US faces longer power outages after spending-cut

The US faces longer power outages resulting from storms this year after utilities cut spending on maintenance by as much as 50 %, according to Quanta Services, the world's largest builder of transmission lines.
"Because they haven't been doing maintenance for a few years, we will see longer outages and we will see more frequent outages as storm season approaches," Chief Executive Officer John R. Colson said. "It's a frequent, very frequent occurrence that cities are affected by storms that shouldn't really affect their distribution systems, and they are devastated and they are out of electricity for days and days."

Quanta, based in Houston, expects 2010 revenue from maintaining power lines and providing other electricity-distribution services to be little changed following a decline in 2009 because of the spending slowdown.
FPL Group, which was fined a record $ 25 mm for a Florida power failure, halted some projects targeting improvements in reliability in the state after it got a lower-than-requested rate increase on Jan. 13. The Florida Public Service Commission also turned down a request for an increase in a storm-damage reserve from Raleigh, North Carolina-based Progress Energy earlier this month.

The biggest blackout in North American history started when a power line, owned by Akron, Ohio-based utility FirstEnergy, touched a tree limb in August 2003.
US and Canadian investigators blamed its spread on Carmel, Indiana-based Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, the utility-owned non-profit that oversees that part of the power grid.

Election year
Utilities cut their maintenance budgets over the last two or three years because they are uncertain whether they will recover the costs through a rate increase, according to Quanta's Colson. Most of the regulators who decide on higher charges are appointed by governors who may face re-election this year and don't want to see big rate increases before the vote, he said.
"When spring storms come, with the wind and tornados and lighting, it will show on the systems," he said.