Power outage history
Benton County Minnesota
2.2hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
32nd most of 54 in Minnesota 66% 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 Benton'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 3.7 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Benton, 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 11, 2024 | No storm report | 5,542 | 28% | 7.0 h | 2.8 h | 16k |
| Jun 23, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 4,677 | 24% | 4.2 h | 2.8 h | 12k |
| Sep 17, 2019 | No storm report | 7,170 | 37% | 2.5 h | 1.2 h | 11k |
| Mar 22, 2020 | No storm report | 2,240 | 11% | 10 h | 7.5 h | 11k |
| Mar 29, 2020 | No storm report | 3,121 | 16% | 13 h | 4.8 h | 10k |
| Jun 12, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,296 | 12% | 15 h | 8.8 h | 9.9k |
| Jul 5, 2015 | No storm report | 3,141 | 16% | 3.5 h | 2.8 h | 9.6k |
| Mar 21, 2020 | No storm report | 3,590 | 18% | 2.2 h | 5.2 h | 8.1k |
| Aug 3, 2024 | No storm report | 2,554 | 13% | 6.5 h | 5.5 h | 7.5k |
| Jun 19, 2016 | No storm report | 2,465 | 13% | 3.0 h | 1.8 h | 7.4k |
| Jun 23, 2023 | No storm report | 1,787 | 9% | 4.8 h | 2.2 h | 7.2k |
| May 14, 2021 | No storm report | 1,962 | 10% | 4.0 h | 3.8 h | 7.0k |
| Jul 12, 2015 | No storm report | 3,336 | 17% | 4.0 h | 1.0 h | 6.9k |
| Jul 26, 2020 | No storm report | 1,997 | 10% | 4.5 h | 3.0 h | 5.6k |
| Apr 23, 2019 | No storm report | 1,660 | 8% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 5.4k |
| Mar 16, 2024 | No storm report | 1,786 | 9% | 3.0 h | 3.2 h | 5.4k |
| Jun 14, 2023 | No storm report | 5,337 | 27% | 1.0 h | 1.8 h | 5.3k |
| Aug 23, 2020 | No storm report | 1,750 | 9% | 3.0 h | 1.2 h | 5.2k |
| Jul 27, 2025 | No storm report | 819 | 4% | 6.5 h | – | 4.9k |
| Aug 21, 2022 | No storm report | 1,852 | 9% | 3.2 h | 1.0 h | 4.8k |
| May 8, 2018 | No storm report | 3,040 | 16% | 2.2 h | 1.8 h | 4.7k |
| May 30, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 1,201 | 6% | 6.2 h | 5.0 h | 4.1k |
| Jun 10, 2025 | No storm report | 1,206 | 6% | 3.8 h | 15 h | 4.1k |
| Jun 11, 2017 | No storm report | 921 | 5% | 8.8 h | – | 4.0k |
| Apr 4, 2025 | No storm report | 2,191 | 11% | 1.8 h | 12 min | 3.8k |
| Oct 11, 2020 | No storm report | 1,334 | 7% | 2.8 h | 2.5 h | 3.7k |
| Jun 11, 2018 | Windstorm | 953 | 5% | 7.2 h | – | 3.6k |
| Aug 28, 2016 | No storm report | 1,601 | 8% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 3.6k |
| Dec 6, 2021 | No storm report | 1,972 | 10% | 3.5 h | 2.0 h | 3.5k |
| May 12, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 1,211 | 6% | 3.0 h | 2.0 h | 3.5k |
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 Benton from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 86%
- Thunderstorms 12%
- Windstorm 1.4%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Benton
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Minnesota territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern States Power Co - Minnesota | Investor Owned | 226 | 115 | 1.38 | 17.1 | 1.2M |
| ALLETE, Inc. | Investor Owned | 143 | 102 | 1.23 | 15.9 | 127k |
| East Central Energy | Cooperative | 97 | 82 | 1.03 | 17.6 | 56k |
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
- Morrison 3.8 h
- Benton (this county) 2.2 h
- Stearns 1.5 h
- Sherburne 1.4 h
- Mille Lacs 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 19,602 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 →