2021 North Carolina Power Outage Report

In 2021, the average North Carolina customer went without power for about 8.8 hours, the 8th worst of 51 states (US average 8.4 hours). Figures from DOE/ORNL EAGLE-I, including major storm days.

Avg hrs / customer

8.8

vs prior year

▼ 46%

vs 2020

Customer-hours out

17.2M

Peak customers out

106,633

across the state at once

EAGLE-I coverage

92%

of NC customers

Counties reporting

100

North Carolina year over year

Average hours without power per customer. Line: EAGLE-I coverage, share of customers tracked (right axis).

Month by month, 2021

Customer-hours without power across North Carolina; February was the worst.

CSV JSON

All 100 North Carolina counties, 2021

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

CSV JSON

#	County	Hrs / customer	Customer-hours	Customers	Peak out	Events
1	Alamance County	197.5	183K	925	925	840
2	Vance County	152.6	132K	863	863	717
3	Caswell County	85.7	163K	1,905	1,905	390
4	Rockingham County	75.2	708K	9,416	9,416	756
5	Person County	69.1	380K	5,498	5,498	614
6	Durham County	66.2	398K	6,008	6,008	773
7	Granville County	61.2	391K	6,395	6,382	642
8	New Hanover County	56.4	143K	2,544	2,544	1,021
9	Mecklenburg County	55.0	1.5M	28,172	26,744	299
10	Guilford County	50.0	2.1M	41,756	41,756	721
11	Mitchell County	47.6	81K	1,696	1,696	443
12	Warren County	47.3	181K	3,813	3,813	561
13	Moore County	38.9	222K	5,708	4,759	852
14	Forsyth County	38.8	1.1M	27,915	27,915	798
15	Chatham County	34.7	132K	3,797	3,797	857
16	Harnett County	29.5	651K	22,060	7,420	788
17	Lee County	25.3	331K	13,067	3,681	780
18	Rutherford County	23.8	169K	7,084	7,084	781
19	Stokes County	22.9	143K	6,242	3,202	613
20	Hyde County	21.0	15K	700	700	168
21	Buncombe County	17.8	578K	32,499	15,649	651
22	Yadkin County	17.7	95K	5,364	4,807	590
23	Yancey County	16.7	34K	2,023	1,010	563
24	Polk County	16.5	86K	5,215	3,498	473
25	Wake County	15.4	720K	46,622	8,693	694
26	Madison County	14.9	33K	2,231	1,294	474
27	Johnston County	14.8	204K	13,828	7,058	871
28	Catawba County	13.9	114K	8,165	6,622	861
29	Duplin County	13.0	121K	9,258	5,627	650
30	McDowell County	12.7	158K	12,442	12,442	586
31	Rowan County	12.0	203K	16,951	5,235	814
32	Orange County	10.8	207K	19,163	4,953	867
33	Cabarrus County	9.7	351K	36,290	10,143	782
34	Wilkes County	9.5	76K	8,042	1,491	767
35	Pamlico County	9.0	16K	1,811	1,290	335
36	Montgomery County	8.4	42K	5,038	3,397	643
37	Surry County	8.4	91K	10,853	4,104	821
38	Davie County	8.4	75K	8,950	2,551	618
39	Jones County	7.2	16K	2,265	1,665	362
40	Bladen County	7.0	82K	11,706	2,721	567
41	Cherokee County	6.9	111K	16,160	3,481	596
42	Bertie County	6.3	64K	10,165	2,697	567
43	Northampton County	6.2	37K	6,048	2,144	463
44	Gates County	6.1	33K	5,460	1,438	298
45	Scotland County	5.9	62K	10,518	5,709	544
46	Anson County	5.6	36K	6,334	1,678	748
47	Iredell County	5.4	190K	35,197	4,667	848
48	Clay County	5.2	50K	9,637	2,793	502
49	Pender County	4.9	72K	14,750	5,920	710
50	Randolph County	4.8	151K	31,255	9,384	1,009
51	Burke County	4.6	91K	19,746	4,875	654
52	Sampson County	4.4	85K	19,420	9,347	703
53	Richmond County	4.3	54K	12,592	3,775	870
54	Lenoir County	4.1	62K	15,148	3,519	439
55	Washington County	4.0	16K	4,062	1,793	242
56	Cleveland County	3.9	74K	18,853	3,178	755
57	Wayne County	3.9	70K	18,042	7,277	894
58	Davidson County	3.8	142K	37,592	2,645	822
59	Gaston County	3.7	175K	47,215	3,845	849
60	Alexander County	3.6	25K	6,903	3,397	576
61	Hoke County	3.6	46K	12,912	5,551	620
62	Brunswick County	3.4	283K	82,037	37,309	1,232
63	Franklin County	3.3	91K	27,296	3,008	694
64	Tyrrell County	3.3	6,489	1,979	1,979	126
65	Carteret County	3.3	128K	39,432	10,394	852
66	Union County	3.1	205K	65,408	12,750	961
67	Stanly County	3.0	81K	26,968	3,398	663
68	Dare County	3.0	71K	23,623	7,774	636
69	Halifax County	2.9	84K	28,826	2,798	728
70	Alleghany County	2.7	20K	7,617	7,617	300
71	Lincoln County	2.6	67K	25,563	2,948	667
72	Currituck County	2.5	45K	17,795	1,563	441
73	Avery County	2.3	43K	18,986	1,306	115
74	Nash County	2.3	60K	26,243	2,720	669
75	Craven County	2.1	74K	35,033	3,653	685
76	Martin County	2.1	28K	13,275	3,278	389
77	Watauga County	2.0	36K	18,248	6,745	647
78	Beaufort County	1.9	38K	19,720	1,846	483
79	Camden County	1.9	12K	6,187	1,570	138
80	Onslow County	1.8	140K	77,669	11,252	1,158
81	Caldwell County	1.8	78K	43,296	3,552	796
82	Robeson County	1.8	107K	60,455	4,156	884
83	Ashe County	1.7	30K	17,506	1,241	601
84	Columbus County	1.7	38K	22,736	2,578	910
85	Wilson County	1.4	49K	35,644	2,220	315
86	Hertford County	1.3	19K	14,012	1,034	434
87	Edgecombe County	1.2	24K	19,560	752	423
88	Cumberland County	1.2	114K	93,841	7,165	946
89	Perquimans County	1.1	8,844	7,907	1,351	158
90	Pitt County	0.5	40K	80,606	2,381	474
91	Chowan County	0.3	4,018	12,047	701	147
92	Greene County	0.3	1,745	5,487	498	99
93	Pasquotank County	0.3	9,179	34,122	1,361	168
94	Graham County	-	38K	-	1,667	286
95	Haywood County	-	178K	-	4,479	886
96	Henderson County	-	288K	-	5,846	808
97	Jackson County	-	172K	-	3,457	642
98	Macon County	-	155K	-	3,758	664
99	Swain County	-	116K	-	2,109	436
100	Transylvania County	-	118K	-	5,418	587

