Power outage history
Pierce County Wisconsin
1.2hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
66th 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 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 2.0 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 5, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 1,917 | 11% | 20 h | 17 h | 15k |
| Apr 1, 2023 | Winter storm | 4,570 | 27% | 12 h | 7.0 h | 14k |
| Sep 7, 2017 | No storm report | 1,379 | 8% | 5.8 h | 5.2 h | 7.8k |
| Jun 17, 2018 | No storm report | 638 | 4% | 9.2 h | – | 5.7k |
| Jul 28, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 447 | 3% | 14 h | – | 5.0k |
| Jun 8, 2021 | No storm report | 1,406 | 8% | 6.2 h | 4.8 h | 4.8k |
| May 2, 2025 | No storm report | 1,421 | 8% | 4.5 h | 4.5 h | 4.6k |
| Aug 10, 2016 | Thunderstorms | 590 | 4% | 12 h | – | 4.2k |
| Aug 18, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 4,120 | 25% | 1.0 h | 48 min | 4.1k |
| Jul 18, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 1,563 | 9% | 3.2 h | 2.8 h | 3.8k |
| Feb 22, 2025 | No storm report | 1,421 | 8% | 2.5 h | 4.0 h | 3.6k |
| Aug 15, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 998 | 6% | 3.5 h | 3.2 h | 3.4k |
| Aug 3, 2022 | No storm report | 2,857 | 17% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 3.1k |
| Dec 16, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 670 | 4% | 4.5 h | – | 3.0k |
| Nov 10, 2022 | No storm report | 1,415 | 8% | 2.0 h | 2.0 h | 2.8k |
| Jun 11, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 941 | 6% | 8.0 h | 9.8 h | 2.7k |
| Jul 7, 2025 | No storm report | 1,089 | 6% | 5.0 h | 1.8 h | 2.6k |
| Nov 3, 2024 | No storm report | 746 | 4% | 3.8 h | – | 2.6k |
| May 11, 2022 | No storm report | 712 | 4% | 3.5 h | – | 2.4k |
| Nov 4, 2023 | No storm report | 1,026 | 6% | 2.2 h | 2.0 h | 2.3k |
| Jul 28, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 1,005 | 6% | 4.2 h | 13 h | 2.1k |
| Nov 17, 2024 | No storm report | 305 | 2% | 7.5 h | – | 2.1k |
| Apr 11, 2019 | Winter storm | 346 | 2% | 6.2 h | – | 2.0k |
| Mar 27, 2020 | No storm report | 4,070 | 24% | 30 min | 30 min | 2.0k |
| Sep 3, 2019 | No storm report | 649 | 4% | 5.2 h | – | 2.0k |
| Nov 19, 2015 | No storm report | 599 | 4% | 4.0 h | – | 1.9k |
| Oct 11, 2025 | No storm report | 1,013 | 6% | 2.0 h | 30 min | 1.9k |
| Jun 5, 2024 | No storm report | 1,434 | 9% | 1.8 h | 1.8 h | 1.8k |
| Sep 15, 2023 | No storm report | 462 | 3% | 3.8 h | – | 1.7k |
| Aug 5, 2024 | No storm report | 750 | 4% | 2.2 h | – | 1.7k |
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 63%
- Thunderstorms 21%
- Winter storm 16%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Pierce
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern States Power Co | Investor Owned | 309 | 110 | 1.15 | 15.6 | 223k |
| St Croix Electric Coop | WI | 146 | 107 | 1.18 | 12.2 | 147k |
| Pierce-Pepin Coop Services | WI | 100 | 100 | 0.98 | 14.5 | 106k |
| Dunn County Electric Coop | Cooperative | 129 | 32 | 0.76 | 16.2 | 9.5k |
| City of River Falls | Municipal | 38 | 38 | 0.43 | 14.0 | 6.9k |
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
- Washington, MN 4.9 h
- Goodhue, MN 4.3 h
- St. Croix 4.2 h
- Pepin 1.9 h
- Dunn 1.8 h
- Dakota, MN 1.7 h
- Pierce (this county) 1.2 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 16,786 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 →