Increase In Extreme Cold Events Posing New Challenges for Energy Utilities

While it’s intuitive to link “global warming” with hotter and longer heatwaves, longer droughts, more wildfires, and heavier rain, the link is less obvious when it comes to an increase in extreme cold events across North America, particularly in areas that have not historically experienced severe winter weather. However, the scientific community generally agrees that climate change is causing the uptick in extreme cold events. This is because drastic changes in the Arctic, which is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth, are triggering the circular pattern of winds, known as the polar vortex, to spread southward more often. According to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the weather in Ontario is continuously becoming more erratic, and urban areas such as Toronto face the brunt of impacts due to their heat-absorbing infrastructure and excessive emission of harmful gases.

Extreme cold events can have a significant impact on energy utilities. According to a research study by Ball State University, the number of blizzards in North America has increased by almost a factor of four since the mid-20th century, and heavy snow, ice, and wind from these events can cause significant problems. Ice accretion and heavy snow on powerlines can cause a line to short circuit or break. Strong winds, in conjunction with these other conditions, can compound the issue, causing lines to go down or blowing trees down onto the lines, which is the cause of 40% of power outages during the winter according to a National Geographic survey. Aside from powerline issues, utilities can be faced with communication interruptions, limited access to facilities, and reduced workforce due to unsafe travel conditions during extreme weather events. Cold weather alone can cause components of the electric system to fail, particularly as they age. As much of the electric infrastructure is already operating well beyond the life span for which it was designed, these failures may increase.

Private infrastructure issues compound problems for energy providers, particularly during extreme weather events. When an outage occurs, customers call their utility first, at a time when staffing may be stretched thin. They learn, often for the first time, that they are responsible for fixing the exterior electric line and components at their own expense before reconnection, leaving them to secure repair assistance under duress. This can result in a delayed reconnection, ancillary outage-related expenses, and dissatisfaction with the utility.

HomeServe partners with utilities to offer homeowners repair service plans to help them get back up and running following an outage and protect against electrical hazards by ensuring integrity of equipment and code-compliant repairs with local, licensed, and vetted contractors. Our suite of protection plans for a range of residential lines and systems includes Exterior Electric Line Coverage which is available in configurations that can include protection against tree and wind damage and electrical surges. Partially due to Winter Storm Elliott, December 2022 was HomeServe’s busiest month ever, with 52,000 job deployments.