Cost of Power Interruptions to Electricity Consumers in the United States
Jan. 31, 2006
U.S. Department of Energy, Ernesto Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Kristina Hamachi LaCommare, Joseph H. Eto
The massive electric power blackout in the northeastern U.S. and Canada on August 14-15, 2003 catalyzed discussions about modernizing the U.S. electricity grid. Industry sources suggested that investments of $50 to $100 billion would be needed. This work seeks to better understand an important piece of information that has been missing from these discussions: what do power interruptions and fluctuations in power quality (power-quality events) cost electricity consumers?
