Power outage history
Pierce County Washington
3.8hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
19th most of 31 in Washington 43% 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 Pierce'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 7.7 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Pierce, 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 13, 2021 | No storm report | 107,403 | 23% | 2.5 d | 27 h | 1.4M |
| Dec 17, 2025 | No storm report | 83,411 | 18% | 42 h | 35 h | 1.4M |
| Sep 7, 2020 | No storm report | 52,571 | 11% | 45 h | 5.0 h | 1.2M |
| Oct 25, 2025 | No storm report | 86,311 | 18% | 43 h | 27 h | 1.2M |
| Aug 29, 2015 | No storm report | 38,940 | 8% | 18 h | 12 h | 412k |
| Sep 17, 2021 | No storm report | 55,715 | 12% | 23 h | 20 h | 394k |
| Nov 19, 2024 | No storm report | 22,511 | 5% | 25 h | 11 h | 268k |
| Oct 24, 2021 | No storm report | 32,057 | 7% | 25 h | 22 h | 245k |
| Dec 18, 2024 | No storm report | 42,334 | 9% | 10 h | 8.8 h | 217k |
| Dec 9, 2015 | Flooding | 19,327 | 4% | 16 h | 23 h | 196k |
| Jan 8, 2024 | No storm report | 29,167 | 6% | 21 h | 24 h | 187k |
| Oct 13, 2020 | No storm report | 26,469 | 6% | 11 h | 11 h | 155k |
| Jun 3, 2024 | No storm report | 27,576 | 6% | 8.0 h | 7.0 h | 141k |
| Nov 15, 2021 | No storm report | 20,287 | 4% | 13 h | 11 h | 128k |
| Feb 25, 2025 | No storm report | 13,259 | 3% | 13 h | 11 h | 121k |
| Nov 1, 2021 | No storm report | 17,731 | 4% | 8.2 h | 6.8 h | 105k |
| Nov 17, 2015 | No storm report | 25,126 | 5% | 6.8 h | 9.2 h | 94k |
| Apr 4, 2022 | No storm report | 17,165 | 4% | 8.0 h | 8.8 h | 87k |
| Sep 17, 2018 | No storm report | 16,795 | 4% | 7.5 h | 2.5 h | 82k |
| Dec 25, 2022 | No storm report | 11,571 | 2% | 8.8 h | 6.0 h | 65k |
| Apr 24, 2022 | No storm report | 15,328 | 3% | 4.0 h | 3.5 h | 57k |
| Nov 4, 2022 | No storm report | 19,442 | 4% | 3.8 h | 3.0 h | 52k |
| Mar 13, 2016 | No storm report | 14,229 | 3% | 5.5 h | 7.0 h | 49k |
| Feb 15, 2024 | No storm report | 11,637 | 2% | 5.2 h | 4.8 h | 44k |
| Jun 28, 2021 | No storm report | 7,548 | 2% | 8.0 h | 10 h | 39k |
| Aug 10, 2022 | No storm report | 13,402 | 3% | 3.2 h | 1.5 h | 38k |
| Feb 7, 2020 | No storm report | 15,134 | 3% | 3.8 h | 7.2 h | 38k |
| Nov 9, 2021 | No storm report | 17,343 | 4% | 4.5 h | 12 min | 36k |
| Feb 4, 2019 | No storm report | 15,089 | 3% | 2.5 h | 2.5 h | 35k |
| Nov 17, 2024 | No storm report | 13,772 | 3% | 3.8 h | 3.2 h | 34k |
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 Pierce from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 100%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Pierce
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Washington territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puget Sound Energy Inc | Investor Owned | 580 | 178 | 1.60 | 17.0 | 1.1M |
| City of Tacoma | Municipal | 172 | 70 | 0.89 | 11.4 | 178k |
| Ohop Mutual Light Company, Inc | WA | – | – | – | 8.7 | 80k |
| Tanner Electric Coop | WA | – | – | – | 13.3 | 62k |
| Parkland Light & Water Company | WA | – | – | – | 7.8 | 55k |
| Peninsula Light Company | Cooperative | 745 | 98 | 4.24 | 11.3 | 36k |
| PUD No 3 of Mason County | Political Subdivision | 419 | 223 | 1.91 | 14.4 | 34k |
| Town of Steilacoom | WA | – | – | – | 8.3 | 30k |
| PUD No 1 of Lewis County | Political Subdivision | 663 | 400 | 3.69 | 10.1 | 30k |
| Town of Eatonville | WA | – | – | – | – | 16k |
| Elmhurst Mutual Power & Light Co | Cooperative | – | – | – | 8.7 | 16k |
| Lakeview Light & Power | Cooperative | – | – | – | 10.9 | 8.3k |
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.
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 469,944 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 →