massoutage

2018 California Power Outage Report

In 2018, the average California customer went without power for about 3.6 hours, the 25th worst of 51 states (US average 5.3 hours). Figures from DOE/ORNL EAGLE-I, including major storm days.

Avg hrs / customer
3.6
vs prior year
▲ 68%
vs 2017
Customer-hours out
57.5M
Peak customers out
162,507
across the state at once
EAGLE-I coverage
91%
of CA customers
Counties reporting
58

California year over year

California: average hours without power per customer by year2015: 3.1h; 2016: 2.5h; 2017: 2.2h; 2018: 3.7h, coverage 91%; 2019: 9.3h, coverage 93%; 2020: 6.2h, coverage 94%; 2021: 6.6h, coverage 95%; 2022: 4.9h, coverage 95%; 2023: 7.9h; 2024: 6.1h; 2025: 7.5h02.557.5100%50%100%3.1h20152.5h20162.2h20173.7h20189.3h20196.2h20206.6h20214.9h20227.9h20236.1h20247.5h2025
Use the arrow keys to read values.
Average hours without power per customer. Line: EAGLE-I coverage, share of customers tracked (right axis).

Month by month, 2018

Customer-hours without power across California; November was the worst.

CSVJSON
California customer-hours without power by month, 2018Jan 2.3M, Feb 1.8M, Mar 2.2M, Apr 2.3M, May 1.9M, Jun 3.5M, Jul 6.2M, Aug 4.4M, Sep 3.3M, Oct 6.9M, Nov 15.4M, Dec 7.3M05M10M15M20M2.3MJan1.8MFeb2.2MMar2.3MApr1.9MMay3.5MJun6.2MJul4.4MAug3.3MSep6.9MOct15.4MNov7.3MDec
Use the arrow keys to read values.

All 58 California counties, 2018

Ranked by average hours without power per customer. Each county links to its annual report.

CSVJSON
#CountyHrs / customerCustomer-hoursCustomersPeak outEvents
1Butte County154.514.0M90,54325,696301
2Mariposa County30.9224K7,2623,289210
3Lake County27.0766K28,39712,139335
4Amador County21.4364K17,05013,107269
5Mono County18.9105K5,5512,893193
6Plumas County18.6172K9,2309,230155
7Shasta County13.61.1M81,2826,150270
8Mendocino County11.1432K39,04131,877316
9El Dorado County9.4896K95,67227,833371
10Calaveras County8.7161K18,4174,156319
11Sierra County7.315K2,0721,67639
12Del Norte County7.0113K16,19510,515406
13Ventura County6.72.1M317,65815,272422
14Tehama County6.6186K28,13412,143332
15Napa County5.1328K63,8286,550330
16Santa Barbara County5.0968K192,08013,902502
17Inyo County5.036K7,2011,583111
18Glenn County4.758K12,2334,111265
19Los Angeles County4.115.6M3,762,600109,40944
20San Bernardino County4.13.5M840,55557,794365
21Siskiyou County3.696K26,6055,076616
22Riverside County3.32.8M853,92338,539430
23Santa Cruz County3.0354K118,2997,174246
24Tuolumne County2.969K23,6104,438341
25San Diego County2.93.9M1,362,92930,030270
26Humboldt County2.8167K59,9624,189352
27Nevada County2.3118K52,2512,991312
28Monterey County2.0394K195,5756,868261
29Kern County2.0793K395,01514,286411
30Marin County2.0221K113,0445,205368
31Tulare County2.0365K186,93911,085517
32Yuba County1.970K35,9334,081409
33Sonoma County1.9404K214,12718,925306
34Merced County1.9104K56,0774,767399
35Modoc County1.912K6,5981,202162
36San Luis Obispo County1.8229K125,72713,830330
37Colusa County1.818K9,970856210
38Kings County1.7107K62,9982,968409
39Yolo County1.7169K101,5093,567376
40San Francisco County1.6331K209,75311,278460
41Madera County1.5105K68,5037,125388
42Solano County1.5288K187,69015,561353
43Contra Costa County1.5707K486,94526,068221
44Placer County1.3249K187,5258,338396
45San Mateo County1.3434K328,40833,771300
46San Benito County1.231K26,7039,405253
47Fresno County1.1512K458,0845,950326
48Sacramento County1.1674K625,56639,477622
49Santa Clara County1.0886K844,71519,587152
50Alameda County1.0719K751,61614,255214
51Alpine County0.982888258819
52Sutter County0.936K42,3231,881407
53San Joaquin County0.8272K324,5436,387325
54Orange County0.6757K1,255,53012,097347
55Stanislaus County0.240K219,1563,153291
56Imperial County0.02,29772,69137310
57Lassen County0.04215,44039
58Trinity County-6,136-41729

