Power outage history
Dane County Wisconsin
1.2hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
67th most of 72 in Wisconsin 82% 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 Dane'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 3.3 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Dane, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 46,973 | 16% | 45 h | 38 h | 663k |
| Jun 13, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 18,824 | 6% | 29 h | 35 h | 194k |
| Jul 28, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 16,785 | 6% | 13 h | 3.5 h | 111k |
| Jul 6, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 16,821 | 6% | 10 h | 12 h | 97k |
| Aug 20, 2018 | Flooding | 6,816 | 2% | 8.0 h | 11 h | 36k |
| Jul 24, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 12,079 | 4% | 6.0 h | 6.0 h | 35k |
| Jul 21, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 7,593 | 3% | 5.8 h | 17 h | 32k |
| Sep 29, 2019 | No storm report | 10,308 | 3% | 3.5 h | 4.5 h | 31k |
| Jul 19, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 15,944 | 5% | 3.8 h | 9.5 h | 26k |
| Aug 9, 2024 | No storm report | 4,769 | 2% | 4.5 h | – | 21k |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Windstorm | 6,242 | 2% | 4.0 h | 8.0 h | 18k |
| Aug 10, 2025 | No storm report | 8,497 | 3% | 2.5 h | 48 min | 18k |
| Apr 30, 2021 | No storm report | 11,430 | 4% | 1.5 h | 1.8 h | 17k |
| Jul 29, 2021 | Tornadoes | 4,318 | 1% | 3.5 h | – | 15k |
| May 24, 2024 | No storm report | 3,151 | 1% | 4.0 h | – | 12k |
| Apr 16, 2023 | No storm report | 4,516 | 2% | 2.5 h | – | 11k |
| Oct 30, 2024 | No storm report | 5,508 | 2% | 1.8 h | 1.0 h | 9.6k |
| Aug 10, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 4,729 | 2% | 2.2 h | – | 8.6k |
| Oct 7, 2016 | No storm report | 3,086 | 1% | 2.8 h | – | 8.2k |
| Apr 4, 2019 | No storm report | 6,017 | 2% | 1.2 h | 1.0 h | 6.9k |
| Jun 22, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 4,247 | 1% | 1.8 h | – | 6.3k |
| Dec 18, 2017 | No storm report | 3,022 | 1% | 1.8 h | – | 5.3k |
| Jun 14, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 3,434 | 1% | 1.5 h | – | 4.9k |
| Sep 2, 2018 | Flooding | 3,336 | 1% | 1.2 h | – | 4.1k |
| Mar 15, 2025 | No storm report | 3,741 | 1% | 1.0 h | – | 3.7k |
| Jul 13, 2024 | No storm report | 3,766 | 1% | 1.0 h | – | 3.7k |
| Jun 23, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,501 | 1% | 1.2 h | – | 3.3k |
| Sep 12, 2019 | Thunderstorms | 3,549 | 1% | 48 min | – | 2.7k |
| Jan 11, 2020 | Winter storm | 3,389 | 1% | 48 min | – | 2.5k |
| Jun 21, 2022 | Heat | 3,178 | 1% | 48 min | – | 2.4k |
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 Dane from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- Thunderstorms 82%
- No storm on record 11%
- Flooding 3.2%
- Windstorm 1.5%
- Tornadoes 1.2%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Dane
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole Wisconsin territory, not this county alone. Outage minutes include major storm days.
| Utility | Type | Outage min / yr | Excl. major storms | Outages / yr | Residential ¢/kWh | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin Electric Power Co | Investor Owned | 185 | 93 | 0.90 | 20.5 | 1.1M |
| Wisconsin Power & Light Co | Investor Owned | 96 | 75 | 0.79 | 18.5 | 441k |
| Madison Gas & Electric Co | Investor Owned | 49 | 27 | 0.39 | 21.1 | 148k |
| Adams-Columbia Electric Coop | Cooperative | 108 | 66 | 0.87 | 19.0 | 36k |
| Sun Prairie Utilities | Municipal | 11 | 11 | 0.14 | 12.1 | 17k |
| Village of Black Earth | WI | – | – | – | – | 9.5k |
| City of Stoughton | Municipal | 34 | 34 | 0.33 | 12.8 | 8.3k |
| Rock Energy Cooperative | Cooperative | 56 | 37 | 0.53 | 14.3 | 7.4k |
| Village of Waunakee | Municipal | 19 | 0 | 0.31 | 12.1 | 6.9k |
| Village of Mazomanie | WI | – | – | – | – | 6.4k |
| Village of Mt. Horeb | Municipal | – | – | – | 13.0 | 3.6k |
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 295,516 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 →