@techreport{bibcite_36525,
  author = {Sunhee Baik and Kristina Hamachi LaCommare and Peter H Larsen and Gabby Geraci and Karen Johnson},
  title = {Estimates of the Economic Impacts of Long-Duration, Widespread Power Disruptions in Puerto Rico},
  abstract = {<p>A typical electricity customer in Puerto Rico experienced nearly 27 hours of power interruptions in 2023{\textendash}with many customers experiencing extremely long duration outages during a single event (i.e., greater than one month).\&nbsp; This project involved conducting state-of-the-art surveying to assess the direct costs of power outages occurring across Puerto Rico, developing customer-specific models to estimate future costs over varying outage durations, and comparing these estimates to <a href="https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_standard-economic-values-methodology-report_2023.pdf">FEMA{\textquoteright}s Value of Unit Service for Electricity</a>.\&nbsp; We estimate that a territory-wide power outage may cost customers $1, $5 and $29 billion during one-, 14-, and 30-day interruptions, respectively.\&nbsp; However, these are lower-bound estimates because our study focused on direct economic costs and, by necessity, did not fully incorporate (1) indirect impacts to the economy; (2) costs to repair or replace damaged utility infrastructure; and (3) the broader societal consequences including increased morbidity- and mortality-related costs. The information contained in this study can be used to estimate the direct economic value of past or proposed investments in power system resilience.\&nbsp; We conclude with a discussion of this study{\textquoteright}s limitations and suggest additional research to improve stakeholder understanding of the impacts of power outages across Puerto Rico.\&nbsp;</p>},
  year = {2025},
  month = {03/2025},
}