Power outage history
Berkeley County West Virginia
1.5hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
55th most of 55 in West Virginia 77% 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 Berkeley'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 2.5 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Berkeley, 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 23, 2022 | No storm report | 7,826 | 11% | 19 h | 15 h | 41k |
| Feb 24, 2019 | Windstorm | 3,685 | 5% | 22 h | 22 h | 38k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 4,465 | 6% | 15 h | 14 h | 25k |
| Feb 12, 2017 | Windstorm | 4,262 | 6% | 7.2 h | 2.0 h | 20k |
| Apr 19, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 2,935 | 4% | 9.0 h | – | 16k |
| Jan 7, 2022 | Winter storm | 2,063 | 3% | 8.5 h | – | 15k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | Winter storm | 1,249 | 2% | 15 h | – | 15k |
| May 21, 2020 | No storm report | 1,857 | 3% | 8.0 h | – | 15k |
| Jan 12, 2025 | No storm report | 2,838 | 4% | 5.8 h | – | 12k |
| Jul 13, 2021 | No storm report | 2,222 | 3% | 7.5 h | – | 11k |
| Dec 6, 2016 | No storm report | 3,136 | 5% | 7.2 h | – | 11k |
| Jul 28, 2023 | Thunderstorms | 1,995 | 3% | 7.5 h | – | 11k |
| Jul 11, 2021 | No storm report | 1,553 | 2% | 9.5 h | – | 10k |
| Nov 1, 2022 | No storm report | 3,934 | 6% | 3.0 h | 4.5 h | 9.5k |
| Apr 26, 2016 | No storm report | 7,716 | 11% | 2.0 h | 48 min | 9.4k |
| Jul 22, 2017 | Thunderstorms | 4,818 | 7% | 2.0 h | 1.8 h | 9.2k |
| May 18, 2019 | No storm report | 3,156 | 5% | 3.0 h | – | 9.0k |
| Jul 15, 2015 | No storm report | 1,638 | 2% | 5.0 h | – | 7.5k |
| Apr 12, 2017 | No storm report | 3,088 | 4% | 2.2 h | – | 6.9k |
| Jan 31, 2025 | No storm report | 3,952 | 6% | 1.8 h | 2.2 h | 6.8k |
| Feb 25, 2016 | No storm report | 2,340 | 3% | 3.0 h | – | 6.8k |
| Apr 8, 2020 | No storm report | 1,422 | 2% | 5.5 h | – | 6.7k |
| May 30, 2015 | No storm report | 4,212 | 6% | 2.5 h | 30 min | 6.7k |
| May 14, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 2,978 | 4% | 4.5 h | – | 6.7k |
| Sep 28, 2024 | No storm report | 2,339 | 3% | 3.2 h | – | 6.5k |
| May 4, 2024 | No storm report | 1,503 | 2% | 6.8 h | – | 6.1k |
| Apr 20, 2022 | No storm report | 1,850 | 3% | 3.5 h | – | 5.9k |
| Mar 2, 2024 | No storm report | 2,298 | 3% | 2.5 h | – | 5.7k |
| Jan 23, 2025 | No storm report | 1,692 | 2% | 4.2 h | – | 5.1k |
| Jul 29, 2017 | Flooding | 2,984 | 4% | 1.8 h | – | 5.0k |
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 Berkeley from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 66%
- Windstorm 15%
- Thunderstorms 8.7%
- Winter storm 8.6%
- Tropical storm 1.4%
- Heat 0.7%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Berkeley
As each utility reports to the Energy Information Administration for its whole West 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Potomac Edison Company | Investor Owned | 440 | 249 | 1.96 | 13.1 | 138k |
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
- Morgan 14 h
- Jefferson 4.5 h
- Washington, MD 3.5 h
- Frederick, VA 3.1 h
- Berkeley (this county) 1.5 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 68,862 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 →