Rochester, Minnesota Power Outage Today

How reliable is Rochester Public Utilities service in Rochester?

Rochester Public Utilities is a city-owned utility with 60,557 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 0.98 interruptions and 102 minutes (102 minutes) without power, so the average outage lasted 104 minutes.

Major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately, made up about 58% of that time. Without them the average is 43 minutes, so weather matters here but ordinary equipment faults and tree contact account for most of the total.

Outages are infrequent, fewer than one per customer a year, and each was fixed in 104 minutes on average.

For comparison, Minnesota as a whole averaged 220 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That puts Rochester Public Utilities below the state average, which is better.

Among the 41 utilities in Minnesota with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, Rochester Public Utilities ranks 25th for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 69% of the 926 utilities of that size reported more outage minutes in 2024.

These are the figures the utility itself reported to the US Energy Information Administration (Form EIA-861, 2024) and describe the whole service territory, not one street. Your own address can be better or worse.

Storm season and outages in Rochester

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 240 storm reports for Olmsted County from 2015 through 2026, most often hail (103), thunderstorm wind (88), flood (12), and heavy rain (11). The busiest full year was 2017 with 45 reports and the quietest was 2020 with 6, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in May (57 since 2015), followed by June and July. October is outside those three months, so an outage now is less likely to be weather-related.

NOAA’s own narratives name power outages in 13 storm episodes in Olmsted County since 2015, most often in July. That count is a floor, since the database records outages only when a spotter or agency mentions them.

What the most common storm types in Rochester do to the grid:

• Thunderstorm wind. Straight-line wind pushes trees and limbs into distribution lines. These outages are usually local, a street or a neighborhood at a time, and crews clear them circuit by circuit.
• Hail. Hail rarely cuts power by itself, but it often arrives with the wind and lightning that do, and it breaks solar panels, windshields and exposed utility equipment.
• Heavy rain. Saturated ground topples shallow-rooted trees onto lines, and standing water slows crews trying to reach the damage.

Storm reports that name Rochester

Within Olmsted County, 142 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Rochester as their location or in their description: thunderstorm wind (59), hail (55), heavy rain (8), and flood (6). That is about 59% of the county’s reports, so Rochester accounts for much of the county’s storm history. Reports naming Rochester are most common in June. The busiest full year was 2017 with 27. These reports record 1 death and 3 injuries in total.

In NOAA’s own words, storms that left Rochester without power:

• June 28, 2022 (thunderstorm wind): “Trees were blown down on the southwest side of Rochester that also brought down some power lines.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• June 28, 2022 (thunderstorm wind): “Trees were blown down on the northeast side of Rochester that also brought down some power lines.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• July 5, 2016 (thunderstorm wind): “A total of 2700 customers throughout the city of Rochester were without power.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Who a power outage hits hardest in Rochester

75.4% of occupied homes in Rochester are heated with piped natural gas, and 20.8% with electricity (US 41.3% electric). A gas furnace still needs electricity for its blower and ignition, so a long winter outage leaves these homes cold too, though a gas supply stays on when the grid fails. Never heat a home with an oven, grill or camp stove indoors.

Residents aged 65 or older are 16.3% of the population in Rochester, close to the US share of 17.2% and 11.3% report a disability (US 13.3%). These are the households most likely to depend on powered medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines and refrigerated medicine. If someone in your home does, ask Rochester Public Utilities whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 28.6% of the housing in Rochester was built before 1970 (US 35.5%); 17.6% of homes are in buildings with 20 or more units (US 10.3%), where an outage also stops elevators and water pumps, which matters for upper floors and anyone who cannot use stairs.

Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 (housing, heating fuel, age and disability tables).

Backup power and electricity use in Rochester

The average Rochester Public Utilities home used about 560 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 0.8 kW around the clock, and paid about 17.9 cents per kWh (15.5 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $100 a month.

Keeping only the essentials on (a refrigerator, router, a few lights and phone chargers, about 400 watts) through an outage that lasts the average 104 minutes takes less than 1 kWh. A portable power station or a power bank covers that; a generator is more than most households here need for a typical outage.

A generator must never run indoors, in a garage or near a window; generator and food-safety rules are in the power outage guide linked below.

If the power is out in Rochester

About 121,395 people live in Rochester, the 3rd largest of the 5 Minnesota cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check Rochester Public Utilities’s outage map for an estimate. If neighbors have power and you do not, report it again: the fault may be on the line to your house alone, which is a separate repair.

Rochester power outage map

Rochester Public Utilities’s outage map has the official restoration estimate for your address; the count above comes from residents. Food and generator safety: power outage guide.

Rochester power outage questions