Just an observation

[Mule 11]

May be wrong, it seems like there are more power outages then in the past. I don’t recall many outages growing up.

[GTS225]

Might be because the grid has aged right along with you.  The electrical power structure is still a private enterprise, with the desire for profit to match.  They're not going to replace anything until they absolutely have to.

Roger

[buckbeast]

It happens in my rural area (South Central PA) as the utility companies sub-contract out the trimming of trees and don't seem to be on top of it. About every ice or wind storm we get leads to an outage of a couple of hours due to a tree or branches taking out a line or forcing them to arc.

[Mule 11]

Most of the outages are not that long, I do have a couple generators for “ just in case “

[DDZ]

Might be because the grid has aged right along with you.  The electrical power structure is still a private enterprise, with the desire for profit to match.  They're not going to replace anything until they absolutely have to.

Roger

Yep, I think mostly that is what it is. An aging electrical grid. We do have outages, mainly because of where we live. Lots of right of ways lined with trees. Our power company does do a good job at restoring power after a wind storm knocks power out, and I'm very thankful for the pretty consistent power we do have. I have noticed that the power company wants reliability, and stives to obtain it. Could they replace all poles, transformers, lines, etc.. Yes they could, but the cost would be great which is transferred to the consumers.  One good thing about a power outage once in awhile is that you run your generator, Its not good to leave a generator sit for long periods of times without making power.

[Bob Riebe]

When I was a youth, maybe one in fifty houses had air-conditioning, now, one in 100 does not.
They drain a lot of power is summer.

[ironglow]

   Way back when Obama took office, he set up a fund of nearly a trillion dollars to "fix the infrastructure".  Haven't seen much results from it.

  ..But why spend on the infrastructure, when there are so many other places to spend the money ?