Power outage history
Sullivan County Tennessee
5.9hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
26th most of 73 in Tennessee close to 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 Sullivan'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 14 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Sullivan, 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 27, 2024 | Hurricane Helene | 21,584 | 31% | 5.1 d | 3.3 d | 754k |
| Dec 9, 2018 | Winter storm | 7,445 | 11% | 2.6 d | 37 h | 257k |
| Jul 20, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 12,117 | 17% | 44 h | 24 h | 192k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 12,565 | 18% | 47 h | 28 h | 171k |
| Jan 3, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 15,053 | 22% | 8.0 h | 5.2 h | 74k |
| Jan 11, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 5,459 | 8% | 25 h | 3.8 h | 50k |
| May 2, 2016 | No storm report | 1,427 | 2% | 37 h | – | 49k |
| Jul 8, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 5,037 | 7% | 22 h | 23 h | 46k |
| May 9, 2016 | No storm report | 1,421 | 2% | 29 h | – | 38k |
| May 11, 2016 | No storm report | 1,566 | 2% | 27 h | – | 37k |
| Sep 25, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 2,953 | 4% | 23 h | – | 31k |
| Jul 5, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 3,516 | 5% | 19 h | 17 h | 26k |
| Dec 19, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 4,026 | 6% | 8.0 h | 7.0 h | 20k |
| Apr 1, 2023 | Windstorm | 2,925 | 4% | 14 h | – | 19k |
| Jun 18, 2022 | No storm report | 1,266 | 2% | 16 h | – | 15k |
| Mar 26, 2022 | No storm report | 1,777 | 3% | 11 h | – | 15k |
| Mar 3, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 2,980 | 4% | 9.5 h | – | 15k |
| Aug 13, 2021 | No storm report | 1,832 | 3% | 11 h | – | 13k |
| Jun 18, 2015 | No storm report | 1,412 | 2% | 10 h | – | 12k |
| Feb 12, 2024 | No storm report | 6,335 | 9% | 2.5 h | 1.5 h | 11k |
| Jul 4, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 3,086 | 4% | 3.8 h | – | 11k |
| Jan 1, 2022 | No storm report | 3,206 | 5% | 6.5 h | – | 9.3k |
| Nov 27, 2022 | No storm report | 1,839 | 3% | 6.0 h | – | 9.2k |
| Feb 24, 2019 | No storm report | 1,259 | 2% | 8.2 h | – | 9.1k |
| Sep 26, 2024 | No storm report | 1,919 | 3% | 7.2 h | – | 9.0k |
| Apr 22, 2017 | No storm report | 1,455 | 2% | 6.0 h | – | 8.5k |
| Jun 18, 2022 | No storm report | 1,697 | 2% | 10 h | – | 8.5k |
| Sep 9, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,172 | 2% | 8.5 h | – | 8.4k |
| Mar 25, 2016 | No storm report | 1,823 | 3% | 4.2 h | – | 7.3k |
| Mar 27, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 3,341 | 5% | 5.2 h | – | 7.2k |
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 Sullivan from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Tropical storm 36%
- Thunderstorms 30%
- No storm on record 20%
- Winter storm 13%
- Windstorm 0.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Sullivan
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Tennessee territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson City | Municipal | 101 | 100 | 0.88 | 13.2 | 73k |
| Kingsport Power Co | Investor Owned | 182 | 158 | 1.13 | 12.3 | 43k |
| City of Bristol | Municipal | 59 | 0 | 0.79 | 11.5 | 30k |
| City of Elizabethton | Municipal | – | – | – | 12.3 | 23k |
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
- Scott, VA 31 h
- Washington, VA 13 h
- Hawkins 8.7 h
- Sullivan (this county) 5.9 h
- Washington 2.7 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 69,352 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 →