Power outage history
Sarasota County Florida
16hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
22nd most of 67 in Florida 2.5× 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 Sarasota's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2022 was the worst well-recorded year, at 2.9 days for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Sarasota, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 28, 2022 | Hurricane Ian | 257,410 | 83% | 9.5 d | 6.5 h | 21M |
| Sep 10, 2017 | Hurricane Irma | 310,646 | 100% | 9.1 d | 30 min | 15M |
| Oct 9, 2024 | Hurricane Milton | 255,131 | 82% | 6.5 d | 12 h | 14M |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Hurricane Helene | 68,002 | 22% | 3.2 d | 42 h | 1.7M |
| Aug 4, 2024 | Hurricane Debby | 11,717 | 4% | 31 h | 29 h | 202k |
| Jan 17, 2016 | Tornadoes | 24,607 | 8% | 13 h | 12 h | 132k |
| Aug 30, 2023 | Hurricane Idalia | 14,632 | 5% | 17 h | 16 h | 124k |
| Nov 11, 2020 | Hurricane Eta | 6,684 | 2% | 11 h | 17 h | 47k |
| Nov 10, 2022 | Hurricane Nicole | 9,104 | 3% | 7.2 h | 6.2 h | 46k |
| Dec 21, 2021 | Windstorm | 9,340 | 3% | 7.0 h | 10 h | 41k |
| Sep 1, 2016 | Hurricane Hermine | 12,036 | 4% | 5.0 h | 17 h | 36k |
| Jun 6, 2016 | Tropical Storm Colin | 10,249 | 3% | 7.0 h | 11 h | 32k |
| Oct 16, 2018 | No storm report | 16,088 | 5% | 1.0 h | 48 min | 16k |
| Feb 28, 2024 | No storm report | 7,295 | 2% | 2.0 h | 6.5 h | 11k |
| Apr 30, 2023 | No storm report | 5,166 | 2% | 1.8 h | 9.8 h | 8.1k |
| Nov 3, 2015 | No storm report | 15,300 | 5% | 48 min | 1.0 h | 8.0k |
| Nov 10, 2022 | Hurricane Nicole | 3,930 | 1% | 2.0 h | – | 7.7k |
| Nov 9, 2020 | Hurricane Eta | 3,649 | 1% | 2.0 h | – | 7.1k |
| Dec 11, 2024 | No storm report | 8,418 | 3% | 1.0 h | 2.0 h | 7.0k |
| Apr 10, 2021 | No storm report | 6,352 | 2% | 1.2 h | 4.2 h | 6.4k |
| Apr 26, 2021 | No storm report | 13,310 | 4% | 1.0 h | 12 min | 6.1k |
| Feb 16, 2016 | No storm report | 6,385 | 2% | 1.0 h | 3.2 h | 5.6k |
| Apr 9, 2016 | No storm report | 4,265 | 1% | 1.2 h | – | 5.3k |
| Feb 26, 2023 | No storm report | 5,927 | 2% | 1.2 h | 48 min | 4.9k |
| Feb 17, 2022 | No storm report | 3,266 | 1% | 1.5 h | – | 4.9k |
| Mar 4, 2017 | No storm report | 19,504 | 6% | 12 min | 12 min | 4.9k |
| Sep 2, 2016 | Hurricane Hermine | 4,780 | 2% | 1.2 h | – | 4.8k |
| Mar 30, 2015 | No storm report | 7,271 | 2% | 48 min | 48 min | 4.7k |
| Jun 12, 2021 | No storm report | 4,550 | 1% | 1.2 h | – | 4.7k |
| Aug 20, 2024 | No storm report | 7,385 | 2% | 2.0 h | 1.2 h | 4.6k |
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 Sarasota from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 99%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Sarasota
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Florida territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida Power & Light Co | Investor Owned | 47 | 45 | 0.46 | 14.6 | 5.3M |
| Peace River Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 155 | 155 | 1.62 | 12.8 | 62k |
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 310,646 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 →