Kenosha, Wisconsin Power Outage Today

How reliable is We Energies service in Kenosha?

We Energies is an investor-owned utility with 1,212,936 customers. In 2024 its customers averaged 1.04 interruptions and 296 minutes (about 4.9 hours) without power, so the average outage lasted about 4.8 hours.

About 63% of that time came on major event days, the severe-weather days that utilities report separately. On ordinary days the average falls to 109 minutes. A handful of severe-weather days, not everyday faults, set this utility’s year.

The long average outage is the notable figure: when the lights went out for We Energies customers, they stayed out for about 4.8 hours on average, which is long enough to spoil refrigerated food and strain medical needs.

For comparison, Wisconsin as a whole averaged 266 minutes and the United States 614 minutes. That is close to the state average.

Among the 31 utilities in Wisconsin with at least 5,000 customers that report to the federal government, We Energies ranks 30th for the fewest outage minutes (1 is best). Nationally, 35% 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 Kenosha

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 94 storm reports for Kenosha County from 2015 through 2026, most often thunderstorm wind (39), hail (24), flood (18), and flash flood (6). The busiest full year was 2020 with 13 reports and the quietest was 2021 with 3, so the risk changes a lot from one year to the next.

Reports peak in June (18 since 2015), followed by May and August. 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 20 storm episodes in Kenosha County since 2015, most often in March. 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 Kenosha 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.
• Flash flood. Floodwater reaches ground-level transformers, meters and low-lying substations. Utilities may shut power off ahead of the water on purpose, and wading near flooded equipment can electrocute.

Storm reports that name Kenosha

Within Kenosha County, 35 NOAA storm reports since 2015 name Kenosha as their location or in their description: thunderstorm wind (18), hail (8), flash flood (6), and flood (2). That is about 37% of the county’s reports. Reports naming Kenosha are most common in August. The busiest full year was 2025 with 7.

Who a power outage hits hardest in Kenosha

72.9% of occupied homes in Kenosha are heated with piped natural gas, and 23.4% 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 13.8% of the population in Kenosha, below the US share of 17.2% and 13.7% 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 We Energies whether it keeps a priority or medical-needs list, and register before the next storm rather than during it.

About the housing: 50.5% of the housing in Kenosha was built before 1970 (US 35.5%), and older neighborhoods often have overhead service lines and mature trees close to the wires, which makes them more exposed to storm outages.

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

Backup power and electricity use in Kenosha

The average We Energies home used about 625 kWh a month in 2024 (US average 892 kWh), an average draw of 0.9 kW around the clock, and paid about 19.2 cents per kWh (17.2 in the state, 15.8 nationally), roughly $120 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 about 4.8 hours takes about 1.9 kWh. A portable power station in the 1 to 3 kWh range covers part of that, and a small inverter generator covers all of it.

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 Kenosha

About 99,886 people live in Kenosha, the 4th largest of the 10 Wisconsin cities on this site. Report the outage to the utility so a ticket exists for your address, then check We Energies’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.

Kenosha power outage map

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

Kenosha power outage questions