Power outage history
Lea County New Mexico
2.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
14th most of 20 in New Mexico 61% 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 Lea's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2023 was the worst well-recorded year, at 5.6 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Lea, 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 7, 2023 | No storm report | 15,710 | 33% | 21 h | 6.0 h | 51k |
| Feb 16, 2021 | No storm report | 6,217 | 13% | 9.0 h | 7.8 h | 30k |
| Oct 2, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 919 | 2% | 44 h | – | 27k |
| Sep 29, 2023 | No storm report | 6,092 | 13% | 9.5 h | 5.2 h | 25k |
| Mar 13, 2019 | Windstorm | 1,773 | 4% | 20 h | – | 24k |
| Jul 3, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 16,490 | 35% | 3.5 h | 2.8 h | 23k |
| Feb 14, 2021 | No storm report | 2,793 | 6% | 8.5 h | 3.0 h | 22k |
| Aug 21, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 2,177 | 5% | 10 h | – | 17k |
| Jul 23, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 1,796 | 4% | 15 h | – | 14k |
| Oct 5, 2018 | No storm report | 4,795 | 10% | 6.5 h | 5.8 h | 11k |
| Nov 25, 2022 | No storm report | 1,021 | 2% | 14 h | – | 9.4k |
| Oct 8, 2015 | No storm report | 1,495 | 3% | 6.8 h | – | 8.6k |
| Jul 4, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,315 | 3% | 11 h | – | 8.5k |
| May 31, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 1,371 | 3% | 11 h | – | 7.6k |
| Aug 9, 2016 | No storm report | 1,611 | 3% | 5.8 h | – | 7.1k |
| Jul 14, 2020 | No storm report | 3,122 | 7% | 2.0 h | 30 min | 6.0k |
| Feb 26, 2023 | Windstorm | 1,314 | 3% | 5.8 h | – | 5.1k |
| Aug 28, 2016 | Flooding | 2,677 | 6% | 3.0 h | 2.8 h | 5.0k |
| Feb 14, 2021 | No storm report | 946 | 2% | 9.0 h | – | 4.7k |
| Aug 11, 2020 | No storm report | 1,645 | 4% | 3.8 h | – | 4.4k |
| Feb 15, 2021 | No storm report | 2,474 | 5% | 2.2 h | 1.2 h | 4.4k |
| Dec 17, 2015 | No storm report | 2,344 | 5% | 3.2 h | – | 4.3k |
| Nov 26, 2025 | No storm report | 533 | 1% | 8.0 h | – | 4.3k |
| Mar 14, 2025 | Windstorm | 900 | 2% | 6.0 h | – | 3.8k |
| Jan 12, 2021 | No storm report | 1,459 | 3% | 3.0 h | – | 3.6k |
| Jun 9, 2016 | No storm report | 1,413 | 3% | 3.0 h | – | 3.5k |
| Mar 3, 2019 | No storm report | 1,372 | 3% | 2.5 h | – | 3.4k |
| Jun 24, 2023 | No storm report | 1,220 | 3% | 4.8 h | – | 3.3k |
| Aug 5, 2020 | No storm report | 2,294 | 5% | 3.0 h | – | 3.2k |
| Dec 17, 2021 | No storm report | 2,560 | 5% | 1.2 h | 48 min | 3.2k |
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 Lea from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 68%
- Thunderstorms 23%
- Windstorm 8.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Lea
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole New Mexico territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwestern Public Service Co | Investor Owned | 235 | 145 | 1.43 | 12.9 | 101k |
| Lea County Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 243 | 243 | 2.42 | 11.0 | 7.3k |
| Central Valley Elec Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 326 | 280 | 2.19 | 9.8 | 6.2k |
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
- Loving, TX 270 h
- Winkler, TX 3.9 h
- Andrews, TX 3.7 h
- Yoakum, TX 3.5 h
- Cochran, TX 3.5 h
- Gaines, TX 3.3 h
- Eddy 3.1 h
- Lea (this county) 2.6 h
- Chaves 1.6 h
- Roosevelt 0.6 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 46,964 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 →