Biggest North Carolina outages of 2021

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

CSV JSON

#	County	Started (UTC)	Ended (UTC)	Duration	Peak out	Customer-hours
1	Guilford County, NC	February 13, 2021 07:45	February 17, 2021 06:00	3d 22h	41,756	1.5M
2	Brunswick County, NC	February 16, 2021 04:15	February 17, 2021 23:00	1d 18h	37,309	174K
3	Forsyth County, NC	February 13, 2021 01:30	February 16, 2021 07:15	3d 5h	27,915	511K
4	Mecklenburg County, NC	January 13, 2021 12:45	January 15, 2021 04:15	1d 15h	26,744	23K
5	Brunswick County, NC	December 3, 2021 13:45	December 3, 2021 16:45	3h	19,555	4,908
6	Guilford County, NC	January 13, 2021 12:45	January 14, 2021 04:30	15h 45m	17,168	22K
7	Mecklenburg County, NC	June 6, 2021 11:00	June 9, 2021 04:45	2d 17h	17,046	100K
8	Brunswick County, NC	April 3, 2021 20:30	April 3, 2021 23:45	3h 15m	16,382	14K
9	Mecklenburg County, NC	March 11, 2021 13:15	March 13, 2021 03:45	1d 14h	15,689	7,355
10	Buncombe County, NC	August 25, 2021 12:15	August 26, 2021 02:45	14h 30m	15,649	26K
11	Mecklenburg County, NC	July 9, 2021 10:00	July 14, 2021 05:45	4d 19h	15,411	77K
12	Buncombe County, NC	August 16, 2021 07:30	August 21, 2021 00:45	4d 17h	15,054	207K
13	Union County, NC	June 7, 2021 17:00	June 8, 2021 19:15	1d 2h	12,750	21K
14	McDowell County, NC	August 16, 2021 21:45	August 19, 2021 00:30	2d 2h	12,442	61K
15	Mecklenburg County, NC	January 25, 2021 13:15	January 29, 2021 06:45	3d 17h	11,832	22K
16	Onslow County, NC	November 30, 2021 05:45	November 30, 2021 09:15	3h 30m	11,252	16K
17	Onslow County, NC	February 16, 2021 13:30	February 17, 2021 01:45	12h 15m	11,159	16K
18	Mecklenburg County, NC	August 5, 2021 10:15	August 21, 2021 06:30	15d 20h	10,927	211K
19	Mecklenburg County, NC	April 29, 2021 06:00	May 6, 2021 01:45	6d 19h	10,879	56K
20	Buncombe County, NC	August 29, 2021 18:15	August 29, 2021 21:45	3h 30m	10,837	2,886
21	Carteret County, NC	August 14, 2021 11:45	August 14, 2021 13:45	2h	10,394	15K
22	Cabarrus County, NC	April 6, 2021 23:45	April 7, 2021 02:45	3h	10,143	22K
23	Mecklenburg County, NC	October 23, 2021 12:15	October 24, 2021 00:45	12h 30m	9,955	32K
24	Rockingham County, NC	February 13, 2021 06:15	February 17, 2021 05:00	3d 22h	9,416	549K
25	Forsyth County, NC	August 14, 2021 20:45	August 19, 2021 03:45	4d 7h	9,415	117K

EAGLE-I tracked about 92% of North Carolina's electricity customers in 2021; outages at utilities it does not see are not counted. Hours per customer divide outage customer-minutes by modeled county customers.

North Carolina by year:2025 2024 2023 2022 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015

Other states in 2021:LA MI WV OR TX MS KY WA

Part of the 2021 US Power Outage Report.

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