NEW YORK (AP) — The cost of weather-related power outagesis high and rising as storms grow
more severe and the U.S. electricgrid gets older, according to an Obama Administration report that
callsfor increased spending on the nation’s electric power system.Poweroutages cost the economy $18
billion to $33 billion per year, accordingto the report, a figure that has been rising steadily over the
past 20years. That can rise to $40 billion to $75 billion in years with severestorms such as 2008’s
Hurricane Ike and last year’s Superstorm Sandy.TheWhite House report, released Monday, said spending to
make the gridstronger and more flexible will save the economy "billions of dollarsand reduce the
hardship experienced by millions of Americans whenextreme weather strikes."The administration
proposes spending ontraining and preparation, stronger equipment such as concrete poles, andmore
advanced sensing and diagnostic equipment that can predictfailures, prevent them from getting worse, and
restore power fasterafter it has gone out.Seven of the ten costliest storms in U.S.history occurred
between 2004 and 2012. Eleven times last yearweather-related outages led to losses of $1 billion or
more, the secondmost on record, behind 2011, according to the report. Climate scientistsexpect ever more
intense and destructive weather as climate changeincreases global temperatures, adding more energy to
storms and shiftingpatterns of drought and precipitation.Storms cause most of thenation’s power outages.
Thunderstorms, hurricanes, blizzards and otherextreme weather caused 58 percent of all outages studied
since 2002 and87 percent of outages affecting 50,000 or more customers.At thesame time, the U.S.
electric grid is getting old. The average U.S. powerplant is 30 years old and 70 percent of the grid’s
transmission linesand transformers are at least 25 years old, making them weaker and moresusceptible to
failure in storms.The U.S. electric power systemis a web of generating stations, high-voltage wires that
transmit powerover long distances, substations, and local wires and equipment thatdeliver electricity to
homes and businesses.U.S. customers losepower on average 1.2 times per year, for a total of 112
minutes,according to PA Consulting Group. Nine out of ten of those outages arethe result of problems
with local distribution systems, according to theEdison Electric Institute, an electric industry
lobbying group.Inthe years after the Northeast Blackout of 2003, the most widespreadoutage ever in North
America, investment in major transmission lines andequipment increased. According to an analysis of
spending on majortransmission equipment by more than 200 utilities nationwide conductedfor the AP by
Ventyx, a software and data services firm that works withelectric utilities, utilities spent an average
of $21,514 per year ondevices and station equipment per mile of transmission line from 2003 to2012. From
1994 to 2003, spending averaged $7,185 per year.TheWhite House report says increased spending in recent
years has still notmatched the level of investment between 1960 and 1990. It suggests newspending should
be focused on a few main areas, including, "hardening"the system by installing stronger
equipment, building more transmissionwires and energy storage systems to make the grid better able to
absorbshocks, and installing more sophisticated technology.The reportdoes not suggest how much new
spending was needed, where that spendingwould come from, or how much money would be saved by preventing
someoutages and making others less severe.Major upgrades to the gridcan be difficult to initiate.
Utilities do not build or install newequipment without first getting approval from state or
federalregulators to charge customers. Regulators can be reluctant to increasecustomer rates, especially
if it means spending on relatively novelhigh-tech equipment, or to guard against weather that may or may
notarrive.Massoud Amin, an electrical engineering professor at theUniversity of Minnesota, Minneapolis,
who has long advocated increasedspending on better grid technology, says the benefit to improving
thegrid far outweighs the cost of investment. He estimates that a modern,efficient grid would cost $21
billion per year for 20 years. Hecalculates savings resulting from a better grid would amount to
$79billion to $94 billion per year.Follow Jonathan Fahey on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.