Power Outages in Montana by City

Power outage record for Montana

• 2024: Montana electric customers averaged 1.62 outages and 352 minutes (5.9 hours) without power. Average across all reporting US utilities: 611 minutes. That makes Montana 31st of 50 states (1 = fewest outage minutes).
• Storm days vs. ordinary days: leaving out major event days, the figure drops to 157 minutes (US 126). About 55% of the year's outage time came on a handful of severe days.
• Six-year record: the worst year was 2024 (352 minutes), the best 2023 (119). 2024 was well above the 2019–2023 average of 219 minutes.
• Largest utilities: NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT), 376,392 customers, 233 minutes; Flathead Electric Coop Inc, 78,834 customers, 586 minutes; Montana-Dakota Utilities Co, 26,559 customers, 360 minutes.
• Spread between utilities: among 3 utilities with 25,000+ customers, NorthWestern Energy LLC - (MT) had the least outage time (233 minutes) and Flathead Electric Coop Inc the most (586 minutes). Source: EIA Form 861 reliability data, 2019–2024
• Storm record since 2015: 14,406 NOAA storm reports in Montana, led by high wind 4,145, thunderstorm wind 2,555, hail 2,054. Power outages are named in 174 storm episodes. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• July 24, 2024, Missoula (thunderstorm wind): “This led to power and transmission poles breaking in half and triggering power outages that lasted for up to a week after, affecting close to 40,000 customers, many of which had to toss out spoiled food.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• December 17, 2025, Flathead/Mission Valleys (high wind): “At the 1200MST peak, over 30,000 meters were without power.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database
• May 9, 2016, Gallatin (winter storm): “NorthWestern Energy estimated some 30,000 customers, including Montana State University, lost power for several hours.” Source: NOAA Storm Events Database

Checked September 2026.