Power outage history
Florence County South Carolina
3.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
40th most of 46 in South Carolina 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 Florence'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 8.8 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Florence, 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 8, 2016 | Hurricane Matthew | 48,077 | 88% | 6.1 d | 5.7 d | 3.7M |
| Sep 15, 2018 | Hurricane Florence | 12,740 | 23% | 44 h | 32 h | 273k |
| Sep 30, 2022 | Hurricane Ian | 8,601 | 16% | 36 h | 27 h | 120k |
| Oct 8, 2016 | Hurricane Matthew | 27,300 | 50% | 8.8 h | 13 h | 99k |
| Sep 2, 2016 | Hurricane Hermine | 8,952 | 16% | 22 h | 17 h | 95k |
| Jan 7, 2023 | No storm report | 4,555 | 8% | 18 h | 17 h | 78k |
| Aug 30, 2023 | Hurricane Idalia | 8,302 | 15% | 19 h | 11 h | 78k |
| Dec 24, 2022 | No storm report | 8,188 | 15% | 8.0 h | 3.0 h | 61k |
| Sep 27, 2024 | Hurricane Helene | 6,382 | 12% | 27 h | 16 h | 52k |
| Sep 11, 2017 | No storm report | 2,932 | 5% | 19 h | 14 h | 32k |
| Jul 18, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 4,551 | 8% | 8.2 h | 7.8 h | 20k |
| Aug 5, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 5,325 | 10% | 7.5 h | 6.2 h | 18k |
| Jul 10, 2015 | No storm report | 3,765 | 7% | 6.5 h | 6.2 h | 17k |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 3,504 | 6% | 7.8 h | 9.0 h | 16k |
| Jan 22, 2016 | Winter storm | 3,013 | 6% | 7.0 h | 6.0 h | 15k |
| Jun 25, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 9,203 | 17% | 6.0 h | 2.0 h | 14k |
| Sep 14, 2018 | Hurricane Florence | 3,874 | 7% | 5.0 h | 16 h | 13k |
| Jul 20, 2016 | No storm report | 3,856 | 7% | 8.0 h | 7.2 h | 12k |
| Jan 3, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 2,174 | 4% | 8.0 h | – | 12k |
| Apr 15, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,897 | 5% | 4.2 h | 4.5 h | 11k |
| May 24, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 3,406 | 6% | 6.2 h | 6.0 h | 11k |
| Jul 7, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 2,672 | 5% | 7.5 h | – | 10k |
| Jun 2, 2022 | No storm report | 4,721 | 9% | 3.2 h | 2.5 h | 8.9k |
| Sep 5, 2019 | Hurricane Dorian | 4,556 | 8% | 6.8 h | 3.8 h | 8.8k |
| Jun 17, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 2,496 | 5% | 11 h | – | 8.8k |
| Aug 30, 2018 | No storm report | 3,303 | 6% | 3.0 h | 3.2 h | 8.0k |
| Jul 28, 2018 | Flooding | 2,524 | 5% | 6.5 h | – | 7.8k |
| Jun 20, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 4,362 | 8% | 4.0 h | 3.5 h | 7.8k |
| Jun 18, 2015 | Heat | 4,081 | 7% | 4.5 h | 5.2 h | 7.5k |
| Jun 16, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 4,803 | 9% | 3.5 h | 3.5 h | 6.7k |
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 Florence from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 52%
- No storm on record 37%
- Thunderstorms 10%
- Flooding 0.8%
- Windstorm 0.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Florence
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole South Carolina territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Energy Progress | Investor Owned | 119 | 106 | 1.14 | 14.1 | 144k |
| Santee Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 211 | 147 | – | 16.4 | 35k |
| MPD Electric Cooperative | Cooperative | 136 | 103 | 1.24 | 13.7 | 32k |
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
- Marion 14 h
- Dillon 11 h
- Lee 7.3 h
- Darlington 6.0 h
- Williamsburg 4.6 h
- Sumter 4.5 h
- Marlboro 3.7 h
- Clarendon 3.7 h
- Florence (this county) 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 54,564 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 →