Power Outages in O'Brien County, IA
As of October 19, 2026 07:45 UTC, no outages are reported by North West Rural Electric Coop, Interstate Power and Light Co, Iowa Lakes Electric Coop, MidAmerican Energy Co and Osceola Electric Coop, Inc in O'Brien County, IA. There is no live feed for City of Hartley - (IA), City of Paullina - (IA), City of Primghar - (IA), City of Sanborn - (IA) and WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration. In 2025, the average customer here lost power for about 5.3 hours.
O'Brien County, IA is served by 10 tracked utilities.
Cite this data
- URL
- https://massoutage.com/iowa/obrien-county
- As of
- October 19, 2026 07:45 UTC
- Publisher
- MassOutage
MassOutage, "Power Outages in O'Brien County, IA", live data as of October 19, 2026 07:45 UTC. https://massoutage.com/iowa/obrien-county
No active outages are reported by North West Rural Electric Coop, Interstate Power and Light Co, Iowa Lakes Electric Coop, MidAmerican Energy Co and Osceola Electric Coop, Inc in O'Brien County.
No live feed for City of Hartley - (IA), City of Paullina - (IA), City of Primghar - (IA), City of Sanborn - (IA) and WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration: outages in theirservice area won't show here.
20%of this county's ~6,789 customers are served by utilities with a county-level live feed.
We can't see outages for: City of Hartley - (IA), City of Paullina - (IA), City of Primghar - (IA), City of Sanborn - (IA), WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration. Their customers are not in any number on this page; check their own outage maps.
| Utility | Feed | Out | Served | % out | Small outages | Incidents | Utility ETR | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North West Rural Electric Coop | Live · county | 0 | 1,306 | 0.0% | - | - | - | |
| Interstate Power and Light Co | Live · county | 0 | 69 | 0.0% | - | - | - | |
| Iowa Lakes Electric Coop | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | - | |
| MidAmerican Energy Co | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | - | |
| Osceola Electric Coop, Inc | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | - | |
| City of Hartley - (IA) | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| City of Paullina - (IA) | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| City of Primghar - (IA) | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| City of Sanborn - (IA) | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
North West Rural Electric Coop, Interstate Power and Light Co, Iowa Lakes Electric Coop, MidAmerican Energy Co and Osceola Electric Coop, Inc reportevery town in the county on each poll, so 0 out is a real all-clear. ETRs are the utility's own estimates.
Electricity-dependent residents
HHS emPOWER · data October 7, 2026Medicare beneficiaries in O'Brien Countywho rely on electricity-dependent medical equipment (ventilators, oxygen concentrators, home dialysis, powered wheelchairs, and more). HHS reports counts of 1–10 as “≤11”. Medicare only, so the full at-risk population is larger.
By ZIP code (7)
| ZIP | Power-dependent | Ventilators | O2 concentrators | Home dialysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51201 | 35 | ≤11 | 20 | ≤11 |
| 51346 | 29 | ≤11 | 29 | 0 |
| 51058 | 18 | 0 | 16 | ≤11 |
| 51046 | 14 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| 51248 | ≤11 | ≤11 | ≤11 | 0 |
| 51245 | ≤11 | 0 | ≤11 | 0 |
| 51231 | ≤11 | 0 | ≤11 | 0 |
Emergency managers can request identified beneficiary lists through their state health department via the HHS emPOWER program.
Outage began, grew, restoration estimate changed, restored: by email, Slack, Teams, Discord or signed webhook, for O'Brien County or any town and utility in it.
No active NWS alerts for O'Brien County right now.
O'Brien County has been under 17 National Weather Service alerts recently, most recently a Freeze Warning on October 17, 2026.
- Severe Thunderstorm Warning ×8
- Freeze Warning ×4
- Dense Fog Advisory ×3
- Freeze Watch ×1
- Special Weather Statement ×1
Hardest-hit cities in O'Brien County
Where this event is concentrated across the county's towns and townships.
Historical reliability
In 2025, the average customer in O'Brien County went about 5.3 hours without power. Peak simultaneous outage on record reached 3,169 customers.
The US EIA reports Iowa utilities averaged 3.1 hrs without power per customer (SAIDI) in 2025, a cross-check on our county estimate of 5.3 hrs.
Worst year here was 2022 (peak 3,169 customers out) · decade average 2.5 hrs without power per customer/yr.
| Year | Outage events | Peak customers out | Avg hrs/customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 48 | 649 | 0.2 |
| 2016 | 102 | 813 | 1.0 |
| 2017 | 160 | 652 | 2.6 |
| 2018 | 206 | 1,477 | 2.0 |
| 2019 | 196 | 834 | 1.8 |
| 2020 | 164 | 1,608 | 1.0 |
| 2021 | 184 | 864 | 2.5 |
| 2022 | 180 | 3,169 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 161 | 788 | 2.1 |
| 2024 | 173 | 1,314 | 3.4 |
| 2025 | 171 | 2,415 | 5.3 |
Cost of power in O'Brien County
ENERGY & AI DEMAND →Estimated residential electricity price for O'Brien County, customer-weighted across the utilities serving it (US EIA, 2025). Retail prices aren't published at the county level; this is a derived estimate.
- MidAmerican Energy Co11.2¢639,558 cust
- Interstate Power and Light Co17.8¢419,451 cust
- Iowa Lakes Electric Coop13.8¢9,757 cust
- North West Rural Electric Coop9.4¢9,461 cust
Weighted by each utility's residential customer count (utilities report customers at the state level; a per-county share isn't published). Rising retail prices track a national demand surge; see energy & the data-center boom.
Relatively Moderate winter weather exposure · 2.5 hrs/yr of outages over the last decade.
Power outages in O'Brien County: FAQ
- How often does O'Brien County, IA lose power?
- Based on EAGLE-I records, O'Brien County, IA logged 171 distinct outage events in 2025, averaging about 5.3 hours without power per customer over the year.
- What was the worst power outage in O'Brien County, IA?
- The largest tracked outage peaked at 3,169 customers without power, beginning July 5, 2022 and lasting about 21h.
- Is there a power outage in O'Brien County, IA right now?
- No major outage is currently reported for O'Brien County, IA. Live coverage depends on whether local utilities report to ODIN.
- Which utilities serve O'Brien County, IA?
- Tracked electric providers include North West Rural Electric Coop.
Outages are tracked at the county level; these ZIP codes fall within O'Brien County.
51009, 51022, 51046, 51058, 51231, 51245, 51248, 51346
Electric providers serving this county
From EIA-861 service territory, with official reliability where reported.
| Provider | Official SAIDI (EIA) | Live | Report outage |
|---|---|---|---|
| MidAmerican Energy Co | 3.6 hrs | Live · county | - |
| Iowa Lakes Electric Coop | 0.9 hrs | Live · county | - |
| WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration | - | No live feed | - |
| Interstate Power and Light Co | - | Live · county | - |
| North West Rural Electric Coop | - | Live · county | - |
| Osceola Electric Coop, Inc | - | Live · county | - |
| City of Paullina - (IA) | - | No live feed | - |
| City of Hartley - (IA) | - | No live feed | - |
| City of Primghar - (IA) | - | No live feed | - |
| City of Sanborn - (IA) | - | No live feed | - |
Data from DOE/ORNL ODIN, DOE EAGLE-I, EIA Form 861 (utility reliability), EIA electricity retail prices and FEMA National Risk Index, every source we read. Historical figures derive from the DOE/ORNL EAGLE-I dataset (EAGLE-I tracked roughly 0% of Iowa customers). Machine-readable data: /api/v1/counties/19141 and /api/v1/counties/19141/history.