The U.S. grid is the worst in the industrialized world (outages are up 285%!)

Power outages in the United States are up an astonishing 285% since 1984. The U.S. ranks last among the top nine Western industrialized nations in the average length of outages. That dismal performance costs American businesses as much as $150 billion every year according to the EIA.

“The U.S. electrical grid, once one of the world’s great marvels, is crumbling after decades of underinvestment,” trumpets Bloomberg BusinessWeek. “It’s… something of a relic, largely built after World War II from designs that date to Thomas Edison.”

Although talk of a smart grid has been around for years, many utilities are now starting in earnest on a huge infrastructure makeover. It could cost almost $500 billion before it’s completed, according to the Electric Power Research Institute.

Smart Grid News. Author Jesse Berst is the founder and Chief Analyst of SGN and Chairman of the Smart Cities Council, an industry coalition.