Power Outages in Sanders County, MT
As of October 19, 2026 03:10 UTC, no outages are reported by Northern Lights, Inc, USBIA-Mission Valley Power, Avista Corp, Flathead Electric Coop Inc and NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) in Sanders County, MT. There is no live feed for NorthWestern Energy. In 2025, the average customer here lost power for about 25.8 hours.
Sanders County, MT is served by 6 tracked utilities.
Cite this data
- URL
- https://massoutage.com/montana/sanders-county
- As of
- October 19, 2026 03:10 UTC
- Publisher
- MassOutage
MassOutage, "Power Outages in Sanders County, MT", live data as of October 19, 2026 03:10 UTC. https://massoutage.com/montana/sanders-county
No active outages are reported by Northern Lights, Inc, USBIA-Mission Valley Power, Avista Corp, Flathead Electric Coop Inc and NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) in Sanders County.
No live feed for NorthWestern Energy: outages in itsservice area won't show here.
62%of this county's ~7,967 customers are served by utilities with a county-level live feed.
We can't see outages for: NorthWestern Energy. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Lights, Inc | Live · county | 0 | 3,258 | 0.0% | - | - | - | |
| USBIA-Mission Valley Power | Live · county | 0 | 1,626 | 0.0% | - | - | - | |
| Avista Corp | Live · county | 0 | 24 | 0.0% | - | 0 | - | |
| Flathead Electric Coop Inc | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | - | |
| NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | - | |
| NorthWestern Energy | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Northern Lights, Inc, USBIA-Mission Valley Power, Avista Corp, Flathead 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 Sanders 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 (8)
| ZIP | Power-dependent | Ventilators | O2 concentrators | Home dialysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59859 | 95 | 0 | 81 | 0 |
| 59873 | 67 | 0 | 54 | 0 |
| 59874 | 32 | 0 | 25 | ≤11 |
| 59845 | 20 | 0 | 19 | ≤11 |
| 59853 | ≤11 | ≤11 | ≤11 | 0 |
| 59848 | ≤11 | 0 | ≤11 | ≤11 |
| 59844 | ≤11 | 0 | ≤11 | 0 |
| 59831 | ≤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 Sanders County or any town and utility in it.
No active NWS alerts for Sanders County right now.
Sanders County has been under 6 National Weather Service alerts recently, most recently a Lake Wind Advisory on October 17, 2026.
- Lake Wind Advisory ×3
- Wind Advisory ×3
Hardest-hit cities in Sanders County
Where this event is concentrated across the county's towns and townships.
Historical reliability
In 2025, the average customer in Sanders County went about 25.8 hours without power. Peak simultaneous outage on record reached 7,314 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 25.8 hrs.
Worst year here was 2021 (peak 7,314 customers out) · decade average 9.5 hrs without power per customer/yr.
| Year | Outage events | Peak customers out | Avg hrs/customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 6 | 23 | 0.0 |
| 2016 | 3 | 23 | 0.0 |
| 2017 | 138 | 1,041 | 2.7 |
| 2018 | 144 | 1,346 | 2.0 |
| 2019 | 202 | 1,366 | 2.9 |
| 2020 | 298 | 3,568 | 18.6 |
| 2021 | 239 | 7,314 | 37.8 |
| 2022 | 245 | 1,361 | 6.8 |
| 2023 | 222 | 1,203 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 234 | 1,823 | 4.5 |
| 2025 | 233 | 6,903 | 25.8 |
Cost of power in Sanders County
ENERGY & AI DEMAND →Estimated residential electricity price for Sanders 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
- Flathead Electric Coop Inc10.0¢64,334 cust
- USBIA-Mission Valley Power9.4¢16,353 cust
- Northern Lights, Inc13.1¢4,700 cust
- Avista Corp8.7¢10 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 High winter weather exposure · 9.5 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 Sanders County: FAQ
- How often does Sanders County, MT lose power?
- Based on EAGLE-I records, Sanders County, MT logged 233 distinct outage events in 2025, averaging about 25.8 hours without power per customer over the year.
- What was the worst power outage in Sanders County, MT?
- The largest tracked outage peaked at 7,314 customers without power, beginning January 13, 2021 and lasting about 13d 10h.
- Is there a power outage in Sanders County, MT right now?
- No major outage is currently reported for Sanders County, MT. Live coverage depends on whether local utilities report to ODIN.
- Which utilities serve Sanders County, MT?
- Tracked electric providers include NorthWestern Energy, NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT), Northern Lights, Inc, USBIA-Mission Valley Power.
Outages are tracked at the county level; these ZIP codes fall within Sanders County.
59831, 59844, 59845, 59848, 59853, 59856, 59859, 59873, 59874
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 | - |
| Avista Corp | 7.9 hrs | Live · county | |
| Flathead Electric Coop Inc | 14.8 hrs | Live · county | - |
| NorthWestern Energy | - | No live feed | - |
| Northern Lights, Inc | - | Live · county | - |
| USBIA-Mission Valley Power | - | Live · county | - |
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/30089 and /api/v1/counties/30089/history.