Power outage history
Kootenai County Idaho
3.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
24th most of 35 in Idaho 42% 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 Kootenai'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 14 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Kootenai, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 13, 2021 | Windstorm | 24,557 | 24% | 4.6 d | 4.2 d | 1.1M |
| Nov 17, 2015 | Windstorm | 27,135 | 26% | 4.9 d | 3.4 d | 813k |
| Dec 17, 2025 | Windstorm | 22,012 | 21% | 3.4 d | 2.1 d | 483k |
| Dec 23, 2015 | Winter storm | 6,138 | 6% | 2.1 d | 44 h | 102k |
| Mar 28, 2021 | Windstorm | 8,357 | 8% | 17 h | 16 h | 81k |
| Nov 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 11,743 | 11% | 15 h | 13 h | 80k |
| Nov 5, 2022 | Winter storm | 6,632 | 6% | 16 h | 16 h | 60k |
| Sep 7, 2020 | Wildfire | 6,314 | 6% | 17 h | 15 h | 59k |
| Aug 12, 2019 | No storm report | 12,065 | 12% | 6.2 h | 11 h | 44k |
| Oct 23, 2020 | Winter storm | 3,169 | 3% | 19 h | – | 36k |
| Dec 18, 2024 | Winter storm | 7,838 | 8% | 7.5 h | 5.8 h | 27k |
| Feb 1, 2020 | Windstorm | 5,858 | 6% | 8.5 h | 7.8 h | 27k |
| Aug 8, 2021 | No storm report | 6,468 | 6% | 5.2 h | 7.0 h | 24k |
| Dec 29, 2017 | Winter storm | 4,315 | 4% | 11 h | – | 22k |
| Apr 4, 2022 | Windstorm | 4,397 | 4% | 11 h | – | 21k |
| Dec 6, 2023 | No storm report | 9,581 | 9% | 3.5 h | 3.0 h | 20k |
| Jul 13, 2017 | No storm report | 3,022 | 3% | 5.8 h | – | 17k |
| Oct 24, 2025 | No storm report | 4,570 | 4% | 4.8 h | – | 15k |
| Apr 27, 2024 | No storm report | 9,415 | 9% | 1.8 h | 2.8 h | 14k |
| Oct 6, 2024 | No storm report | 1,751 | 2% | 7.2 h | – | 13k |
| Jul 10, 2025 | No storm report | 7,777 | 8% | 1.8 h | 1.0 h | 12k |
| Oct 25, 2025 | No storm report | 1,130 | 1% | 9.5 h | – | 11k |
| Sep 27, 2021 | Wildfire | 2,994 | 3% | 5.8 h | – | 10k |
| Dec 22, 2015 | Winter storm | 2,650 | 3% | 10 h | – | 10k |
| Dec 4, 2017 | No storm report | 5,939 | 6% | 2.0 h | 3.0 h | 9.7k |
| Jun 8, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 1,765 | 2% | 5.8 h | – | 8.7k |
| Sep 25, 2020 | No storm report | 2,913 | 3% | 3.0 h | – | 8.5k |
| Jul 23, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 1,865 | 2% | 6.2 h | – | 8.4k |
| Oct 17, 2024 | No storm report | 1,841 | 2% | 4.5 h | – | 8.3k |
| Dec 21, 2015 | Winter storm | 3,421 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 7.8k |
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 Kootenai from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Windstorm 76%
- No storm on record 12%
- Winter storm 5.7%
- Wildfire 5.4%
- Thunderstorms 1.0%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Kootenai
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Idaho territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avista Corp | Investor Owned | 973 | 208 | 1.89 | 11.8 | 129k |
| Kootenai Electric Cooperative | Cooperative | 369 | 94 | 1.35 | 13.4 | 31k |
| Northern Lights, Inc | Cooperative | 1,054 | 417 | – | 12.2 | 18k |
| Inland Power & Light Company | Cooperative | – | – | – | 9.4 | 2.2k |
| Bonneville Power Administration | Federal | – | – | – | – | – |
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
- Benewah 26 h
- Shoshone 20 h
- Bonner 17 h
- Kootenai (this county) 3.8 h
- Spokane, WA 3.6 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 103,287 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 →