Power outage history
Merced County California
2.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
54th most of 56 in California 65% 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 Merced'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 3.2 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Merced, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 26, 2021 | No storm report | 9,587 | 7% | 22 h | 17 h | 133k |
| Dec 11, 2022 | Flooding | 19,037 | 13% | 5.2 h | 4.5 h | 98k |
| Jan 10, 2023 | Flooding | 2,474 | 2% | 24 h | – | 50k |
| Jan 10, 2020 | No storm report | 14,687 | 10% | 2.8 h | 1.2 h | 39k |
| Feb 4, 2024 | Windstorm | 5,756 | 4% | 8.8 h | 19 h | 33k |
| Sep 9, 2023 | No storm report | 6,075 | 4% | 5.8 h | 5.8 h | 32k |
| Oct 11, 2021 | No storm report | 6,473 | 5% | 10 h | 7.5 h | 25k |
| Mar 13, 2025 | Windstorm | 17,949 | 13% | 1.5 h | 48 min | 25k |
| Feb 9, 2020 | No storm report | 4,045 | 3% | 9.2 h | – | 22k |
| Nov 3, 2021 | No storm report | 11,688 | 8% | 2.5 h | 1.5 h | 20k |
| Jan 10, 2023 | Flooding | 6,429 | 4% | 6.2 h | 13 h | 19k |
| Jan 5, 2023 | Windstorm | 3,327 | 2% | 6.8 h | – | 18k |
| Jan 16, 2024 | No storm report | 3,166 | 2% | 5.2 h | – | 16k |
| May 7, 2019 | No storm report | 4,033 | 3% | 3.5 h | – | 13k |
| Feb 21, 2023 | Windstorm | 3,582 | 3% | 4.8 h | – | 13k |
| Feb 20, 2024 | No storm report | 5,192 | 4% | 2.5 h | 1.8 h | 13k |
| Feb 9, 2024 | No storm report | 5,161 | 4% | 2.5 h | 12 min | 13k |
| Mar 12, 2025 | No storm report | 5,896 | 4% | 2.2 h | 1.2 h | 13k |
| Jul 17, 2022 | Heat | 2,437 | 2% | 7.0 h | – | 12k |
| Jan 6, 2019 | No storm report | 4,891 | 3% | 3.5 h | – | 11k |
| Aug 19, 2018 | No storm report | 4,693 | 3% | 2.8 h | – | 11k |
| Sep 18, 2022 | No storm report | 3,432 | 2% | 4.8 h | – | 11k |
| Mar 17, 2024 | No storm report | 3,651 | 3% | 5.5 h | – | 10k |
| Jul 11, 2020 | No storm report | 4,689 | 3% | 2.5 h | – | 10k |
| Nov 11, 2024 | Windstorm | 2,450 | 2% | 6.8 h | – | 10k |
| Aug 3, 2022 | No storm report | 4,865 | 3% | 4.0 h | – | 9.7k |
| Nov 3, 2024 | No storm report | 2,995 | 2% | 6.0 h | – | 9.5k |
| Dec 5, 2019 | No storm report | 4,697 | 3% | 2.0 h | – | 9.4k |
| Mar 11, 2024 | No storm report | 3,605 | 3% | 2.8 h | – | 9.3k |
| Aug 2, 2022 | No storm report | 2,718 | 2% | 4.5 h | – | 9.0k |
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 Merced from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 69%
- Flooding 15%
- Windstorm 11%
- Heat 4.1%
- Winter storm 1.0%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Merced
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole California territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Gas & Electric Co. | Investor Owned | 273 | 208 | 1.63 | 37.5 | 5.1M |
| Turlock Irrigation District | Political Subdivision | 62 | 62 | 0.66 | 17.4 | 81k |
| Merced Irrigation District | Political Subdivision | – | – | – | 24.1 | 12k |
| WAPA-- Western Area 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.
Next door
Neighbouring counties
- Mariposa 65 h
- Madera 11 h
- Santa Clara 4.7 h
- Fresno 3.5 h
- San Benito 3.1 h
- Merced (this county) 2.3 h
- Stanislaus 0.4 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 143,464 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 →