Electric Utility Analyst Scotto On U.S.’s ‘Other’ Energy Crisis: Northeast At Greatest Risk Of Massive Blackout (Part 1 of 4)
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Posted: July 17, 2008
Veteran Wall Street electric utility analyst Dan Scotto says a repeat of the massive 2003 U.S. power blackout is “very likely” and that the Northeast region is at greatest risk.
In the first of a four-part series inaugurating EnergyTechStocks’ new “Video News Service,” Scotto tells EnergyTechStocks’ managing editor Bill Paul that an enormous blackout could hit the Northeast as early as this summer. The odds are even better in 2009 and 2010 as an expected rise in demand for power puts even greater strain on an already stressed transmission system.
Asked what would be the consequences of another big blackout hitting New York City, Scotto said many New York area businesses now have backup power sources but that “a vast majority” of the public in New York City and surrounding suburbs would be left in the dark, maybe for an extended period. Scotto said inadequate transmission in southeastern New York was a big problem. It’s a problem industry officials also have warned about. (See Get Ready, New Yorkers: More Blackouts may be in Your Future - Long Island & Westchester County, too)
Scotto, currently the head of Greenwich, CT investment advisory firm Whitehall Financial LLC, told EnergyTechStocks that the entire Northeast and Southeast regions of the U.S. are at risk. He said America’s electric reliability is now far lower than it was 10 to 20 years ago, due in part to industry deregulation that has left electric utilities thinking more about the reliability of their own service territories.