Power outage history
Quay County New Mexico
3.4hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
11th most of 20 in New Mexico 48% 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 Quay'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 16 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Quay, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 4,683 | 100% | 20 h | 19 h | 72k |
| Feb 16, 2021 | No storm report | 3,479 | 74% | 7.5 h | 6.8 h | 16k |
| Dec 12, 2025 | No storm report | 3,469 | 74% | 2.8 h | 2.5 h | 8.8k |
| Aug 28, 2021 | No storm report | 2,551 | 54% | 11 h | 2.5 h | 5.0k |
| Mar 14, 2025 | Windstorm | 1,732 | 37% | 30 h | 1.8 h | 4.7k |
| Apr 12, 2018 | No storm report | 3,425 | 73% | 1.0 h | 48 min | 2.8k |
| Oct 29, 2025 | No storm report | 1,497 | 32% | 6.0 h | 1.0 h | 2.1k |
| Mar 18, 2025 | Windstorm | 365 | 8% | 13 h | 15 h | 1.7k |
| Jun 12, 2018 | No storm report | 1,989 | 42% | 48 min | 12 min | 1.0k |
| Apr 15, 2019 | No storm report | 185 | 4% | 6.5 h | – | 1.0k |
| Mar 3, 2025 | Windstorm | 123 | 3% | 8.2 h | – | 978 |
| May 16, 2016 | No storm report | 215 | 5% | 2.5 h | – | 536 |
| Oct 28, 2020 | Winter storm | 156 | 3% | 3.2 h | – | 505 |
| Jul 1, 2015 | No storm report | 286 | 6% | 1.8 h | 14 h | 500 |
| Jul 15, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 302 | 6% | 2.0 h | 1.0 h | 427 |
| Apr 12, 2024 | No storm report | 243 | 5% | 1.5 h | 9.5 h | 364 |
| Mar 28, 2025 | No storm report | 459 | 10% | 48 min | 48 min | 344 |
| Apr 16, 2019 | No storm report | 78 | 2% | 4.2 h | – | 328 |
| Feb 6, 2019 | No storm report | 292 | 6% | 1.0 h | 1.8 h | 292 |
| Feb 9, 2022 | No storm report | 155 | 3% | 1.8 h | – | 271 |
| May 5, 2020 | No storm report | 58 | 1% | 3.8 h | – | 218 |
| Aug 5, 2015 | No storm report | 284 | 6% | 48 min | 48 min | 213 |
| Jul 16, 2019 | No storm report | 176 | 4% | 1.0 h | – | 175 |
| Feb 7, 2018 | No storm report | 321 | 7% | 30 min | 30 min | 160 |
| Feb 1, 2024 | No storm report | 315 | 7% | 30 min | 30 min | 158 |
| Feb 22, 2022 | No storm report | 155 | 3% | 1.0 h | – | 155 |
| Jun 7, 2023 | No storm report | 178 | 4% | 3.8 h | – | 148 |
| Sep 21, 2024 | No storm report | 81 | 2% | 1.8 h | – | 142 |
| Jul 11, 2020 | No storm report | 84 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 137 |
| Mar 15, 2025 | No storm report | 82 | 2% | 3.5 h | – | 136 |
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 Quay from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 60%
- No storm on record 33%
- Windstorm 6.1%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Quay
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 |
| Farmers Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 198 | 198 | 1.53 | 13.7 | 10k |
| Southwestern Electric Coop Inc | Cooperative | – | – | – | 25.3 | 1.4k |
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
- Oldham, TX 15 h
- De Baca 9.1 h
- Deaf Smith, TX 7.9 h
- Guadalupe 5.7 h
- San Miguel 3.6 h
- Quay (this county) 3.4 h
- Hartley, TX 3.0 h
- Curry 1.7 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 4,683 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 →