During Tropical Storm Isaias last month, more than 2 million households in the New York metro area lost power. Most got their power back on within a day, but 10,000 households went without power for over a week. Complaints about the slow return of service have led elected officials to call for investigations.
In New York City, the perceived tardiness of the response has served as a pretext for proposing a radical solution. Advocates on the left propose a government takeover of the energy grid, a process referred to as municipalization. New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams released a report recommending this step the day after Isaias dissipated, explaining why the city should add oversight of a complex electrical grid to the list of complicated systems it already mismanages.
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