Power Outages in Watauga County, NC
As of October 19, 2026 04:40 UTC, no outages are reported by Blue Ridge Elec Member Corp - (NC) and New River Light & Power Co in Watauga County, NC. There is no live feed for Mountain Electric Coop, Inc. In 2025, the average customer here lost power for about 10.4 hours.
Watauga County, NC is served by 3 tracked utilities.
Cite this data
- URL
- https://massoutage.com/north-carolina/watauga-county
- As of
- October 19, 2026 04:40 UTC
- Publisher
- MassOutage
MassOutage, "Power Outages in Watauga County, NC", live data as of October 19, 2026 04:40 UTC. https://massoutage.com/north-carolina/watauga-county
No active outages are reported by Blue Ridge Elec Member Corp - (NC) and New River Light & Power Co in Watauga County.
No live feed for Mountain Electric Coop, Inc: outages in itsservice area won't show here.
0.0%of this county's ~34,784 customers are served by utilities with a county-level live feed.
We can't see outages for: Mountain Electric Coop, Inc. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Ridge Elec Member Corp - (NC) | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | - | |
| New River Light & Power Co | Live · county | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Mountain Electric Coop, Inc | No live feed | can't see | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Blue Ridge Elec Member Corp - (NC) and New River Light & Power Co 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 Watauga 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28607 | 348 | ≤11 | 302 | ≤11 |
| 28604 | 122 | ≤11 | 102 | ≤11 |
| 28692 | 89 | ≤11 | 78 | ≤11 |
| 28684 | 49 | ≤11 | 43 | 0 |
| 28605 | 48 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
| 28698 | 43 | ≤11 | 39 | 0 |
| 28618 | 36 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 28679 | 32 | 0 | 28 | 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 Watauga County or any town and utility in it.
No active NWS alerts for Watauga County right now.
Watauga County has been under 36 National Weather Service alerts recently, most recently a Freeze Warning on October 18, 2026.
- Flood Advisory ×17
- Special Weather Statement ×7
- Flood Watch ×4
- Flood Warning ×4
- Wind Advisory ×2
- Freeze Warning ×1
Hardest-hit cities in Watauga County
Where this event is concentrated across the county's towns and townships.
Historical reliability
In 2025, the average customer in Watauga County went about 10.4 hours without power. Peak simultaneous outage on record reached 18,248 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 10.4 hrs.
Worst year here was 2024 (peak 18,248 customers out) · decade average 19.4 hrs without power per customer/yr.
| Year | Outage events | Peak customers out | Avg hrs/customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 271 | 1,917 | 0.6 |
| 2016 | 685 | 11,689 | 11.3 |
| 2017 | 684 | 2,426 | 3.0 |
| 2018 | 706 | 5,519 | 4.7 |
| 2019 | 663 | 4,624 | 2.6 |
| 2020 | 661 | 1,762 | 1.4 |
| 2021 | 647 | 6,745 | 2.0 |
| 2022 | 714 | 6,029 | 3.1 |
| 2023 | 690 | 1,383 | 2.0 |
| 2024 | 496 | 18,248 | 172.9 |
| 2025 | 701 | 5,711 | 10.4 |
Cost of power in Watauga County
ENERGY & AI DEMAND →Estimated residential electricity price for Watauga 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.
- Blue Ridge Elec Member Corp - (NC)14.9¢72,320 cust
- Mountain Electric Coop, Inc13.2¢15,494 cust
- New River Light & Power Co12.1¢7,318 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 ice storms exposure · 19.4 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 Watauga County: FAQ
- How often does Watauga County, NC lose power?
- Based on EAGLE-I records, Watauga County, NC logged 701 distinct outage events in 2025, averaging about 10.4 hours without power per customer over the year.
- What was the worst power outage in Watauga County, NC?
- The largest tracked outage peaked at 18,248 customers without power, beginning September 27, 2024 and lasting about 16d 8h.
- Is there a power outage in Watauga County, NC right now?
- No major outage is currently reported for Watauga County, NC. Live coverage depends on whether local utilities report to ODIN.
- Which utilities serve Watauga County, NC?
- Tracked electric providers include Blue Ridge Elec Member Corp - (NC), New River Light & Power Co.
Outages are tracked at the county level; these ZIP codes fall within Watauga County.
28604, 28605, 28607, 28618, 28679, 28692, 28698
Electric providers serving this county
From EIA-861 service territory, with official reliability where reported.
| Provider | Official SAIDI (EIA) | Live | Report outage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Ridge Elec Member Corp - (NC) | 9.0 hrs | Live · county | - |
| Mountain Electric Coop, Inc | 1.3 hrs | No live feed | - |
| New River Light & Power Co | 1.8 hrs | 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/37189 and /api/v1/counties/37189/history.