Power outage history
Washington County Illinois
8.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
10th most of 101 in Illinois 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 Washington's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2023 was the worst well-recorded year, at 33 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Washington, 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 30, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 4,804 | 66% | 3.9 d | 3.3 d | 194k |
| Jun 28, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,964 | 27% | 47 h | 11 h | 35k |
| Aug 10, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,381 | 19% | 45 h | 31 h | 20k |
| Feb 24, 2016 | No storm report | 1,114 | 15% | 36 h | 30 h | 15k |
| Jan 6, 2025 | Winter storm | 3,750 | 51% | 9.0 h | 4.5 h | 14k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | Heat | 1,062 | 15% | 42 h | 25 h | 12k |
| May 31, 2018 | Tropical Storm Alberto | 2,317 | 32% | 16 h | 14 h | 12k |
| Mar 31, 2023 | No storm report | 1,420 | 19% | 9.8 h | 7.0 h | 8.9k |
| Jul 13, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,347 | 18% | 20 h | 20 h | 8.6k |
| Feb 16, 2021 | Winter storm | 2,286 | 31% | 4.8 h | 4.5 h | 7.6k |
| Feb 17, 2022 | No storm report | 1,234 | 17% | 11 h | 14 h | 7.4k |
| Sep 10, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 950 | 13% | 12 h | 9.5 h | 6.7k |
| Mar 27, 2018 | No storm report | 1,335 | 18% | 5.8 h | 6.8 h | 6.4k |
| May 26, 2024 | No storm report | 1,547 | 21% | 11 h | 11 h | 5.7k |
| Dec 20, 2024 | No storm report | 1,202 | 16% | 5.8 h | 2.5 h | 3.6k |
| Aug 12, 2019 | No storm report | 389 | 5% | 16 h | 15 h | 2.9k |
| Sep 4, 2022 | No storm report | 650 | 9% | 5.0 h | 14 h | 2.9k |
| Jul 21, 2020 | No storm report | 1,147 | 16% | 3.0 h | 2.0 h | 2.9k |
| Jun 2, 2018 | No storm report | 764 | 10% | 4.0 h | 3.0 h | 2.9k |
| Aug 12, 2021 | No storm report | 203 | 3% | 16 h | – | 2.5k |
| Feb 22, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 872 | 12% | 9.2 h | 8.8 h | 2.4k |
| Apr 15, 2023 | Tornadoes | 575 | 8% | 9.0 h | 7.2 h | 2.4k |
| Jun 26, 2018 | No storm report | 211 | 3% | 17 h | – | 2.4k |
| Mar 13, 2016 | No storm report | 288 | 4% | 8.2 h | – | 2.3k |
| Jul 20, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 980 | 13% | 5.5 h | 2.5 h | 2.3k |
| Mar 1, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 1,052 | 14% | 5.5 h | 2.0 h | 2.2k |
| Apr 5, 2023 | No storm report | 595 | 8% | 7.0 h | 1.8 h | 2.2k |
| May 3, 2018 | No storm report | 700 | 10% | 7.0 h | 7.2 h | 2.2k |
| Oct 23, 2025 | No storm report | 284 | 4% | 7.2 h | – | 2.1k |
| Nov 25, 2025 | No storm report | 287 | 4% | 7.0 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 Washington from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 57%
- No storm on record 30%
- Winter storm 5.8%
- Heat 2.9%
- Tropical storm 2.6%
- Flooding 0.6%
- Tornadoes 0.5%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Washington
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Illinois territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ameren Illinois Company | Investor Owned | 287 | 130 | 1.19 | 16.7 | 1.1M |
| Clinton County Elec Coop, Inc | IL | – | – | – | 12.7 | 77k |
| Tri-County Electric Coop, Inc (IL) | Cooperative | 132 | 63 | 1.64 | 16.2 | 16k |
| Egyptian Electric Coop Assn | Cooperative | 773 | 24 | 4.62 | 16.2 | 14k |
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 7,318 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 →