Power outage history
Jefferson County West Virginia
4.5hours
without power for the average customer in a typical year, 2018–2025
54th most of 55 in West Virginia 32% 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 Jefferson'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 11 hours for the average customer. Hatched years have a thin record and are left out of the averages.
Jefferson, 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, 2024 | No storm report | 1,036 | 3% | 6.9 d | – | 172k |
| May 14, 2018 | Thunderstorms | 3,732 | 12% | 37 h | 25 h | 48k |
| Feb 24, 2019 | No storm report | 2,935 | 10% | 46 h | 45 h | 42k |
| Aug 8, 2024 | Hurricane Debby | 3,492 | 11% | 22 h | 12 h | 33k |
| Mar 2, 2018 | Windstorm | 2,465 | 8% | 39 h | 25 h | 27k |
| Jul 6, 2020 | Thunderstorms | 2,463 | 8% | 15 h | 13 h | 20k |
| Mar 28, 2021 | No storm report | 4,018 | 13% | 8.8 h | 5.5 h | 19k |
| Jun 23, 2015 | Thunderstorms | 2,168 | 7% | 21 h | 18 h | 18k |
| Feb 16, 2025 | Thunderstorms | 3,224 | 11% | 12 h | 11 h | 17k |
| Jul 3, 2024 | No storm report | 2,884 | 9% | 13 h | 30 min | 16k |
| Aug 3, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,570 | 5% | 13 h | 18 h | 14k |
| Jan 21, 2019 | Winter storm | 1,965 | 6% | 16 h | 15 h | 13k |
| Feb 13, 2024 | Winter storm | 1,737 | 6% | 9.0 h | 6.2 h | 13k |
| May 26, 2021 | Thunderstorms | 3,859 | 13% | 11 h | 6.5 h | 13k |
| Jun 15, 2024 | No storm report | 1,833 | 6% | 12 h | 3.5 h | 11k |
| Apr 28, 2023 | No storm report | 2,704 | 9% | 6.8 h | 6.2 h | 11k |
| Oct 13, 2016 | No storm report | 1,654 | 5% | 7.8 h | 11 h | 11k |
| May 13, 2025 | Flooding | 939 | 3% | 21 h | – | 11k |
| Oct 15, 2017 | No storm report | 4,448 | 15% | 6.2 h | 2.2 h | 10k |
| Jan 15, 2015 | No storm report | 3,784 | 12% | 3.0 h | 3.2 h | 10k |
| Jun 28, 2015 | No storm report | 3,796 | 12% | 2.5 h | 30 min | 9.5k |
| Jun 21, 2015 | Tropical Storm Bill | 1,300 | 4% | 8.2 h | – | 8.5k |
| Jul 8, 2019 | Flooding | 1,972 | 6% | 7.2 h | 6.8 h | 8.0k |
| Jul 11, 2023 | No storm report | 2,035 | 7% | 4.0 h | 3.8 h | 7.9k |
| Jun 27, 2015 | No storm report | 2,636 | 9% | 6.5 h | 3.5 h | 7.9k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | Winter storm | 706 | 2% | 16 h | – | 7.8k |
| Dec 23, 2022 | Winter storm | 2,577 | 8% | 6.5 h | 4.5 h | 7.4k |
| May 26, 2024 | Thunderstorms | 1,088 | 4% | 10 h | – | 7.3k |
| Apr 30, 2021 | No storm report | 2,125 | 7% | 10 h | 18 h | 7.0k |
| Mar 31, 2022 | No storm report | 2,187 | 7% | 6.5 h | 4.2 h | 6.8k |
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 Jefferson from twelve hours before it began to its peak. Matching shows coincidence, not proof of cause.
- No storm on record 63%
- Thunderstorms 20%
- Winter storm 5.4%
- Tropical storm 4.7%
- Windstorm 3.5%
- Flooding 2.7%
- Heat 0.9%
Who keeps the lights on
Utilities serving Jefferson
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
- Clarke, VA 6.3 h
- Jefferson (this county) 4.5 h
- Washington, MD 3.5 h
- Frederick, VA 3.1 h
- Loudoun, VA 2.6 h
- Berkeley 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 30,664 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 →