Power outage history
Douglas County South Dakota
1.0hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
84% 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 Douglas's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2025 was the worst well-recorded year, at 1.0 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Douglas, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 9, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 973 | 56% | 7.0 h | 1.8 h | 4.4k |
| Jun 20, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 661 | 38% | 4.0 h | 4.0 h | 2.6k |
| May 12, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 440 | 25% | 4.0 h | 2.2 h | 1.8k |
| Feb 16, 2021 | Winter storm | 634 | 36% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 1.4k |
| May 30, 2022 | No storm report | 454 | 26% | 3.0 h | 1.2 h | 1.3k |
| Sep 6, 2020 | No storm report | 834 | 48% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 1.2k |
| Sep 5, 2020 | No storm report | 834 | 48% | 1.5 h | 1.2 h | 1.1k |
| Aug 31, 2020 | No storm report | 834 | 48% | 1.2 h | 1.2 h | 1.0k |
| Jul 29, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 452 | 26% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 1.0k |
| Jul 25, 2023 | No storm report | 446 | 26% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 1.0k |
| May 11, 2023 | No storm report | 446 | 26% | 2.2 h | 2.2 h | 1.0k |
| Jun 10, 2024 | No storm report | 519 | 30% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 908 |
| Oct 22, 2020 | Winter storm | 773 | 44% | 1.0 h | 1.0 h | 773 |
| Jan 29, 2022 | No storm report | 140 | 8% | 5.5 h | 5.5 h | 770 |
| Apr 19, 2023 | No storm report | 140 | 8% | 5.2 h | 5.2 h | 735 |
| Jan 10, 2021 | No storm report | 511 | 29% | 1.0 h | 8.2 h | 511 |
| Dec 13, 2022 | No storm report | 143 | 8% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 465 |
| Jul 29, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 142 | 8% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 462 |
| Dec 23, 2020 | Winter storm | 123 | 7% | 3.2 h | 3.2 h | 400 |
| Oct 5, 2020 | No storm report | 123 | 7% | 2.8 h | 2.8 h | 338 |
| Apr 5, 2023 | No storm report | 140 | 8% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 245 |
| Jul 31, 2020 | No storm report | 101 | 6% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 201 |
| Aug 29, 2021 | No storm report | 265 | 15% | 48 min | 48 min | 199 |
| Jun 11, 2021 | No storm report | 122 | 7% | 1.5 h | 1.5 h | 183 |
| Jan 31, 2025 | No storm report | 35 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 114 |
| Jun 17, 2024 | No storm report | 451 | 26% | 12 min | – | 113 |
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 Douglas from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 47%
- Thunderstorms 42%
- Winter storm 11%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Douglas
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole South Dakota territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NorthWestern Energy | Investor Owned | 120 | 82 | 1.14 | 13.3 | 52k |
| Charles Mix Electric Assn, Inc | SD | – | – | – | 13.4 | 35k |
| Southeastern Electric Coop Inc | Cooperative | 24 | 24 | – | 13.0 | 21k |
| Douglas Electric Coop, Inc | SD | – | – | – | 12.4 | 19k |
| WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration | Federal | – | – | – | – | – |
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
- Aurora 3.5 h
- Charles Mix 3.1 h
- Hutchinson 2.5 h
- Davison 2.5 h
- Douglas (this county) 1.0 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 1,745 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 →