Power outage history
Oconee County South Carolina
22hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
8th most of 46 in South Carolina 3.4× 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 Oconee's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2024 was the worst well-recorded year, at 3.7 days for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Oconee, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 26, 2024 | Hurricane Helene | 37,716 | 93% | 10.0 d | 7.4 d | 3.4M |
| Apr 13, 2020 | Tornadoes | 20,719 | 51% | 3.3 d | 30 h | 808k |
| Oct 29, 2020 | Hurricane Zeta | 26,690 | 66% | 3.5 d | 2.3 d | 693k |
| Sep 11, 2017 | Hurricane Irma | 6,933 | 17% | 3.0 d | 2.5 d | 279k |
| Jan 16, 2022 | No storm report | 11,995 | 30% | 2.3 d | 33 h | 246k |
| Feb 16, 2015 | No storm report | 6,132 | 15% | 34 h | 13 h | 95k |
| Jun 7, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 8,685 | 21% | 13 h | 9.2 h | 59k |
| Feb 28, 2024 | No storm report | 6,661 | 16% | 11 h | 10 h | 56k |
| Apr 18, 2020 | No storm report | 1,554 | 4% | 2.1 d | – | 55k |
| Feb 14, 2015 | No storm report | 4,809 | 12% | 21 h | 17 h | 51k |
| Dec 9, 2018 | No storm report | 3,077 | 8% | 40 h | 35 h | 50k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | No storm report | 5,341 | 13% | 15 h | 14 h | 42k |
| Jan 3, 2022 | No storm report | 4,365 | 11% | 17 h | 13 h | 33k |
| Apr 17, 2020 | No storm report | 2,001 | 5% | 14 h | – | 28k |
| Dec 11, 2024 | No storm report | 3,739 | 9% | 11 h | 8.2 h | 20k |
| Apr 1, 2023 | No storm report | 2,356 | 6% | 18 h | 17 h | 20k |
| Jun 24, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,384 | 3% | 22 h | – | 19k |
| Aug 26, 2025 | No storm report | 4,965 | 12% | 4.5 h | 4.2 h | 18k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | No storm report | 3,327 | 8% | 11 h | 8.5 h | 17k |
| Apr 21, 2020 | No storm report | 1,477 | 4% | 26 h | – | 16k |
| Sep 4, 2018 | No storm report | 1,389 | 3% | 11 h | – | 14k |
| Jun 12, 2020 | No storm report | 1,707 | 4% | 9.2 h | – | 14k |
| Jun 17, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 1,855 | 5% | 11 h | – | 14k |
| Jul 6, 2022 | No storm report | 1,959 | 5% | 18 h | – | 13k |
| Jun 25, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,500 | 4% | 13 h | – | 12k |
| May 9, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,770 | 4% | 11 h | – | 11k |
| Dec 17, 2019 | No storm report | 5,055 | 13% | 2.8 h | 2.0 h | 10k |
| Apr 12, 2024 | No storm report | 2,231 | 6% | 8.2 h | 2.2 h | 9.7k |
| Feb 25, 2024 | No storm report | 1,365 | 3% | 7.5 h | – | 9.0k |
| Apr 26, 2019 | No storm report | 2,053 | 5% | 7.5 h | 4.0 h | 8.7k |
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 Oconee from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 67%
- No storm on record 17%
- Tornadoes 13%
- Thunderstorms 2.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Oconee
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 Carolinas, LLC | Investor Owned | 220 | 141 | 1.26 | 13.5 | 582k |
| Blue Ridge Electric Coop Inc | Cooperative | 205 | 160 | – | 19.8 | 69k |
| City of Seneca | SC | 100 | – | 0.41 | 13.5 | 64k |
| City of Westminster | SC | – | – | – | – | 13k |
| Haywood Electric Member Corp | Cooperative | – | – | – | 18.5 | 10 |
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
- Rabun, GA 35 h
- Transylvania, NC 26 h
- Oconee (this county) 22 h
- Anderson 21 h
- Jackson, NC 16 h
- Pickens 15 h
- Macon, NC 13 h
- Stephens, GA 7.1 h
- Habersham, GA 6.5 h
- Franklin, GA 3.8 h
- Hart, GA 3.3 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 40,425 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 →