Power outage history
Houston County Minnesota
1.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
41st most of 54 in Minnesota 75% 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 Houston'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 2.7 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Houston, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2021 | No storm report | 2,871 | 43% | 6.5 h | 1.5 h | 14k |
| Jan 21, 2022 | No storm report | 2,887 | 43% | 3.8 h | 1.5 h | 8.6k |
| Mar 23, 2016 | Winter storm | 620 | 9% | 8.5 h | 8.2 h | 5.2k |
| Apr 22, 2019 | No storm report | 1,487 | 22% | 4.0 h | 4.0 h | 5.0k |
| Apr 11, 2019 | Winter storm | 2,865 | 43% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 4.7k |
| May 21, 2020 | No storm report | 2,871 | 43% | 1.0 h | 1.5 h | 2.9k |
| Jul 19, 2019 | Flooding | 1,378 | 21% | 2.5 h | 4.2 h | 2.8k |
| Jul 21, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 1,376 | 21% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 2.8k |
| Jun 5, 2024 | No storm report | 1,568 | 24% | 7.5 h | 1.8 h | 2.7k |
| Jun 30, 2018 | Heat | 1,436 | 22% | 5.8 h | 1.0 h | 2.6k |
| Oct 13, 2024 | No storm report | 1,402 | 21% | 2.2 h | 1.5 h | 2.2k |
| Apr 10, 2021 | No storm report | 1,483 | 22% | 1.8 h | 3.2 h | 1.9k |
| Jun 15, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 2,887 | 43% | 30 min | 48 min | 1.4k |
| May 31, 2023 | No storm report | 2,816 | 42% | 48 min | 48 min | 1.4k |
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,519 | 23% | 48 min | 12 min | 1.1k |
| Jun 2, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 219 | 3% | 4.8 h | – | 1.0k |
| Jul 5, 2023 | No storm report | 136 | 2% | 8.2 h | – | 850 |
| Jul 17, 2016 | No storm report | 358 | 5% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 806 |
| Sep 23, 2020 | No storm report | 325 | 5% | 2.0 h | – | 650 |
| Mar 14, 2019 | Flooding | 368 | 6% | 2.2 h | 1.5 h | 644 |
| May 25, 2022 | No storm report | 79 | 1% | 7.8 h | – | 612 |
| Jul 23, 2022 | Tornadoes | 70 | 1% | 8.5 h | – | 580 |
| Dec 11, 2021 | Winter storm | 194 | 3% | 2.8 h | – | 516 |
| Jul 29, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 69 | 1% | 6.8 h | – | 458 |
| Jul 4, 2023 | No storm report | 69 | 1% | 6.2 h | – | 425 |
| Jun 3, 2022 | No storm report | 79 | 1% | 5.2 h | – | 415 |
| Sep 2, 2015 | No storm report | 85 | 1% | 4.2 h | – | 340 |
| Jun 21, 2025 | No storm report | 79 | 1% | 3.8 h | – | 296 |
| Jul 4, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 73 | 1% | 4.2 h | – | 292 |
| May 22, 2021 | No storm report | 77 | 1% | 4.0 h | – | 289 |
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 Houston from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 69%
- Thunderstorms 12%
- Winter storm 8.5%
- Flooding 5.6%
- Heat 4.2%
- Tornadoes 0.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Houston
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 |
| MiEnergy Cooperative | Cooperative | 213 | 79 | 1.08 | 16.9 | 15k |
| City of Caledonia | MN | – | – | – | – | 9.4k |
| City of Spring Grove | MN | – | – | – | – | 4.4k |
| City of Eitzen | MN | – | – | – | – | 1.5k |
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
- Allamakee, IA 3.6 h
- Winneshiek, IA 3.5 h
- La Crosse, WI 3.2 h
- Vernon, WI 1.8 h
- Houston (this county) 1.6 h
- Winona 1.5 h
- Fillmore 0.4 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 6,647 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 →