Monthly power-cut report
October power cuts: 2,216 faults, and 33% of them came in Storm Boelo's weekend
ESB Networks reported 2,216 power faults across the Republic in October 2026, up 27% on September (1,749). Donegal had the most faults (362), the busiest day was Saturday, 24 October with 379, and the typical fault was fixed in 2h 14m. ESB also carried out 1,467 planned outages for network work.
Power faults per day
Each bar is the number of new faults ESB listed that day. Storm days are highlighted.
Storms in October
Storm Austen
Storm Austen arrived late on Thursday 22 October with an orange rain warning for Waterford, Cork and Kerry from 10pm to 5am. ESB said about 3,000 homes, farms and businesses were without power at 7am on Friday, mostly in the south and east, with West Cork worst hit around Ballydehob.
Across Thursday 22 and Friday 23, ESB listed 186 new faults, most of them in Cork (70), Wexford (15) and Dublin (15).
Source: The Irish Times, 23 October 2026
Storm Boelo
Storm Boelo followed on Saturday 24 October, with an orange wind warning for Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo from 2pm Saturday to 9am Sunday. ESB said 41,000 premises were without power at 7.45am on Sunday, up to 25,000 of them in Donegal, falling to about 5,000 by 5.15pm.
Across Saturday 24 and Sunday 25, ESB listed 742 new faults, most of them in Donegal (246), Mayo (76) and Galway (53).
Source: RTÉ News, 25 October 2026
Power cuts by county, October 2026
| County | Faults | Planned | Largest fault (properties) | Typical fix time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donegal | 362 | 67 | 3,786 | 3h 57m |
| Cork | 224 | 160 | 3,258 | 1h 45m |
| Dublin | 189 | 59 | 3,577 | 2h 37m |
| Mayo | 168 | 53 | 3,548 | 2h 31m |
| Galway | 166 | 129 | 4,116 | 1h 31m |
| Kerry | 128 | 63 | 2,004 | 2h 1m |
| Meath | 79 | 102 | 4,457 | 1h 31m |
| Sligo | 77 | 24 | 7,088 | 4h 33m |
| Tipperary | 76 | 81 | 3,641 | 1h 47m |
| Wexford | 75 | 68 | 5,845 | 1h 53m |
| Cavan | 75 | 52 | 3,465 | 1h 26m |
| Limerick | 62 | 103 | 2,022 | 2h 37m |
| Clare | 61 | 63 | 871 | 2h |
| Wicklow | 55 | 34 | 2,206 | 3h 13m |
| Kildare | 53 | 38 | 4,565 | 2h 37m |
| Westmeath | 46 | 35 | 5,612 | 1h 33m |
| Waterford | 45 | 35 | 2,152 | 2h 21m |
| Leitrim | 44 | 24 | 1,084 | 5h 4m |
| Laois | 37 | 39 | 2,259 | 1h 10m |
| Roscommon | 33 | 24 | 2,754 | 3h 34m |
| Kilkenny | 32 | 61 | 3,641 | 1h 31m |
| Offaly | 31 | 38 | 12,061 | 1h 55m |
| Louth | 31 | 24 | 1,951 | 2h 27m |
| Monaghan | 30 | 45 | 1,939 | 1h 14m |
| Longford | 20 | 15 | 2,665 | 3h 44m |
| Carlow | 17 | 31 | 3,644 | 5h 35m |
The largest power cuts
| Area | County | Started | Properties | Power back after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edenderry | Offaly | Thu, 15 Oct, 19:35 | 12,061 | 3h 15m |
| Collooney | Sligo | Tue, 6 Oct, 12:09 | 7,088 | 19 min |
| Bealistown | Wexford | Wed, 14 Oct, 21:20 | 5,845 | 1h 8m |
| Kilcock | Kildare | Tue, 20 Oct, 09:44 | 4,565 | 59 min |
| Moneycooley | Meath | Wed, 14 Oct, 17:52 | 4,457 | 4h 13m |
| Galway 110kv | Galway | Fri, 30 Oct, 02:55 | 4,116 | 54 min |
| Buncrana | Donegal | Sun, 25 Oct, 02:11 | 3,786 | 4h 55m |
| Kilcock | Kildare | Tue, 20 Oct, 09:57 | 3,700 | 17 min |
| Kilcock | Kildare | Mon, 26 Oct, 09:07 | 3,700 | 4h 8m |
| Tullow | Carlow | Thu, 29 Oct, 15:36 | 3,644 | 7h 59m |
The longest power cuts
Faults affecting 100 or more properties, by time until ESB marked power restored.
| Area | County | Started | Properties | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saggart | Dublin | Sat, 24 Oct, 23:16 | 241 | 72h 38m |
| Carndonagh | Donegal | Sun, 25 Oct, 00:26 | 1,073 | 38h 20m |
| Rossgeir | Donegal | Sun, 25 Oct, 06:14 | 116 | 35h 29m |
| Malahide | Dublin | Sat, 24 Oct, 16:53 | 167 | 29h 19m |
| Ballyraine | Donegal | Sun, 25 Oct, 08:06 | 125 | 27h 50m |
| Donegal | Donegal | Sat, 24 Oct, 20:30 | 191 | 26h 5m |
| Edenderry | Offaly | Sat, 24 Oct, 18:13 | 111 | 23h 2m |
| Kilcock | Meath | Sat, 24 Oct, 14:07 | 255 | 22h 47m |
Keeping the lights on in a power cut
Most solar systems switch off during a power cut for safety. A home battery with a backup (EPS) output can keep lights, the fridge and the router running. Battery prices and backup options are compared on our battery page, and the €600 SEAI battery grant now applies to homes built before 2025.
How we count
- We log ESB Networks' live PowerCheck map every few minutes. ESB lists only outages affecting more than ten properties, and removes each one a few hours after power is back, so this is a record ESB itself does not publish.
- ESB often lists one fault several times as it restores power in stages. We group listings with the same area and start time into one power cut and show its largest listing, so the "properties" figures are a floor, not a total.
- We don't add up homes across the month, because the same homes appear in several listings. For how many were off at once during a storm, we quote ESB's own figures.
- Fix times run from ESB's start time to when the fault was marked restored. All times are Irish time.
- The Republic of Ireland only; Northern Ireland is covered by NIE Networks.