Power outage history
Mercer County New Jersey
3.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
14th most of 21 in New Jersey 45% 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 Mercer'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 11 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Mercer, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2020 | Hurricane Isaias | 51,105 | 26% | 3.4 d | 2.6 d | 1.7M |
| Jul 22, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 19,967 | 10% | 44 h | 38 h | 394k |
| Mar 7, 2018 | Winter storm | 19,945 | 10% | 2.1 d | 47 h | 385k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 24,128 | 12% | 35 h | 28 h | 290k |
| Jun 3, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 20,421 | 11% | 21 h | 17 h | 155k |
| Jun 19, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 12,264 | 6% | 17 h | 16 h | 95k |
| Jul 17, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 9,917 | 5% | 20 h | 20 h | 72k |
| Feb 16, 2025 | Windstorm | 4,742 | 2% | 24 h | – | 57k |
| Jul 17, 2021 | Flooding | 8,106 | 4% | 9.8 h | 10 h | 52k |
| Jul 25, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 9,501 | 5% | 17 h | 3.0 h | 43k |
| Sep 23, 2017 | No storm report | 11,419 | 6% | 5.0 h | 8.2 h | 34k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Windstorm | 6,714 | 3% | 9.2 h | 20 h | 31k |
| Jul 11, 2024 | No storm report | 5,418 | 3% | 5.0 h | 2.2 h | 27k |
| Sep 1, 2021 | Hurricane Ida | 7,462 | 4% | 6.2 h | 6.8 h | 24k |
| Jun 4, 2020 | No storm report | 4,774 | 2% | 6.0 h | – | 24k |
| Sep 28, 2020 | No storm report | 4,596 | 2% | 6.5 h | – | 22k |
| Apr 19, 2018 | No storm report | 19,287 | 10% | 1.2 h | 6.2 h | 20k |
| Apr 3, 2016 | No storm report | 4,945 | 3% | 5.0 h | – | 18k |
| Sep 21, 2022 | No storm report | 6,694 | 3% | 2.5 h | 30 min | 15k |
| Feb 24, 2016 | Flooding | 4,242 | 2% | 4.5 h | – | 15k |
| Jul 29, 2021 | Tornadoes | 3,934 | 2% | 4.5 h | – | 13k |
| Nov 1, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 9,810 | 5% | 3.2 h | 4.0 h | 12k |
| Nov 1, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 5,616 | 3% | 3.0 h | 10 h | 12k |
| Dec 19, 2025 | No storm report | 4,434 | 2% | 3.8 h | – | 12k |
| Apr 1, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 4,257 | 2% | 3.8 h | – | 12k |
| Jul 1, 2024 | No storm report | 5,263 | 3% | 2.8 h | 1.0 h | 12k |
| Aug 16, 2015 | No storm report | 2,042 | 1% | 5.0 h | – | 10k |
| Jul 9, 2024 | Heat | 11,172 | 6% | 1.8 h | 1.5 h | 10k |
| May 17, 2021 | No storm report | 13,807 | 7% | 2.0 h | 12 min | 10k |
| Jul 25, 2025 | Heat | 2,879 | 1% | 3.5 h | – | 8.7k |
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 Mercer from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 45%
- Thunderstorms 22%
- Winter storm 11%
- Windstorm 10%
- No storm on record 9.5%
- Flooding 1.5%
- Heat 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Mercer
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole New Jersey territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Service Elec & Gas Co | Investor Owned | 66 | 43 | 0.72 | 25.0 | 2.1M |
| Jersey Central Power & Lt Co | Investor Owned | 391 | 234 | 2.21 | 18.4 | 1.0M |
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
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 193,667 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 →