Power outage history
Ottawa County Kansas
6.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
14th most of 81 in Kansas close to 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 Ottawa'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 18 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Ottawa, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 15, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 1,371 | 56% | 3.0 d | 18 h | 24k |
| May 26, 2021 | No storm report | 1,713 | 70% | 15 h | 14 h | 17k |
| May 27, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 2,464 | 100% | 15 h | 10 h | 11k |
| Oct 18, 2018 | No storm report | 757 | 31% | 11 h | 9.2 h | 7.2k |
| May 24, 2016 | No storm report | 562 | 23% | 12 h | 13 h | 6.7k |
| Jul 16, 2017 | No storm report | 1,677 | 68% | 4.5 h | 4.5 h | 6.7k |
| May 1, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 403 | 16% | 14 h | 14 h | 5.6k |
| Sep 17, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 1,548 | 63% | 4.0 h | 4.8 h | 5.5k |
| Dec 29, 2020 | No storm report | 1,692 | 69% | 3.0 h | 3.2 h | 4.8k |
| Apr 29, 2022 | No storm report | 513 | 21% | 11 h | 9.8 h | 4.3k |
| Aug 29, 2019 | No storm report | 1,905 | 77% | 5.8 h | 3.5 h | 4.3k |
| May 4, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 768 | 31% | 15 h | 14 h | 3.7k |
| Jul 4, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,694 | 69% | 1.8 h | 4.0 h | 3.0k |
| Dec 2, 2016 | No storm report | 1,689 | 69% | 2.0 h | 3.2 h | 2.9k |
| Jun 17, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 407 | 17% | 15 h | 7.5 h | 2.3k |
| Nov 25, 2018 | Winter storm | 325 | 13% | 6.8 h | 7.8 h | 2.1k |
| May 20, 2020 | No storm report | 261 | 11% | 6.5 h | 6.2 h | 1.7k |
| Aug 24, 2019 | No storm report | 286 | 12% | 13 h | 2.5 h | 1.5k |
| Sep 8, 2016 | No storm report | 294 | 12% | 3.8 h | 3.8 h | 1.1k |
| May 18, 2017 | No storm report | 1,680 | 68% | 48 min | 30 min | 1.1k |
| Sep 2, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 96 | 4% | 11 h | – | 1.1k |
| Jun 26, 2017 | No storm report | 1,679 | 68% | 1.0 h | 30 min | 880 |
| Jul 21, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 327 | 13% | 5.0 h | 2.8 h | 872 |
| Jul 31, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 38 | 2% | 23 h | – | 840 |
| Jul 15, 2021 | No storm report | 348 | 14% | 2.8 h | 1.5 h | 818 |
| May 8, 2021 | No storm report | 417 | 17% | 5.5 h | 4.8 h | 801 |
| Jan 8, 2024 | Winter storm | 384 | 16% | 2.2 h | 48 min | 758 |
| Aug 5, 2015 | No storm report | 388 | 16% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 679 |
| Jul 19, 2022 | No storm report | 519 | 21% | 1.2 h | 12 h | 649 |
| Apr 18, 2019 | No storm report | 1,247 | 51% | 30 min | 30 min | 624 |
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 Ottawa from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 49%
- No storm on record 48%
- Winter storm 2.4%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Ottawa
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Kansas territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evergy Kansas Central, Inc | Investor Owned | 126 | 80 | 1.17 | 14.6 | 344k |
| DS&O Electric Cooperative, Inc. | KS | 197 | 49 | 1.39 | 15.5 | 91k |
| Rolling Hills Electric Coop | KS | – | – | – | 17.3 | 74k |
| Bluestem Electric Coop Inc | KS | – | – | – | 16.6 | 70k |
| City of Minneapolis | KS | – | – | – | – | 8.3k |
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 2,464 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 →