Power outage history
Fayette County Iowa
4.0hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
44th most of 98 in Iowa 40% 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 Fayette's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2021 was the worst well-recorded year, at 7.7 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Fayette, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 24, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 905 | 10% | 41 h | 39 h | 35k |
| Aug 24, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 3,011 | 35% | 27 h | 24 h | 26k |
| Jun 30, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 5,539 | 64% | 13 h | 5.2 h | 22k |
| May 15, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,582 | 18% | 18 h | 17 h | 21k |
| Jul 19, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 2,511 | 29% | 20 h | 4.8 h | 8.7k |
| May 26, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 2,730 | 31% | 8.5 h | 5.8 h | 8.6k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 939 | 11% | 16 h | 15 h | 6.6k |
| Jul 24, 2022 | No storm report | 1,692 | 19% | 8.2 h | 6.5 h | 6.4k |
| Jun 22, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 834 | 10% | 22 h | 11 h | 5.5k |
| Mar 31, 2023 | No storm report | 466 | 5% | 15 h | 9.2 h | 5.2k |
| Jul 14, 2021 | Tornadoes | 1,469 | 17% | 5.5 h | 3.8 h | 5.1k |
| Jul 9, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 2,283 | 26% | 7.2 h | 4.5 h | 5.1k |
| Apr 3, 2020 | No storm report | 921 | 11% | 5.0 h | 9.5 h | 4.6k |
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,144 | 13% | 6.0 h | 48 min | 4.1k |
| Jul 29, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 981 | 11% | 6.2 h | 3.2 h | 3.7k |
| Aug 10, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 809 | 9% | 7.5 h | 7.5 h | 3.7k |
| Jul 11, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,197 | 14% | 7.0 h | 5.8 h | 3.6k |
| Oct 21, 2019 | No storm report | 1,770 | 20% | 2.0 h | 9.0 h | 3.5k |
| Jun 12, 2016 | No storm report | 1,648 | 19% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 3.4k |
| Apr 11, 2019 | Winter storm | 1,830 | 21% | 5.0 h | 2.0 h | 3.3k |
| Nov 9, 2020 | No storm report | 520 | 6% | 7.8 h | 7.8 h | 3.1k |
| Jul 1, 2018 | Heat | 1,312 | 15% | 4.2 h | 4.0 h | 2.8k |
| Jul 17, 2016 | No storm report | 963 | 11% | 3.5 h | 2.0 h | 2.7k |
| Jul 18, 2016 | No storm report | 2,551 | 29% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 2.6k |
| May 31, 2022 | No storm report | 974 | 11% | 2.5 h | 2.5 h | 2.4k |
| Dec 11, 2021 | No storm report | 934 | 11% | 5.2 h | 2.2 h | 2.4k |
| Apr 7, 2024 | No storm report | 1,398 | 16% | 2.2 h | 1.8 h | 2.2k |
| Nov 6, 2021 | No storm report | 752 | 9% | 4.0 h | 3.8 h | 2.1k |
| Aug 6, 2022 | No storm report | 1,380 | 16% | 9.2 h | 30 min | 2.0k |
| Feb 24, 2017 | No storm report | 3,983 | 46% | 1.2 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 Fayette from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 48%
- No storm on record 44%
- Windstorm 2.9%
- Tornadoes 2.3%
- Winter storm 1.8%
- Heat 1.2%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Fayette
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Iowa territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interstate Power and Light Co | Investor Owned | 89 | 74 | 0.82 | 17.8 | 419k |
| Allamakee-Clayton El Coop, Inc | IA | 142 | 142 | 0.96 | 14.4 | 119k |
| East-Central Iowa Rural Elec Coop | Cooperative | 67 | 67 | 0.88 | 13.1 | 7.4k |
| MiEnergy Cooperative | Cooperative | 102 | 86 | 0.86 | 17.2 | 6.0k |
| City of Fairbank | IA | – | – | – | – | 4.6k |
| Butler County Rural Elec Coop | Cooperative | 97 | 85 | 1.45 | 14.5 | 3.9k |
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
- Fayette (this county) 4.0 h
- Allamakee 3.6 h
- Delaware 3.6 h
- Winneshiek 3.5 h
- Chickasaw 2.2 h
- Buchanan 2.1 h
- Clayton 1.6 h
- Black Hawk 1.5 h
- Bremer 0.9 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 8,712 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 →