 16, 2020 | Hurricane Sally | 3,670 | 12% | 33 h | 24 h | 66k |
| Jun 25, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,832 | 13% | 15 h | 14 h | 21k |
| Jun 14, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 2,275 | 8% | 22 h | 21 h | 20k |
| Apr 24, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 3,502 | 12% | 17 h | 11 h | 17k |
| Jun 16, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 3,344 | 11% | 10 h | 8.2 h | 16k |
| Oct 28, 2020 | Hurricane Zeta | 1,445 | 5% | 16 h | – | 13k |
| Feb 16, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,751 | 12% | 9.5 h | 3.2 h | 11k |
| Apr 3, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 1,787 | 6% | 8.2 h | 7.0 h | 9.9k |
| Feb 15, 2016 | Tornadoes | 1,585 | 5% | 9.2 h | 6.5 h | 8.2k |
| Apr 23, 2020 | Tornadoes | 983 | 3% | 10 h | – | 6.6k |
| Jun 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,324 | 8% | 5.8 h | 6.0 h | 5.9k |
| Feb 13, 2025 | No storm report | 1,974 | 7% | 5.8 h | 4.0 h | 5.8k |
| Jun 17, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,164 | 4% | 6.8 h | – | 5.8k |
| Jul 16, 2024 | No storm report | 1,089 | 4% | 4.5 h | – | 4.9k |
| Jul 18, 2019 | No storm report | 2,400 | 8% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 4.8k |
| Apr 3, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,383 | 5% | 5.5 h | – | 4.6k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,149 | 7% | 4.0 h | 3.8 h | 4.6k |
| Apr 13, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,859 | 6% | 4.8 h | 3.8 h | 4.1k |
| Oct 10, 2020 | No storm report | 1,292 | 4% | 3.0 h | – | 3.9k |
| Aug 19, 2024 | No storm report | 1,048 | 3% | 4.2 h | – | 3.8k |
| Jan 12, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 1,021 | 3% | 5.8 h | – | 3.8k |
| Oct 8, 2017 | Hurricane Nate | 1,304 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 3.6k |
| Jun 17, 2023 | No storm report | 972 | 3% | 4.0 h | – | 3.5k |
| Jul 10, 2020 | No storm report | 1,233 | 4% | 7.5 h | – | 3.5k |
| Apr 30, 2025 | No storm report | 1,195 | 4% | 2.5 h | – | 3.0k |
| Oct 17, 2024 | No storm report | 1,426 | 5% | 2.0 h | – | 2.8k |
| Dec 10, 2023 | No storm report | 910 | 3% | 5.0 h | – | 2.6k |
| Jul 5, 2023 | No storm report | 1,436 | 5% | 2.0 h | – | 2.6k |
| Sep 24, 2018 | No storm report | 370 | 1% | 7.2 h | – | 2.5k |
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 Covington from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 56%
- No storm on record 26%
- Tropical storm 17%
- Tornadoes 1.4%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Covington
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Alabama territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama Power Co | Investor Owned | 410 | 108 | 2.06 | 17.9 | 1.3M |
| Pioneer Electric Coop, Inc | AL | 227 | 227 | 2.21 | 16.4 | 146k |
| City of Opp | AL | – | – | – | – | 35k |
| Covington Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 211 | 86 | 2.29 | 17.6 | 24k |
| Wiregrass Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 111 | 94 | 1.53 | 16.0 | 23k |
| Southern Pine Elec Coop, Inc | Cooperative | – | – | – | 14.6 | 21k |
| City of Andalusia | Municipal | – | – | – | 16.2 | 3.6k |
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
- Butler 14 h
- Crenshaw 9.7 h
- Geneva 8.1 h
- Escambia 6.4 h
- Walton, FL 3.1 h
- Coffee 3.0 h
- Covington (this county) 2.6 h
- Okaloosa, FL 2.5 h
- Conecuh 2.0 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 30,321 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 →