– 0% of Escambia out 0 customers out in Alabama

Power outage history

Escambia County Alabama

6.4hours

without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025

35th most of 60 in Alabama close to the national median

Worst outage on record Hurricane Sally · Sep 16, 2020 52% of customers out · 90% back in 2.9 days
Hours without power, average customer per year 6.4h / yr State average 7.0 h · national median 6.6 h
Major outages a year 1.4 Peaks over 10% of customers or 50,000 customers
Typical time to restore 90% 3hours Median across major outages, from the peak
Longest single outage 4.0days Hurricane Sally, over 1% of customers out
Outage hours on storm days 82% Share falling on days with a NOAA storm report here
Worst year 2020 31 hours without power, average customer
Electricity customers 18,593 ORNL customer model · 8 well-covered years

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 Escambia's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.

20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
0%100% of customers out

Year by year

Hours in the dark, per customer

2020 was the worst well-recorded year, at 31 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.

Escambia, hours without power per customer

EscambiaUS median countyAlabama average
0 5 10 15 20 ’15 ’16 ’17 2.5 ’18 2.1 ’19 31 ’20 3.8 ’21 2.8 ’22 3.8 ’23 2.8 ’24 2.5 ’25 AL 7.0 US 6.6

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
Sep 15, 2020 Hurricane Sally 9,643 52% 4.0 d 2.9 d 383k
Oct 28, 2020 Hurricane Zeta 6,027 32% 45 h 29 h 122k
Jun 16, 2023 Thunderstorms 6,245 34% 31 h 11 h 43k
Jun 19, 2021 Tropical Storm Claudette 1,486 8% 41 h 34 h 26k
Apr 23, 2020 Thunderstorms 3,898 21% 11 h 8.0 h 20k
Apr 24, 2021 Thunderstorms 3,523 19% 15 h 12 h 17k
Mar 4, 2020 Thunderstorms 1,743 9% 9.0 h 8.8 h 12k
Dec 24, 2022 No storm report 2,868 15% 4.8 h 2.5 h 12k
Jun 28, 2018 Thunderstorms 3,368 18% 8.5 h 3.0 h 7.8k
Aug 13, 2021 No storm report 3,466 19% 3.0 h 3.0 h 6.6k
May 13, 2024 Thunderstorms 1,013 5% 10 h 8.8 h 6.1k
Jan 9, 2024 No storm report 893 5% 14 h – 6.1k

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.

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% peak+24h+48h+72h+96h half back by +4h 90% by +10h

When it happens

The outage clock

Customer-hours out by month (rings, January innermost) and local hour, 2018–2025.

00061218 Jan inside

What was happening

Weather behind the outages

Each outage is matched to NOAA storm reports for Escambia from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.

  • Tropical storm 67%
  • No storm on record 18%
  • Thunderstorms 14%

Who keeps the lights on

Utilities serving Escambia

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
Covington Electric Coop, Inc Cooperative 211 86 2.29 17.6 24k
Southern Pine Elec Coop, Inc Cooperative – – – 14.6 21k

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

Across Alabama

Where it is darkest

Hours / yr64+

All Alabama 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 18,593 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 →