massoutage

2020 Iowa Power Outage Report

In 2020, the average Iowa customer went without power for about 27.3 hours, the 4th worst of 51 states (US average 8.0 hours). Figures from DOE/ORNL EAGLE-I, including major storm days.

Avg hrs / customer
27.3
vs prior year
▲ 1160%
vs 2019
Customer-hours out
44.1M
Peak customers out
487,454
across the state at once
EAGLE-I coverage
91%
of IA customers
Counties reporting
99

Iowa year over year

Iowa: average hours without power per customer by year2015: 1.1h; 2016: 1.8h; 2017: 2.0h; 2018: 2.2h, coverage 89%; 2019: 2.2h, coverage 89%; 2020: 27.3h, coverage 91%; 2021: 2.7h, coverage 91%; 2022: 1.6h, coverage 91%; 2023: 2.0h; 2024: 3.2h; 2025: 2.9h01020300%50%100%1.1h20151.8h20162.0h20172.2h20182.2h201927.3h20202.7h20211.6h20222.0h20233.2h20242.9h2025
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, 2020

Customer-hours without power across Iowa; August was the worst.

CSVJSON
Iowa customer-hours without power by month, 2020Jan 289K, Feb 101K, Mar 189K, Apr 171K, May 150K, Jun 282K, Jul 513K, Aug 41.6M, Sep 354K, Oct 171K, Nov 193K, Dec 111K020M40M60M289KJan101KFeb189KMar171KApr150KMay282KJun513KJul41.6MAug354KSep171KOct193KNov111KDec
Use the arrow keys to read values.

All 99 Iowa counties, 2020

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

CSVJSON
#CountyHrs / customerCustomer-hoursCustomersPeak outEvents
1Marshall County143.02.3M15,94515,945464
2Poweshiek County139.9939K6,7086,708450
3Linn County136.116.1M118,247109,389872
4Jasper County110.31.7M15,56614,954512
5Tama County110.0899K8,1696,848337
6Benton County92.11.2M13,49810,178415
7Clinton County86.51.9M21,50521,264589
8Cedar County82.1737K8,9866,196360
9Scott County54.63.7M67,61156,299879
10Boone County52.8564K10,6709,757502
11Jones County42.0357K8,5075,250367
12Iowa County33.3232K6,9656,828406
13Johnson County31.32.4M77,76951,777705
14Story County31.32.0M63,39635,836537
15Greene County29.4100K3,4173,392258
16Grundy County24.5135K5,5072,341115
17Hardin County21.1145K6,8853,769353
18Polk County20.86.0M287,095114,873948
19Guthrie County17.092K5,3902,574159
20Keokuk County15.472K4,6844,684348
21Adams County13.725K1,844666164
22Washington County13.5131K9,7006,817477
23Dallas County12.5729K58,45119,149571
24Monroe County9.338K4,0561,349322
25Hamilton County6.863K9,2051,431183
26Jefferson County6.645K6,8794,656421
27Winnebago County6.245K7,2132,187327
28Van Buren County6.119K3,146672267
29Jackson County6.062K10,3021,072269
30Ringgold County5.915K2,511655215
31Worth County5.813K2,2891,234221
32Louisa County5.324K4,5541,135350
33Warren County5.2125K23,8062,549427
34Audubon County5.113K2,5112,511123
35Pocahontas County4.916K3,159893128
36Muscatine County4.4134K30,3533,045380
37Humboldt County3.512K3,5072,281213
38Woodbury County3.487K25,6266,138725
39Fayette County3.429K8,7122,283426
40Mills County3.122K7,2702,065325
41Delaware County3.021K7,0353,052259
42Fremont County2.913K4,2851,069212
43Montgomery County2.816K5,724778212
44Appanoose County2.818K6,572889361
45Decatur County2.68,6763,356450183
46Sac County2.69,9803,895907122
47Mahaska County2.520K8,1622,507310
48Hancock County2.413K5,4891,008259
49Harrison County2.418K7,6201,530212
50Butler County2.412K4,791524163
51Plymouth County2.320K8,581708276
52Calhoun County2.39,2684,0921,219139
53Marion County2.243K19,8763,849315
54Des Moines County2.239K18,2076,658571
55Wapello County2.147K21,9603,026654
56Palo Alto County2.18,8344,1661,190213
57Madison County2.119K9,366327179
58Henry County2.024K11,9231,113429
59Buchanan County2.024K12,254590284
60Webster County2.041K20,4114,335391
61Franklin County2.09,0704,637694210
62Ida County1.96,0993,231376128
63Howard County1.97,7584,177595190
64Floyd County1.915K7,8861,961259
65Kossuth County1.914K7,6981,212198
66Allamakee County1.812K6,7501,322211
67Wayne County1.75,1172,947515187
68Taylor County1.75,0252,951510221
69Winneshiek County1.716K9,3694,246299
70Pottawattamie County1.683K51,13210,553677
71Black Hawk County1.589K57,5338,078686
72Mitchell County1.59,2216,347445208
73Davis County1.46,8244,718213140
74Lee County1.421K15,4861,127551
75Shelby County1.49,7307,164426223
76Chickasaw County1.39,2276,9911,439178
77Union County1.38,7346,645582309
78Lyon County1.15,8465,09068066
79Dickinson County1.17,7136,731654276
80Buena Vista County1.113K11,6071,936199
81Clarke County1.04,4954,290178204
82Lucas County1.04,2864,225326256
83Cerro Gordo County1.030K29,4351,934557
84Page County1.08,9669,0351,009210
85O'Brien County1.04,8695,0301,608164
86Clayton County0.99,36010,4212,876106
87Carroll County0.97,5348,666483192
88Sioux County0.914K16,9932,459237
89Cherokee County0.84,6265,9681,352153
90Monona County0.85,5577,38840058
91Wright County0.74,0415,538163270
92Cass County0.77,34810,329809151
93Bremer County0.711K16,0281,133178
94Dubuque County0.628K46,5461,702695
95Crawford County0.65,3319,21373796
96Osceola County0.51,9523,58830937
97Emmet County0.42,3785,934319102
98Clay County0.33,67813,668389156
99Adair County0.14763,6869147

