Power outage history
Scott County Iowa
9.2hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
13th most of 98 in Iowa 1.4× 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 Scott'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 2.3 days for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Scott, 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 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 56,299 | 83% | 6.3 d | 5.6 d | 3.5M |
| Jul 15, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 17,742 | 26% | 31 h | 26 h | 236k |
| Jul 11, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 16,097 | 24% | 20 h | 12 h | 130k |
| Oct 6, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 16,306 | 24% | 17 h | 12 h | 85k |
| Mar 6, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 10,806 | 16% | 29 h | 11 h | 57k |
| Jun 15, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 7,800 | 12% | 11 h | 10 h | 33k |
| Mar 25, 2023 | Winter storm | 7,952 | 12% | 9.0 h | 4.8 h | 32k |
| Jul 14, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 9,347 | 14% | 6.8 h | 6.0 h | 29k |
| Aug 11, 2021 | Windstorm | 7,465 | 11% | 9.2 h | 5.5 h | 27k |
| Mar 15, 2016 | Tornadoes | 5,112 | 8% | 8.8 h | 9.2 h | 21k |
| Jul 11, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 3,916 | 6% | 10 h | 16 h | 20k |
| Oct 28, 2025 | No storm report | 12,150 | 18% | 5.8 h | 2.5 h | 19k |
| Jul 20, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 5,008 | 7% | 11 h | 7.2 h | 16k |
| Nov 17, 2015 | No storm report | 4,270 | 6% | 7.0 h | 12 h | 15k |
| Feb 12, 2019 | Winter storm | 3,392 | 5% | 19 h | 1.8 h | 15k |
| Feb 13, 2016 | No storm report | 5,877 | 9% | 4.2 h | 3.5 h | 13k |
| Jun 16, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 5,091 | 8% | 4.0 h | 2.5 h | 12k |
| Aug 4, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,710 | 3% | 7.8 h | – | 12k |
| Jan 11, 2020 | Winter storm | 3,108 | 5% | 6.0 h | – | 11k |
| Sep 6, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 3,808 | 6% | 5.8 h | 5.0 h | 11k |
| Oct 11, 2019 | No storm report | 5,162 | 8% | 4.8 h | 4.0 h | 11k |
| Jul 1, 2019 | No storm report | 1,742 | 3% | 6.8 h | – | 7.7k |
| Jul 13, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 2,730 | 4% | 4.0 h | – | 7.3k |
| Jul 6, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 2,941 | 4% | 2.8 h | – | 6.9k |
| Nov 21, 2015 | Winter storm | 2,728 | 4% | 2.5 h | – | 6.8k |
| Sep 6, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,740 | 3% | 5.0 h | – | 6.7k |
| May 21, 2024 | No storm report | 2,812 | 4% | 3.5 h | – | 6.7k |
| Nov 12, 2015 | Tornadoes | 2,403 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 6.5k |
| Oct 24, 2021 | No storm report | 2,325 | 3% | 5.2 h | – | 6.4k |
| Nov 25, 2016 | No storm report | 4,372 | 6% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 6.0k |
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 Scott from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 91%
- No storm on record 5.8%
- Winter storm 1.7%
- Windstorm 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Scott
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MidAmerican Energy Co | Investor Owned | 205 | 82 | 1.19 | 11.2 | 640k |
| Interstate Power and Light Co | Investor Owned | 89 | 74 | 0.82 | 17.8 | 419k |
| Eldridge City Utilities | IA | – | – | – | 7.9 | 22k |
| Eastern Iowa Light & Power Coop | Cooperative | 92 | 79 | 0.93 | 14.8 | 20k |
| City of Durant | IA | – | – | – | – | 7.2k |
| City of Buffalo | IA | – | – | – | – | 3.7k |
| City of Long Grove | IA | – | – | – | – | 2.5k |
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
- Clinton 13 h
- Cedar 13 h
- Scott (this county) 9.2 h
- Rock Island, IL 6.3 h
- Muscatine 1.3 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 67,611 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 →