Consumers affected by last August's power blackout said they suffered financial losses as a result, have not received enough information on the causes and are willing to pay higher bills to avoid such events in the future, according to an Accenture survey.

More than half (60%) of the consumers surveyed said that their utility company and the government have not done enough to inform them of the causes of the widespread power failure on Aug. 14, 2003, which affected thousands of households in the Northeastern United States and Southern Ontario. In addition, 85% said that their utility company should provide more information on the electrical system and supply.

One-fourth (24%) of respondents said they incurred between $100 and $300 in expenses as a result of the blackouts, ranging from spoiled food and restaurant costs to hotel stays, and another 9% said they incurred between $300 and $500 in blackout-related expenses. Thirty-eight percent said they incurred less than $100 in such expenses.

In addition, 43% of consumers said they would be willing to pay up to 5% more in electricity rates, if it would help improve the reliability of the electricity system, while another 9% said they would be willing to pay between 6% and 10% more. Fewer than half (44%) of respondents said they would not be willing to pay any increase.

“Although a utility cannot guarantee power supply 100% of the time, its chief goal is to ‘keep the lights on’ and make sure its customers are not left in dark,” said Keith Mueller, a partner in Accenture's Utilities industry group. “The most important issue is not that a blackout-causing event occurred in a single region, but that it resulted in a cascading failure, affecting a number of other systems in the Midwest, Ontario and New York areas.”

Beyond the financial impact, 71% of respondents said the blackout had raised doubts in their minds about the stability of their nation's electricity supply. In addition, 59% said they did not believe enough had been done to secure the electricity system (or grid) following the blackouts.

Interestingly, half of the consumers (50%) said they expect another blackout within the next six months or are unsure, while 27% said they believe that the electricity supply will be less reliable in the future.
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