Power outage history
Providence County Rhode Island
4.5hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
3rd most of 5 in Rhode Island 32% 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 Providence'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 12 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Providence, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 2017 | Windstorm | 67,995 | 28% | 3.9 d | 2.6 d | 2.6M |
| Mar 2, 2018 | No storm report | 64,587 | 27% | 3.0 d | 48 h | 1.8M |
| Aug 4, 2020 | Hurricane Isaias | 84,135 | 35% | 2.3 d | 40 h | 1.8M |
| Aug 4, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 49,763 | 21% | 37 h | 27 h | 596k |
| Dec 18, 2023 | Windstorm | 22,798 | 9% | 36 h | 29 h | 352k |
| Nov 1, 2019 | Windstorm | 22,592 | 9% | 28 h | 23 h | 278k |
| Oct 7, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 33,212 | 14% | 22 h | 18 h | 265k |
| Mar 7, 2018 | Winter storm | 18,952 | 8% | 24 h | 18 h | 263k |
| Feb 5, 2016 | Winter storm | 16,406 | 7% | 38 h | 44 h | 253k |
| Jun 26, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 23,679 | 10% | 17 h | 15 h | 218k |
| Oct 27, 2021 | Tropical Storm Wanda | 29,389 | 12% | 13 h | 6.8 h | 196k |
| Feb 7, 2020 | Windstorm | 23,929 | 10% | 12 h | 9.8 h | 144k |
| Nov 30, 2020 | Windstorm | 21,386 | 9% | 14 h | 11 h | 136k |
| Apr 13, 2020 | Windstorm | 14,856 | 6% | 21 h | 20 h | 121k |
| Dec 19, 2025 | Windstorm | 16,619 | 7% | 17 h | 22 h | 119k |
| Jul 4, 2025 | No storm report | 7,313 | 3% | 17 h | 25 h | 84k |
| Oct 17, 2019 | Windstorm | 9,176 | 4% | 13 h | 18 h | 79k |
| Sep 30, 2020 | Windstorm | 9,426 | 4% | 7.8 h | 18 h | 50k |
| Aug 22, 2021 | Hurricane Henri | 7,865 | 3% | 9.5 h | 13 h | 48k |
| Feb 25, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 11,369 | 5% | 5.8 h | 6.0 h | 47k |
| Mar 13, 2018 | Winter storm | 9,918 | 4% | 9.0 h | 12 h | 46k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | Windstorm | 5,505 | 2% | 11 h | 21 h | 37k |
| Feb 25, 2019 | Windstorm | 8,223 | 3% | 13 h | 9.8 h | 35k |
| Jul 12, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 9,655 | 4% | 4.0 h | 3.8 h | 29k |
| Mar 31, 2016 | Windstorm | 7,458 | 3% | 4.5 h | 3.5 h | 24k |
| Sep 6, 2016 | Hurricane Hermine | 5,810 | 2% | 6.2 h | 2.0 h | 20k |
| Feb 9, 2017 | Winter storm | 6,377 | 3% | 5.2 h | 6.0 h | 20k |
| Aug 29, 2015 | No storm report | 7,410 | 3% | 2.8 h | 48 min | 19k |
| Mar 2, 2021 | Windstorm | 8,969 | 4% | 3.5 h | 12 h | 18k |
| Feb 3, 2023 | Windstorm | 5,472 | 2% | 10 h | 13 h | 18k |
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 Providence from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 35%
- Tropical storm 31%
- Windstorm 21%
- Thunderstorms 7.6%
- Winter storm 4.9%
- Flooding 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Providence
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Rhode Island territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Narragansett Electric Co | Investor Owned | 183 | 60 | 0.96 | 29.4 | 458k |
| Clear River Electric and Water District | Municipal | – | – | – | 19.1 | 4.4k |
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
- Windham, CT 12 h
- Bristol 5.2 h
- Norfolk, MA 4.9 h
- Providence (this county) 4.5 h
- Worcester, MA 4.0 h
- Bristol, MA 4.0 h
- Kent 3.6 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 242,599 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 →