Power outage history
Charlotte County Virginia
50hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
4th most of 123 in Virginia 7.6× 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 Charlotte's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2021 was the worst well-recorded year, at 7.3 days for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Charlotte, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 13, 2021 | Winter storm | 5,148 | 100% | 11.7 d | 10.1 d | 864k |
| Oct 11, 2018 | Hurricane Michael | 5,148 | 100% | 6.0 d | 5.0 d | 404k |
| Feb 11, 2025 | Winter storm | 3,584 | 70% | 5.7 d | 3.8 d | 183k |
| Dec 8, 2017 | Winter storm | 4,390 | 85% | 2.7 d | 37 h | 99k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 3,401 | 66% | 2.5 d | 30 h | 96k |
| Jan 13, 2019 | Winter storm | 3,345 | 65% | 37 h | 2.2 h | 54k |
| Dec 9, 2018 | Winter storm | 3,631 | 71% | 45 h | 25 h | 38k |
| Feb 24, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 3,427 | 67% | 26 h | 24 h | 28k |
| Sep 30, 2022 | Hurricane Ian | 653 | 13% | 2.0 d | 25 h | 14k |
| Jun 20, 2015 | Tropical Storm Bill | 529 | 10% | 45 h | 19 h | 12k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | No storm report | 836 | 16% | 34 h | 28 h | 12k |
| Jul 11, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 1,832 | 36% | 21 h | 7.8 h | 11k |
| Oct 8, 2016 | No storm report | 1,520 | 30% | 17 h | 8.8 h | 9.3k |
| Jul 7, 2025 | Tropical Storm Chantal | 739 | 14% | 12 h | 12 h | 8.9k |
| Jun 23, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,328 | 26% | 22 h | 9.2 h | 8.3k |
| Feb 4, 2023 | No storm report | 976 | 19% | 8.2 h | 12 h | 8.0k |
| Jun 22, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,001 | 39% | 9.0 h | 5.8 h | 7.4k |
| Jan 12, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 795 | 15% | 15 h | 11 h | 7.0k |
| Jul 23, 2016 | No storm report | 950 | 18% | 7.0 h | 7.5 h | 6.5k |
| Aug 14, 2021 | No storm report | 2,198 | 43% | 6.8 h | 3.2 h | 6.4k |
| May 2, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 818 | 16% | 11 h | 3.2 h | 5.8k |
| Nov 1, 2018 | No storm report | 3,064 | 60% | 5.5 h | 1.0 h | 5.6k |
| Oct 27, 2018 | No storm report | 2,045 | 40% | 2.8 h | 3.0 h | 5.4k |
| Jan 6, 2025 | No storm report | 325 | 6% | 33 h | 32 h | 5.3k |
| May 16, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 644 | 13% | 21 h | 17 h | 5.2k |
| Jun 16, 2017 | No storm report | 1,118 | 22% | 9.8 h | 8.0 h | 4.7k |
| Jan 12, 2016 | No storm report | 810 | 16% | 21 h | 12 h | 4.6k |
| Jul 1, 2016 | No storm report | 1,173 | 23% | 11 h | 7.8 h | 4.4k |
| Oct 29, 2020 | Hurricane Zeta | 493 | 10% | 21 h | 16 h | 4.3k |
| Apr 11, 2016 | No storm report | 1,013 | 20% | 4.2 h | 30 min | 4.2k |
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 Charlotte from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Winter storm 57%
- Tropical storm 22%
- No storm on record 12%
- Windstorm 4.9%
- Thunderstorms 3.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Charlotte
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Virginia territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Electric & Power Co | Investor Owned | 307 | 144 | 1.78 | 15.2 | 2.4M |
| Southside Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 2,127 | 324 | 4.45 | 15.5 | 57k |
| Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative | Cooperative | 721 | 244 | 2.83 | 14.3 | 30k |
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
- Charlotte (this county) 50 h
- Lunenburg 45 h
- Prince Edward 33 h
- Halifax 20 h
- Appomattox 18 h
- Campbell 14 h
- Mecklenburg 12 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 5,148 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 →