Power Outages in McDowell County, NC
As of October 19, 2026 04:40 UTC, no outages are reported by Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, Duke Energy Progress - (NC), French Broad Elec Member Corp and Rutherford Elec Member Corp in McDowell County, NC. There is no live feed for Duke Energy. In 2025, the average customer here lost power for about 10.0 hours.
McDowell County, NC is served by 5 tracked utilities.
Cite this data
- URL
- https://massoutage.com/north-carolina/mcdowell-county
- As of
- October 19, 2026 04:40 UTC
- Publisher
- MassOutage
MassOutage, "Power Outages in McDowell County, NC", live data as of October 19, 2026 04:40 UTC. https://massoutage.com/north-carolina/mcdowell-county
No active outages are reported by Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, Duke Energy Progress - (NC), French Broad Elec Member Corp and Rutherford Elec Member Corp in McDowell County.
No live feed for Duke Energy: outages in itsservice area won't show here.
0.0%of this county's ~34,861 customers are served by utilities with a county-level live feed.
We can't see outages for: Duke 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Duke Energy Progress - (NC) | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| French Broad Elec Member Corp | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | - | |
| Rutherford Elec Member Corp | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | - | |
| Duke Energy | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, Duke Energy Progress - (NC), French Broad Elec Member Corp and Rutherford Elec Member Corp 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 McDowell 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28752 | 497 | ≤11 | 407 | ≤11 |
| 28761 | 147 | ≤11 | 124 | 0 |
| 28762 | 115 | ≤11 | 98 | ≤11 |
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 McDowell County or any town and utility in it.
No active NWS alerts for McDowell County right now.
McDowell County has been under 47 National Weather Service alerts recently, most recently a Frost Advisory on October 18, 2026.
- Flood Advisory ×9
- Severe Thunderstorm Warning ×8
- Flash Flood Warning ×8
- Flood Watch ×7
- Special Weather Statement ×6
- Wind Advisory ×5
Latest McDowell County, NC outage updates
A running log of how this outage has changed, updated automatically as utilities report in.
- RESOLVED
Power restored after 4h 55m
- OUTAGE BEGAN
Outage began: 253 customers out (2.0% of the county)
- RESOLVED
Power restored after 2h
- OUTAGE BEGAN
Outage began: 1,504 customers out (12% of the county)
- RESOLVED
Power restored after 2h 5m
- IMPROVING
Improving: down to 90 customers out
- OUTAGE BEGAN
Outage began: 418 customers out (3.4% of the county)
Hardest-hit cities in McDowell County
Where this event is concentrated across the county's towns and townships.
Historical reliability
In 2025, the average customer in McDowell County went about 10.0 hours without power. Peak simultaneous outage on record reached 12,442 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 10.0 hrs.
Worst year here was 2024 (peak 12,442 customers out) · decade average 33.0 hrs without power per customer/yr.
| Year | Outage events | Peak customers out | Avg hrs/customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 447 | 3,751 | 3.9 |
| 2016 | 481 | 3,341 | 8.1 |
| 2017 | 459 | 2,946 | 18.7 |
| 2018 | 563 | 1,671 | 14.7 |
| 2019 | 585 | 2,530 | 13.6 |
| 2020 | 551 | 3,028 | 10.2 |
| 2021 | 586 | 12,442 | 12.7 |
| 2022 | 621 | 2,377 | 7.7 |
| 2023 | 507 | 2,662 | 8.6 |
| 2024 | 544 | 12,442 | 255.0 |
| 2025 | 648 | 2,048 | 10.0 |
Cost of power in McDowell County
ENERGY & AI DEMAND →Estimated residential electricity price for McDowell 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
- Duke Energy Progress - (NC)15.2¢1,383,941 cust
- Rutherford Elec Member Corp13.0¢72,060 cust
- French Broad Elec Member Corp16.2¢36,049 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 · 33.0 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 McDowell County: FAQ
- How often does McDowell County, NC lose power?
- Based on EAGLE-I records, McDowell County, NC logged 648 distinct outage events in 2025, averaging about 10.0 hours without power per customer over the year.
- What was the worst power outage in McDowell County, NC?
- The largest tracked outage peaked at 12,442 customers without power, beginning August 16, 2021 and lasting about 2d 2h.
- Is there a power outage in McDowell County, NC right now?
- No major outage is currently reported for McDowell County, NC. Live coverage depends on whether local utilities report to ODIN.
- Which utilities serve McDowell County, NC?
- Tracked electric providers include Duke Energy, Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, Duke Energy Progress - (NC), Rutherford Elec Member Corp.
Outages are tracked at the county level; these ZIP codes fall within McDowell County.
28749, 28752, 28761, 28762
Electric providers serving this county
From EIA-861 service territory, with official reliability where reported.
| Provider | Official SAIDI (EIA) | Live | Report outage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Energy Progress - (NC) | 2.9 hrs | Live · county | - |
| Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC | 3.6 hrs | Live · county | - |
| Rutherford Elec Member Corp | 2.5 hrs | Live · county | - |
| Duke Energy | - | No live feed | - |
| French Broad Elec Member Corp | - | 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 North Carolina customers). Machine-readable data: /api/v1/counties/37111 and /api/v1/counties/37111/history.