Power outage history
Prince William County Virginia
1.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
121st most of 123 in Virginia 72% 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 Prince William's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2022 was the worst well-recorded year, at 4.2 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Prince William, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 3, 2022 | No storm report | 33,253 | 15% | 2.3 d | 47 h | 653k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | No storm report | 32,321 | 14% | 2.6 d | 46 h | 604k |
| Jul 29, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 11,987 | 5% | 7.8 h | 9.8 h | 51k |
| Jul 17, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 13,679 | 6% | 9.2 h | 10 h | 44k |
| Aug 7, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 9,195 | 4% | 6.5 h | 6.8 h | 36k |
| May 16, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 8,789 | 4% | 6.5 h | 8.8 h | 34k |
| May 31, 2025 | No storm report | 15,218 | 7% | 4.2 h | 3.8 h | 26k |
| Feb 16, 2025 | No storm report | 11,127 | 5% | 4.8 h | 2.2 h | 26k |
| Aug 11, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 6,435 | 3% | 4.2 h | 4.0 h | 19k |
| Jun 26, 2025 | Flooding | 7,047 | 3% | 3.2 h | 5.0 h | 17k |
| Jun 19, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 8,532 | 4% | 2.8 h | 3.5 h | 17k |
| Aug 11, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 6,182 | 3% | 3.5 h | 5.5 h | 16k |
| Jul 2, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 3,693 | 2% | 5.2 h | – | 16k |
| May 30, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 4,764 | 2% | 3.8 h | – | 15k |
| Jan 19, 2020 | No storm report | 4,832 | 2% | 3.5 h | – | 14k |
| May 14, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 7,403 | 3% | 3.8 h | 3.2 h | 14k |
| Sep 8, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 8,247 | 4% | 2.8 h | 3.0 h | 13k |
| Sep 18, 2019 | No storm report | 4,339 | 2% | 5.2 h | – | 13k |
| May 19, 2022 | No storm report | 4,656 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 11k |
| Jun 28, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 6,070 | 3% | 2.8 h | 4.8 h | 11k |
| Jun 12, 2023 | No storm report | 11,873 | 5% | 2.5 h | 48 min | 11k |
| Apr 1, 2023 | Windstorm | 4,602 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 11k |
| Jun 12, 2018 | No storm report | 3,181 | 1% | 3.2 h | – | 10k |
| Aug 29, 2024 | Flooding | 2,819 | 1% | 4.0 h | – | 10k |
| Apr 6, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 8,192 | 4% | 1.8 h | 14 h | 10k |
| Sep 9, 2018 | No storm report | 3,773 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 10k |
| May 22, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 8,854 | 4% | 1.8 h | 2.0 h | 9.4k |
| Feb 13, 2017 | No storm report | 3,960 | 2% | 3.2 h | – | 9.2k |
| Nov 14, 2018 | No storm report | 2,538 | 1% | 3.5 h | – | 8.8k |
| May 21, 2016 | No storm report | 3,747 | 2% | 2.2 h | – | 8.4k |
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 Prince William from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 82%
- Thunderstorms 15%
- Flooding 1.5%
- Windstorm 0.6%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Prince William
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 |
| Northern Virginia Elec Coop | Cooperative | 94 | 43 | 0.98 | 12.6 | 169k |
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
- Fauquier 14 h
- Stafford 9.5 h
- Fairfax 3.5 h
- Loudoun 2.6 h
- Prince William (this county) 1.8 h
- Manassas Park 0.4 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 225,231 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 →