Biggest California outages of 2018

Up to 25 county outage episodes with the most customers out at once.

CSVJSON
#CountyStarted (UTC)Ended (UTC)DurationPeak outCustomer-hours
1Los Angeles County, CASeptember 21, 2018 14:00November 10, 2018 11:4549d 21h109,4093.7M
2San Bernardino County, CAJuly 13, 2018 14:00July 14, 2018 02:0012h57,79455K
3Sacramento County, CAApril 16, 2018 14:30April 19, 2018 09:152d 18h39,47725K
4Riverside County, CASeptember 26, 2018 13:30September 28, 2018 14:002d38,53933K
5Los Angeles County, CAJanuary 7, 2018 12:30January 19, 2018 09:3011d 21h36,761495K
6Los Angeles County, CAJune 22, 2018 14:15July 18, 2018 23:1526d 9h35,1092.2M
7San Mateo County, CADecember 9, 2018 17:15December 10, 2018 06:0012h 45m33,77143K
8Mendocino County, CAJuly 27, 2018 13:45August 4, 2018 01:307d 11h31,877323K
9Los Angeles County, CANovember 10, 2018 15:00November 18, 2018 05:457d 14h31,543815K
10Los Angeles County, CASeptember 15, 2018 04:00September 21, 2018 08:006d 4h30,209450K
11San Diego County, CANovember 10, 2018 15:00November 13, 2018 17:153d 2h30,030429K
12San Diego County, CAJanuary 31, 2018 03:15February 2, 2018 12:002d 8h29,34873K
13San Diego County, CANovember 13, 2018 21:45November 17, 2018 01:003d 3h28,815624K
14El Dorado County, CAOctober 15, 2018 00:15October 17, 2018 06:152d 6h27,833704K
15Riverside County, CANovember 2, 2018 14:45November 3, 2018 13:0022h 15m26,8129,533
16Los Angeles County, CAMay 31, 2018 10:45June 22, 2018 06:4521d 20h26,618726K
17Contra Costa County, CANovember 21, 2018 16:00November 24, 2018 15:152d 23h26,06868K
18Butte County, CANovember 8, 2018 14:45November 10, 2018 11:451d 21h25,6961.0M
19Butte County, CANovember 10, 2018 15:00December 31, 2018 00:1550d 9h25,30412.7M
20San Bernardino County, CAJanuary 8, 2018 16:15January 11, 2018 12:152d 20h21,456120K
21Riverside County, CAAugust 17, 2018 15:00August 18, 2018 11:0020h21,28830K
22Los Angeles County, CAJuly 26, 2018 18:00July 28, 2018 09:151d 15h21,152109K
23San Bernardino County, CAMay 18, 2018 18:00May 20, 2018 03:151d 9h20,24859K
24Riverside County, CADecember 6, 2018 21:45December 8, 2018 06:301d 8h19,76015K
25Santa Clara County, CASeptember 9, 2018 08:45September 11, 2018 05:151d 20h19,58720K
EAGLE-I tracked about 91% of California's electricity customers in 2018; outages at utilities it does not see are not counted. Hours per customer divide outage customer-minutes by modeled county customers.
California by year:2025202420232022202120202019201720162015
Other states in 2018:NCVAWVMARIVTMEMI

Part of the 2018 US Power Outage Report.

Data from DOE EAGLE-I, every source we read.