Biggest Iowa outages of 2020

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

CSVJSON
#CountyStarted (UTC)Ended (UTC)DurationPeak outCustomer-hours
1Polk County, IAAugust 10, 2020 13:45August 21, 2020 05:1510d 15h114,8735.6M
2Linn County, IAAugust 10, 2020 13:45August 29, 2020 08:0018d 18h109,38915.8M
3Scott County, IAAugust 10, 2020 13:45August 20, 2020 03:459d 14h56,2993.5M
4Johnson County, IAAugust 10, 2020 13:30August 23, 2020 11:0012d 21h51,7772.3M
5Story County, IAAugust 10, 2020 16:15August 21, 2020 23:4511d 7h35,8361.9M
6Clinton County, IAAugust 10, 2020 18:30August 21, 2020 02:1510d 7h21,2641.8M
7Linn County, IAJuly 11, 2020 15:30July 14, 2020 03:152d 11h19,584112K
8Dallas County, IAAugust 10, 2020 15:30August 21, 2020 20:0011d 4h19,149695K
9Marshall County, IAAugust 10, 2020 15:30August 25, 2020 19:3015d 4h15,9452.2M
10Jasper County, IAAugust 10, 2020 14:00August 24, 2020 02:4513d 12h14,9541.7M
11Polk County, IAJuly 14, 2020 12:00July 16, 2020 01:001d 13h13,11045K
12Polk County, IASeptember 7, 2020 13:30September 10, 2020 12:302d 23h13,05418K
13Pottawattamie County, IAMarch 29, 2020 07:45March 31, 2020 21:452d 14h10,5533,853
14Benton County, IAAugust 9, 2020 16:00August 27, 2020 21:0018d 5h10,1781.2M
15Boone County, IAAugust 10, 2020 15:30August 21, 2020 15:3011d9,757543K
16Polk County, IAMarch 8, 2020 14:15March 8, 2020 22:158h9,1346,347
17Black Hawk County, IAJuly 15, 2020 08:45July 15, 2020 15:156h 30m8,07813K
18Polk County, IAApril 25, 2020 13:00April 25, 2020 22:309h 30m7,51013K
19Black Hawk County, IAJuly 9, 2020 17:45July 10, 2020 11:4518h7,42420K
20Tama County, IAAugust 10, 2020 16:30August 24, 2020 23:3014d 7h6,848882K
21Iowa County, IAAugust 10, 2020 14:30August 21, 2020 04:4510d 14h6,828223K
22Linn County, IANovember 2, 2020 15:30November 4, 2020 00:151d 8h6,82515K
23Washington County, IAAugust 10, 2020 17:30August 13, 2020 16:452d 23h6,81785K
24Poweshiek County, IAAugust 10, 2020 14:15August 22, 2020 00:1511d 10h6,708929K
25Des Moines County, IAAugust 10, 2020 17:45August 11, 2020 16:3022h 45m6,6587,847
EAGLE-I tracked about 91% of Iowa's electricity customers in 2020; outages at utilities it does not see are not counted. Hours per customer divide outage customer-minutes by modeled county customers.
Iowa by year:2025202420232022202120192018201720162015
Other states in 2020:LAMEOKALMSNJNCWV

Part of the 2020 US Power Outage Report.

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