Power Outages in Pondera County, MT
As of October 19, 2026 03:05 UTC, about 3 customers are without power in Pondera County, MT across 1 reported incident. There is no live feed for Glacier Electric Coop, Inc, Marias River Electric Coop Inc and WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration, so outages in their service area aren't counted. In 2025, the average customer here lost power for about 10.0 hours.
Pondera County, MT is served by 5 tracked utilities.
Cite this data
- URL
- https://massoutage.com/montana/pondera-county
- As of
- October 19, 2026 03:05 UTC
- Publisher
- MassOutage
MassOutage, "Power Outages in Pondera County, MT", live data as of October 19, 2026 03:05 UTC. https://massoutage.com/montana/pondera-county
Not counted: no live feed for Glacier Electric Coop, Inc, Marias River Electric Coop Inc and WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration.
29%of this county's ~3,311 customers are served by utilities with a county-level live feed.
We can't see outages for: Glacier Electric Coop, Inc, Marias River Electric Coop Inc, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun River Electric Coop, Inc | Live · county | 3 | 963 | 0.3% | - | - | - | |
| NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | - | |
| Glacier Electric Coop, Inc | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Marias River Electric Coop Inc | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Sun River Electric Coop, Inc and NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) 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 Pondera 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 (3)
| ZIP | Power-dependent | Ventilators | O2 concentrators | Home dialysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59425 | 61 | 0 | 52 | ≤11 |
| 59486 | 28 | 0 | 24 | ≤11 |
| 59448 | ≤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 Pondera County or any town and utility in it.
No active NWS alerts for Pondera County right now.
Pondera County has been under 37 National Weather Service alerts recently, most recently a High Wind Warning on October 18, 2026.
- High Wind Warning ×10
- Special Weather Statement ×8
- Winter Storm Warning ×7
- Winter Weather Advisory ×7
- High Wind Watch ×3
- Dense Fog Advisory ×2
Hardest-hit cities in Pondera County
Where this event is concentrated across the county's towns and townships.
Live outage counts are tracked at the county level; a city-by-city split within Pondera Countyisn't available yet.
Historical reliability
In 2025, the average customer in Pondera County went about 10.0 hours without power. Peak simultaneous outage on record reached 2,031 customers.
The US EIA reports Montana utilities averaged 4.8 hrs without power per customer (SAIDI) in 2025, a cross-check on our county estimate of 10.0 hrs.
Worst year here was 2020 (peak 2,031 customers out) · decade average 6.4 hrs without power per customer/yr.
| Year | Outage events | Peak customers out | Avg hrs/customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1 | 18 | 0.1 |
| 2020 | 116 | 2,031 | 13.9 |
| 2021 | 108 | 1,186 | 5.8 |
| 2022 | 111 | 815 | 4.8 |
| 2023 | 84 | 546 | 1.9 |
| 2024 | 138 | 1,739 | 8.1 |
| 2025 | 103 | 2,031 | 10.0 |
Cost of power in Pondera County
ENERGY & AI DEMAND →Estimated residential electricity price for Pondera 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.
- NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT)14.4¢333,711 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 · 6.4 hrs/yr of outages over the last decade.
FEMA rates this county’s social vulnerability very high: outages hit harder where communities are less able to respond and recover.
All hazard rankings →Power outages in Pondera County: FAQ
- How often does Pondera County, MT lose power?
- Based on EAGLE-I records, Pondera County, MT logged 103 distinct outage events in 2025, averaging about 10.0 hours without power per customer over the year.
- What was the worst power outage in Pondera County, MT?
- The largest tracked outage peaked at 2,031 customers without power, beginning December 25, 2020 and lasting about 3h.
- Is there a power outage in Pondera County, MT right now?
- Yes, about 3 customers are currently without power across 1 reported incident(s).
- Which utilities serve Pondera County, MT?
- Tracked electric providers include NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT), Sun River Electric Coop, Inc.
Outages are tracked at the county level; these ZIP codes fall within Pondera County.
59416, 59425, 59432, 59448, 59486
Electric providers serving this county
From EIA-861 service territory, with official reliability where reported.
| Provider | Official SAIDI (EIA) | Live | Report outage |
|---|---|---|---|
| NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) | 2.1 hrs | Live · county | - |
| WAPA-- Western Area Power Administration | - | No live feed | - |
| Sun River Electric Coop, Inc | - | Live · county | - |
| Glacier Electric Coop, Inc | - | No live feed | - |
| Marias River Electric Coop Inc | - | 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 Montana customers). Machine-readable data: /api/v1/counties/30073 and /api/v1/counties/30073/history. Live data as of .