Power outage history
Otero County Colorado
0.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
95% 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 Otero's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2025 was the worst well-recorded year, at 19 min for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Otero, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 24, 2017 | Windstorm | 3,420 | 62% | 11 h | 7.0 h | 28k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 3,946 | 72% | 8.5 h | 7.2 h | 21k |
| Oct 29, 2019 | No storm report | 5,476 | 100% | 4.2 h | 3.5 h | 19k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 3,935 | 72% | 3.0 d | 1.8 h | 11k |
| Nov 17, 2015 | Windstorm | 3,325 | 61% | 4.8 h | 4.8 h | 10k |
| Aug 10, 2021 | No storm report | 4,920 | 90% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 5.2k |
| Apr 11, 2016 | No storm report | 1,323 | 24% | 2.8 h | 2.5 h | 3.6k |
| Jul 2, 2019 | No storm report | 2,036 | 37% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 3.1k |
| Jul 3, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,032 | 19% | 6.0 h | 17 h | 2.3k |
| Jun 22, 2019 | No storm report | 857 | 16% | 3.0 h | 3.2 h | 1.9k |
| May 18, 2021 | No storm report | 898 | 16% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 1.8k |
| Feb 15, 2021 | No storm report | 700 | 13% | 2.5 h | 2.5 h | 1.8k |
| Jul 26, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,167 | 21% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 1.7k |
| May 21, 2024 | No storm report | 313 | 6% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 1.1k |
| Jul 6, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 756 | 14% | 2.0 h | 1.2 h | 1.0k |
| May 21, 2022 | No storm report | 88 | 2% | 13 h | – | 988 |
| Jun 13, 2020 | Windstorm | 1,020 | 19% | 1.5 h | 1.0 h | 988 |
| Mar 24, 2017 | Windstorm | 978 | 18% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 978 |
| Sep 4, 2021 | No storm report | 383 | 7% | 2.5 h | 2.5 h | 945 |
| Sep 16, 2024 | No storm report | 909 | 17% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 909 |
| Sep 8, 2024 | No storm report | 714 | 13% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 892 |
| Jul 5, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 706 | 13% | 1.2 h | 10 h | 882 |
| Aug 16, 2020 | Tornadoes | 607 | 11% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 880 |
| Apr 17, 2018 | Windstorm | 381 | 7% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 857 |
| Mar 13, 2018 | No storm report | 1,051 | 19% | 48 min | 3.2 h | 788 |
| Aug 31, 2022 | No storm report | 590 | 11% | 1.2 h | 12 min | 736 |
| Aug 31, 2022 | No storm report | 458 | 8% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 687 |
| Apr 16, 2016 | No storm report | 1,171 | 21% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 680 |
| Nov 16, 2025 | No storm report | 255 | 5% | 3.8 h | – | 649 |
| Feb 18, 2016 | No storm report | 830 | 15% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 476 |
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 Otero from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 53%
- Windstorm 40%
- Thunderstorms 5.6%
- Tornadoes 1.0%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Otero
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Colorado territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Service Co of Colorado | Investor Owned | 360 | 149 | 1.58 | 15.9 | 1.4M |
| Black Hills Colorado Electric, LLC | Investor Owned | 95 | 95 | 0.90 | 18.7 | 98k |
| San Isabel Electric Assn, Inc | Cooperative | 87 | 87 | 0.79 | 18.9 | 23k |
| City of La Junta | CO | – | – | – | – | 22k |
| Southeast Colorado Power Assn | Cooperative | 1,290 | 1,280 | – | 17.9 | 8.2k |
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
- Pueblo 2.4 h
- Otero (this county) 0.3 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 5,481 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 →