Power outage history
Pitkin County Colorado
2.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
28th most of 39 in Colorado 64% 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 Pitkin'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 5.0 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Pitkin, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 2016 | No storm report | 3,598 | 28% | 21 h | 24 h | 70k |
| Jun 23, 2015 | No storm report | 3,708 | 29% | 16 h | 15 h | 57k |
| Oct 26, 2020 | Winter storm | 12,768 | 100% | 3.0 h | 3.0 h | 38k |
| May 5, 2015 | No storm report | 2,811 | 22% | 24 h | 15 h | 27k |
| Jun 22, 2015 | No storm report | 3,706 | 29% | 5.0 h | 3.5 h | 12k |
| Jun 26, 2015 | No storm report | 2,516 | 20% | 5.5 h | 5.5 h | 7.3k |
| Jun 16, 2021 | No storm report | 3,192 | 25% | 3.2 h | 3.0 h | 7.2k |
| Aug 8, 2016 | No storm report | 4,207 | 33% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 6.7k |
| Aug 16, 2024 | No storm report | 12,605 | 99% | 30 min | 1.2 h | 6.3k |
| Jun 13, 2022 | No storm report | 2,374 | 19% | 4.0 h | 3.0 h | 4.9k |
| Jul 12, 2025 | No storm report | 6,184 | 48% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 4.7k |
| Dec 30, 2022 | No storm report | 1,528 | 12% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 4.6k |
| Oct 29, 2023 | Winter storm | 839 | 7% | 12 h | 10 h | 4.2k |
| Aug 18, 2023 | No storm report | 1,342 | 11% | 3.8 h | 11 h | 3.9k |
| Mar 11, 2015 | No storm report | 1,094 | 9% | 3.5 h | 4.0 h | 3.8k |
| Jun 25, 2015 | No storm report | 1,268 | 10% | 4.2 h | 30 min | 3.5k |
| Jun 13, 2021 | No storm report | 2,100 | 16% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 3.3k |
| Jun 12, 2022 | No storm report | 1,342 | 11% | 2.5 h | 2.5 h | 2.9k |
| Mar 30, 2023 | No storm report | 2,354 | 18% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 2.6k |
| Mar 3, 2019 | Winter storm | 622 | 5% | 7.8 h | – | 2.4k |
| Jul 29, 2018 | Wildfire | 1,297 | 10% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 2.3k |
| Sep 11, 2015 | No storm report | 1,287 | 10% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 2.3k |
| Apr 23, 2020 | Winter storm | 1,035 | 8% | 3.0 h | 2.5 h | 2.2k |
| Jun 15, 2016 | No storm report | 1,265 | 10% | 1.8 h | 2.8 h | 2.2k |
| Mar 2, 2019 | Winter storm | 427 | 3% | 11 h | – | 2.2k |
| Apr 17, 2015 | Winter storm | 636 | 5% | 6.5 h | – | 2.2k |
| Jun 13, 2016 | No storm report | 664 | 5% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 2.2k |
| Aug 23, 2024 | No storm report | 1,228 | 10% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 2.1k |
| May 9, 2020 | No storm report | 2,100 | 16% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 2.1k |
| Aug 3, 2015 | No storm report | 1,166 | 9% | 3.0 h | 1.0 h | 2.0k |
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 Pitkin from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 53%
- Winter storm 35%
- Wildfire 9.9%
- Windstorm 2.3%
- Flooding 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Pitkin
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 |
| Holy Cross Electric Assn, Inc | Cooperative | 71 | 71 | 1.07 | 12.4 | 50k |
| City of Aspen | CO | – | – | – | 11.9 | 24k |
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.
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 12,768 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 →