Recent North Carolina Weather Sheds Dim Light on the State of The US Power Grid

What was originally predicted to be two tenths of an inch of ice in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina on early Friday morning, turned out to be more like half an inch of ice, with 3 inches of snow and sleet. By the end of the day Friday, nearly 450,000 North Carolina residents found their homes without power. Even the friends and family of Beco Electrical Contractor who did not have a backup generator at their residence were affected. This blogger was without power until Sunday night. While Duke Energy crews still work feverishly to restore power to the remaining residents still without power, high winds threaten the area yet again on Wednesday!

This recent bought of severe winter weather has started a serious discussion about the health and reliability of the U.S. Power Grid. The Washington Post reports that not only is the power grid getting less reliable, but it’s also getting pricier to maintain and repair. U.S. electric customers are now paying 43 percent more to build and maintain local power grids than they did back in 2002. At the very same time, the grid is much less reliable, with blackouts taking 20 percent longer to fix.

In theory, this is solvable — though it wouldn’t be cheap. A recent study from the Electric Power Research Institute estimated that it could cost up to $476 billion over the next 20 years to establish a nationwide smart grid. But with a belt tightening Congress that can’t seem to agree on anything, relief does not look to be anywhere in sight. With government failing to provide a solution, the responsibility seems to fall upon us to prepare our homes for these ever increasing outages.

There are some things we can do. Automatic Standby Generators can supply homes with power during outages because they run on natural gas. Natural gas lines are typically buried and protected from strong winds and ice that commonly take down trees and power lines. Depending on budget and needs, back up generators can provide partial power for 8 to 12 circuits in a home for things such as a few lights, refrigerator, a microwave, and a TV, or whole home installations that would include HVAC units, water heater, stove, and washer/dryer.

Automatic Standby Generators provide continuous service on demand, with the ability to regularly running tests and provide mobile device notification to owners that their system is ready to go up when the grid goes down. This notification can be very useful for second homeowners, who need to know that their investments are safe in their absence. Portable, gas powered generators do not provide very much power, and require refilling, not to mention the noise that they cause for neighbors and owners alike.

Beco Electric has installed over 600 Generac and other automatic standby generators across North Carolina, providing residents on demand power when the grid lets us down. We can help you determine if an automatic standby generator is right for you.