Down to the wire... Hurricane Ida cut off power for ~1M people in Louisiana and Mississippi. The storm knocked out 31K electric poles – more than hurricanes Katrina, Ike, Delta, and Zeta combined. Plus, all those poles were above ground – aka: not protected against 150-mph wind. Entergy, the utility giant with 3M customers across the Gulf states, has restored power to less than half of its affected customers.
Pole-arizing issue... After the Senate passed its $1T infrastructure bill, officials are debating whether to build new power lines above or below ground. Underground wires can be more than 10X as expensive to build as above-ground wires — but they're also more resilient in disasters like hurricanes and wildfires. And America’s ~70-year-old electric grid is 20 years overdue for an update:
Natural monopolies, extreme outcomes... One-third of US electricity companies are state-regulated "natural monopolies" that earn pre-determined returns, which means little incentive to pay for pricey upgrades. Often, taxpayers end up footing the costs: a whopping $99B just last year. Now, policy makers are debating whether to pay utility companies to update their infrastructure, or fine them if they don't: Last year, PG&E was fined ~$2B after its old wires caused several devastating wildfires.