Dive Summary:

• Electric customers in the U.S. are paying 43% more to build and maintain power grids than they did a decade ago, according to new information.
• In addition to the rising costs, the grid is also proving to be less reliable as blackouts now take about 20% longer to fix; this data doesn't even take into account recovery time associated with major storms.
• These problems are theoretically fixable, but according to research it would cost up to $476 billion over the next 20 years to establish a smart grid across the country.

From the article:

There are a couple of other ways to look at the grid: Blackouts have become more common too. Between 2005 and 2009, there were 349 power outages in the United States that affected at least 50,000 people. That’s up from just 149 outages between 2000 and 2004, according to Massoud Amin of the University of Minnesota. Problems with the power grid now cost the economy some $150 billion per year. ...