Abstract

Access to electricity is a crucial determinant of quality of life and productivity. The United States has a highly reliable electricity grid, but it faces new resilience challenges posed by more intense natural disasters and ambitious green power requirements. Using a US electric utility panel dataset from 2013 to 2020, we document that natural disasters disrupt service, but utilities have made progress in adapting to such shocks. Over the last decade, utilities have faced a tradeoff between achieving local carbon mitigation goals and offering reliable power access. We discuss alternative approaches to attenuate this tradeoff.