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How to adequately prepare for recovery from catastrophic losses: Doing nothing may minimize cost in the short run, but it leaves electricity customers exposed to the risk of extended outages. At the other extreme, having each utility purchase its own dedicated inventory of critical equipment would be duplicative and prohibitively expensive for utility customers. A shared inventory model offers a sensible middle-ground approach.

The economic argument for investments in the smart grid is clear: the payback from those technologies in the U.S. is likely three to six times greater than the money invested, and grows with each sequence of grid improvement.