Power outage history
Richland County Wisconsin
0.6hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
71st most of 72 in Wisconsin 90% 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 Richland's customers who were without power at that day's worst moment.
Year by year
Hours in the dark, per customer
2019 was the worst well-recorded year, at 1.1 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Richland, 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 | 1,531 | 19% | 12 h | 11 h | 11k |
| Jul 19, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 997 | 12% | 15 h | 14 h | 6.5k |
| Jul 20, 2017 | Flooding | 549 | 7% | 24 h | 26 h | 5.3k |
| Jul 13, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 615 | 8% | 9.5 h | 8.8 h | 3.5k |
| Jun 2, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 556 | 7% | 7.2 h | 6.0 h | 2.9k |
| Dec 16, 2015 | No storm report | 1,143 | 14% | 1.8 h | 2.5 h | 1.9k |
| Mar 19, 2019 | No storm report | 379 | 5% | 5.0 h | – | 1.9k |
| Jul 13, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 383 | 5% | 7.0 h | – | 1.8k |
| Mar 7, 2017 | No storm report | 414 | 5% | 4.2 h | 9.8 h | 1.7k |
| May 12, 2017 | No storm report | 469 | 6% | 7.0 h | 1.8 h | 1.5k |
| Jul 13, 2015 | No storm report | 281 | 4% | 5.0 h | – | 1.4k |
| Jul 29, 2021 | No storm report | 270 | 3% | 6.2 h | – | 1.2k |
| Oct 7, 2018 | No storm report | 274 | 3% | 4.0 h | – | 1.1k |
| Jul 19, 2019 | No storm report | 345 | 4% | 5.5 h | – | 1.0k |
| Aug 10, 2016 | No storm report | 212 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 948 |
| Dec 28, 2019 | No storm report | 233 | 3% | 4.5 h | – | 874 |
| Jan 30, 2019 | Winter storm | 378 | 5% | 2.2 h | – | 850 |
| Jul 24, 2022 | No storm report | 558 | 7% | 1.5 h | 13 h | 833 |
| Aug 28, 2021 | No storm report | 161 | 2% | 5.0 h | – | 793 |
| Jun 18, 2021 | No storm report | 200 | 2% | 4.0 h | – | 778 |
| Dec 29, 2020 | No storm report | 283 | 4% | 2.8 h | – | 778 |
| Mar 8, 2017 | No storm report | 391 | 5% | 1.8 h | – | 684 |
| Mar 9, 2018 | No storm report | 384 | 5% | 1.8 h | – | 672 |
| Aug 25, 2019 | No storm report | 539 | 7% | 1.5 h | 1.2 h | 634 |
| Apr 2, 2024 | No storm report | 313 | 4% | 2.0 h | – | 626 |
| Apr 30, 2022 | No storm report | 677 | 8% | 1.0 h | 48 min | 613 |
| Dec 16, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 99 | 1% | 6.2 h | – | 601 |
| Oct 14, 2020 | No storm report | 283 | 4% | 2.2 h | – | 597 |
| Dec 17, 2018 | No storm report | 198 | 2% | 3.0 h | – | 592 |
| Jun 15, 2022 | Thunderstorms | 245 | 3% | 3.8 h | – | 566 |
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 Richland from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 74%
- Thunderstorms 23%
- Winter storm 2.8%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Richland
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 Power & Light Co | Investor Owned | 96 | 75 | 0.79 | 18.5 | 441k |
| Vernon Electric Coop | WI | 188 | 125 | – | 14.5 | 123k |
| Richland Electric Coop | WI | – | – | – | – | 37k |
| Scenic Rivers Energy Coop | Cooperative | 105 | 105 | 1.17 | 15.5 | 14k |
| Village of Viola | WI | – | – | – | – | 2.6k |
| City of Richland Center | Municipal | 28 | 0 | 0.18 | 12.5 | 2.4k |
| Village of Muscoda | Municipal | 11 | 11 | 0.04 | 11.4 | 934 |
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 8,020 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 →