Power outage history
Union County Kentucky
8.3hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
57th most of 119 in Kentucky 1.3× 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 Union's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2025 was the worst well-recorded year, at 31 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Union, 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 5, 2025 | Ice storm | 3,386 | 50% | 4.3 d | 2.9 d | 94k |
| Apr 4, 2025 | No storm report | 187 | 3% | 20.9 d | – | 50k |
| May 16, 2025 | Tornadoes | 3,876 | 57% | 42 h | 20 h | 35k |
| Feb 23, 2018 | Flooding | 195 | 3% | 10.1 d | – | 24k |
| Mar 5, 2018 | Winter storm | 471 | 7% | 7.4 d | 35 h | 22k |
| Mar 3, 2023 | Tornadoes | 1,845 | 27% | 45 h | 27 h | 20k |
| Jun 28, 2018 | No storm report | 3,829 | 56% | 22 h | 2.5 h | 15k |
| Jun 30, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 998 | 15% | 15 h | 14 h | 8.8k |
| May 20, 2018 | No storm report | 1,824 | 27% | 4.2 h | 30 min | 6.5k |
| Jun 17, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 866 | 13% | 11 h | 9.2 h | 5.8k |
| Jul 6, 2016 | No storm report | 1,256 | 18% | 12 h | 12 h | 5.8k |
| Mar 15, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,662 | 24% | 15 h | 2.5 h | 5.2k |
| Apr 2, 2025 | No storm report | 649 | 10% | 20 h | 19 h | 4.0k |
| Jun 16, 2024 | No storm report | 1,988 | 29% | 3.5 h | 15 h | 3.9k |
| Mar 14, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 745 | 11% | 9.8 h | 2.5 h | 3.7k |
| Dec 6, 2018 | No storm report | 840 | 12% | 4.8 h | 5.8 h | 3.3k |
| Sep 16, 2021 | No storm report | 981 | 14% | 5.8 h | 2.0 h | 3.0k |
| Jan 30, 2019 | Winter storm | 777 | 11% | 4.0 h | 5.0 h | 3.0k |
| May 26, 2024 | Tornadoes | 617 | 9% | 4.8 h | 1.2 h | 2.8k |
| Jul 10, 2021 | No storm report | 688 | 10% | 5.2 h | 4.5 h | 2.8k |
| Dec 19, 2016 | No storm report | 1,925 | 28% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 2.8k |
| May 1, 2025 | No storm report | 1,830 | 27% | 1.5 h | 13 h | 2.7k |
| Jul 26, 2023 | No storm report | 729 | 11% | 3.5 h | 8.5 h | 2.4k |
| Apr 2, 2024 | Tornadoes | 382 | 6% | 10 h | 7.0 h | 2.4k |
| May 27, 2024 | Tornadoes | 308 | 5% | 12 h | – | 2.2k |
| May 27, 2016 | No storm report | 1,028 | 15% | 2.0 h | 4.0 h | 2.1k |
| Jul 30, 2024 | Heat | 973 | 14% | 7.8 h | 48 min | 2.0k |
| Mar 30, 2022 | Windstorm | 1,914 | 28% | 3.5 h | 2.0 h | 2.0k |
| Feb 27, 2023 | Windstorm | 453 | 7% | 6.8 h | 3.5 h | 2.0k |
| May 27, 2017 | No storm report | 395 | 6% | 7.5 h | 7.2 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 Union from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 36%
- Ice storm 23%
- Tornadoes 15%
- Flooding 7.6%
- Winter storm 7.6%
- Thunderstorms 6.6%
- Windstorm 2.3%
- Heat 1.3%
- Tropical storm 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Union
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Kentucky territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky Utilities Co | Investor Owned | 197 | 89 | 1.14 | 11.9 | 454k |
| Kenergy Corp | Cooperative | 691 | 155 | 3.28 | 16.3 | 48k |
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
- Gallatin, IL 12 h
- Union (this county) 8.3 h
- Hardin, IL 7.0 h
- Posey, IN 6.2 h
- Crittenden 5.1 h
- Henderson 4.8 h
- Webster 4.5 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 6,794 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 →