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Power Outages Leave Poor Communities in the Dark Longer: Evidence from 15M Outages Raises Questions About Recovery Times

Summary

This article on The Conversation discusses how severe storms disproportionately affect socioeconomically disadvantaged communities during power outages. The analysis, based on data from over 15 million consumers in 588 U.S. counties affected by hurricanes between January 2017 and October 2020, reveals that communities with lower socioeconomic status experience 6.1% longer power outages on average. This disparity is attributed to power restoration policies that prioritize critical infrastructure and larger customers, leaving vulnerable communities waiting longer for electricity. The article suggests policy and infrastructure improvements to address the biased impact on recovery times, emphasizing the need for more inclusive and proactive approaches to ensure equitable power restoration.

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