Power Outages in Burke County, NC
City of Morganton - (NC), Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC and Rutherford Elec Member Corp publish only a system-wide total, not county figures. There is no live feed for Duke Energy, Mountain Electric Coop, Inc and Town of Drexel - (NC). In 2025, the average customer here lost power for about 4.9 hours.
Burke County, NC is served by 6 tracked utilities.
Cite this data
- URL
- https://massoutage.com/north-carolina/burke-county
- As of
- Not available
- Publisher
- MassOutage
MassOutage, "Power Outages in Burke County, NC". https://massoutage.com/north-carolina/burke-county
City of Morganton - (NC), Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC and Rutherford Elec Member Corp publish no county-level figures.
No live feed for Duke Energy, Mountain Electric Coop, Inc and Town of Drexel - (NC): outages in theirservice area won't show here.
0.0%of this county's ~58,382 customers are served by utilities with a county-level live feed.
We can't see outages for: Duke Energy, Mountain Electric Coop, Inc, Town of Drexel - (NC). Their customers are not in any number on this page; check their own outage maps.
System-wide total only, no county split: City of Morganton - (NC), Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, Rutherford Elec Member Corp.
| Utility | Feed | Out | Served | % out | Small outages | Incidents | Utility ETR | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Morganton - (NC) | Live · total only | not by county | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC | Live · total only | not by county | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Rutherford Elec Member Corp | Live · total only | not by county | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Duke Energy | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Mountain Electric Coop, Inc | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Town of Drexel - (NC) | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Electricity-dependent residents
HHS emPOWER · data October 7, 2026Medicare beneficiaries in Burke 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 (4)
| ZIP | Power-dependent | Ventilators | O2 concentrators | Home dialysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28655 | 867 | 32 | 677 | ≤11 |
| 28612 | 196 | ≤11 | 158 | 0 |
| 28690 | 180 | ≤11 | 147 | ≤11 |
| 28637 | 36 | ≤11 | 32 | 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 Burke County or any town and utility in it.
No active NWS alerts for Burke County right now.
Burke County has been under 45 National Weather Service alerts recently, most recently a Frost Advisory on October 18, 2026.
- Special Weather Statement ×10
- Flash Flood Warning ×7
- Flood Warning ×7
- Flood Watch ×7
- Wind Advisory ×5
- Flood Advisory ×4
Latest Burke County, NC outage updates
A running log of how this outage has changed, updated automatically as utilities report in.
- RESOLVED
Power restored after 3h 40m
- OUTAGE BEGAN
Outage began: 421 customers out (1.8% of the county)
Hardest-hit cities in Burke County
Where this event is concentrated across the county's towns and townships.
Historical reliability
In 2025, the average customer in Burke County went about 4.9 hours without power. Peak simultaneous outage on record reached 19,746 customers.
The US EIA reports North Carolina utilities averaged 3.3 hrs without power per customer (SAIDI) in 2025, a cross-check on our county estimate of 4.9 hrs.
Worst year here was 2024 (peak 19,746 customers out) · decade average 25.7 hrs without power per customer/yr.
| Year | Outage events | Peak customers out | Avg hrs/customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 507 | 2,497 | 1.7 |
| 2016 | 511 | 3,932 | 5.4 |
| 2017 | 513 | 5,228 | 18.6 |
| 2018 | 560 | 4,806 | 12.7 |
| 2019 | 569 | 3,036 | 8.3 |
| 2020 | 638 | 10,129 | 21.0 |
| 2021 | 654 | 4,875 | 4.6 |
| 2022 | 707 | 4,202 | 6.1 |
| 2023 | 830 | 7,646 | 13.8 |
| 2024 | 607 | 19,746 | 185.1 |
| 2025 | 665 | 2,199 | 4.9 |
Cost of power in Burke County
ENERGY & AI DEMAND →Estimated residential electricity price for Burke 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.
- Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC13.4¢1,961,108 cust
- Rutherford Elec Member Corp13.0¢72,060 cust
- Mountain Electric Coop, Inc13.2¢15,494 cust
- City of Morganton - (NC)11.6¢7,066 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 ice storms exposure · 25.7 hrs/yr of outages over the last decade.
FEMA rates this county’s social vulnerability relatively high: outages hit harder where communities are less able to respond and recover.
All hazard rankings →Power outages in Burke County: FAQ
- How often does Burke County, NC lose power?
- Based on EAGLE-I records, Burke County, NC logged 665 distinct outage events in 2025, averaging about 4.9 hours without power per customer over the year.
- What was the worst power outage in Burke County, NC?
- The largest tracked outage peaked at 19,746 customers without power, beginning September 26, 2024 and lasting about 17d 3h.
- Is there a power outage in Burke County, NC right now?
- No major outage is currently reported for Burke County, NC. Live coverage depends on whether local utilities report to ODIN.
- Which utilities serve Burke County, NC?
- Tracked electric providers include Duke Energy, Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, Rutherford Elec Member Corp.
Outages are tracked at the county level; these ZIP codes fall within Burke County.
28612, 28619, 28628, 28637, 28641, 28655, 28666, 28671, 28690
Electric providers serving this county
From EIA-861 service territory, with official reliability where reported.
| Provider | Official SAIDI (EIA) | Live | Report outage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC | 3.6 hrs | Live · total only | - |
| Rutherford Elec Member Corp | 2.5 hrs | Live · total only | - |
| Mountain Electric Coop, Inc | 1.3 hrs | No live feed | - |
| Duke Energy | - | No live feed | - |
| Town of Drexel - (NC) | - | No live feed | - |
| City of Morganton - (NC) | - | Live · total only | - |
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 North Carolina customers). Machine-readable data: /api/v1/counties/37023 and /api/v1/counties/37023/history.