Power outage history
Salem County New Jersey
4.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
10th most of 21 in New Jersey 29% 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 Salem's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2018 was the worst well-recorded year, at 12 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Salem, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 23, 2015 | Heat | 15,558 | 43% | 5.0 d | 2.4 d | 636k |
| Mar 21, 2018 | Winter storm | 10,232 | 28% | 2.9 d | 42 h | 291k |
| Aug 4, 2020 | Hurricane Isaias | 7,897 | 22% | 2.3 d | 30 h | 123k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Windstorm | 5,219 | 14% | 2.3 d | 46 h | 115k |
| Mar 14, 2017 | No storm report | 9,861 | 27% | 33 h | 17 h | 92k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 4,458 | 12% | 2.2 d | 38 h | 92k |
| Dec 24, 2020 | Windstorm | 2,879 | 8% | 38 h | 4.2 h | 39k |
| Jun 8, 2016 | No storm report | 3,677 | 10% | 24 h | 16 h | 34k |
| Apr 2, 2016 | No storm report | 3,178 | 9% | 20 h | 18 h | 26k |
| Jun 23, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 2,153 | 6% | 22 h | 21 h | 24k |
| Jun 5, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 5,296 | 14% | 15 h | 7.0 h | 22k |
| Jul 22, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 5,281 | 14% | 7.2 h | 4.0 h | 20k |
| Jun 29, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 5,193 | 14% | 8.2 h | 4.2 h | 15k |
| Aug 7, 2020 | Flooding | 1,649 | 5% | 16 h | – | 13k |
| Apr 26, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 4,203 | 11% | 4.2 h | 1.0 h | 13k |
| Feb 16, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 4,154 | 11% | 6.5 h | 4.5 h | 13k |
| Oct 2, 2015 | Windstorm | 4,215 | 12% | 5.0 h | 1.5 h | 8.2k |
| Nov 3, 2015 | No storm report | 3,982 | 11% | 2.0 h | 2.2 h | 7.6k |
| Jan 23, 2017 | No storm report | 2,331 | 6% | 8.2 h | 8.0 h | 7.1k |
| Jul 15, 2015 | Flooding | 4,732 | 13% | 5.2 h | 3.2 h | 7.1k |
| Jul 28, 2023 | No storm report | 1,916 | 5% | 5.5 h | 5.8 h | 6.3k |
| Oct 24, 2017 | No storm report | 1,039 | 3% | 9.2 h | – | 6.3k |
| Nov 18, 2019 | No storm report | 4,977 | 14% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 6.2k |
| Nov 15, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 2,457 | 7% | 4.5 h | 4.2 h | 6.0k |
| Jun 13, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 3,015 | 8% | 3.0 h | 1.8 h | 6.0k |
| Apr 30, 2017 | No storm report | 1,970 | 5% | 3.0 h | 2.2 h | 5.9k |
| Dec 14, 2025 | Winter storm | 1,165 | 3% | 12 h | – | 5.9k |
| Feb 9, 2017 | No storm report | 2,536 | 7% | 3.5 h | 2.8 h | 5.7k |
| Feb 18, 2015 | No storm report | 3,706 | 10% | 2.0 h | 2.2 h | 5.7k |
| Aug 9, 2024 | Hurricane Debby | 2,385 | 7% | 4.5 h | 4.8 h | 5.4k |
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 Salem from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Winter storm 30%
- Windstorm 25%
- No storm on record 19%
- Tropical storm 14%
- Thunderstorms 10%
- Flooding 2.2%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Salem
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 |
| Atlantic City Electric Co | Investor Owned | 80 | 55 | 0.73 | 25.8 | 509k |
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
- Salem (this county) 4.6 h
- New Castle, DE 4.0 h
- Cumberland 2.8 h
- Gloucester 2.4 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 36,572 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 →