First-of-its-kind survey of National Rural Electric Cooperative Association members shows how much power interruptions really cost households and businesses—and how that cost changes with a little advance warning[C.
November 5, 2026
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Dr. Chukwuemeka Obikwelu
Dr. Obikwelu serves as Director of Grid Systems within the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity, where he oversees a multi-year energy research and development portfolio focused on advancing grid affordability, reliability, resilience, and security. His work spans the intersections of technology, policy, and business, including advanced microgrid technologies, inverter-based-resources, hybrid energy systems (integrating small nuclear reactors, energy storage, etc.), advanced transmission and distribution (T&D) technologies, and emerging energy challenges associated with electrification, AI-driven load growth, and evolving power system demands.
Dr. Obikwelu's industry background spans electric utilities, engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) consulting, technology R&D, and academia. Prior to joining DOE, he held engineering and leadership roles supporting transmission and distribution systems, protection and control engineering, utility operations, compliance, and large-scale energy infrastructure and capital projects across the power sector. His experience also includes teaching power systems engineering courses in academic and professional settings and supporting workforce and technical training initiatives.
He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (Energy Systems) from Georgia Institute of Technology, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (Power/Energy Systems) from Michigan Technological University, a Master of Education from Harvard University focused on higher education leadership, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Wayne State University. He is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Indiana University-Bloomington Kelley School of Business, majoring in Business Strategy and Leadership. His hobbies of interest include lawn tennis, chess, a good read, mixed martial arts, running, and long walks.
Understanding what power interruptions actually cost consumers is essential to making smart decisions about grid investments. That's the idea behind the Interruption Cost Estimate (ICE) Calculator, a free online tool that utilities and regulators have relied on for over a decade to weigh the benefits of reliability and resilience upgrades. But the surveys behind the original tool are aging (some more than 25 years old), and they leave out large parts of the country, including many rural communities served by electric cooperatives.
To close that gap, the Department of Energy's Office of Electricity partnered with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Resource Innovations, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) to survey members of 18 electric cooperatives across the Southeast, Great Plains/Upper Midwest, and Intermountain West. Over the course of 2025, more than 1,300 residential and non-residential co-op members answered detailed questions about what different lengths of power interruptions—from a momentary interruption lasting less than 5 minutes to a full 24-hour interruption—would cost them.
The results confirm what many customers already sense: even short outages add up fast. A single momentary interruption cost residential members an average of $2, while a single 24-hour outage cost an average of $54. For businesses, those same outages cost $1,283 and $15,106 on average.
The survey also found that advance warning genuinely helps households said 24 to 48 hours' notice was enough to meaningfully soften an outage's impact, and businesses reported cost reductions of 27% to 59% when they knew ahead of time.
The study also found that rural cooperative members have higher rates of backup generator adoption. About 31% of residential respondents and 20% of non-residential respondents indicated they have backup generators installed. For comparison, 17% of residential and 14% of non-residential customers of investor-owned utilities reported owning backup generators as part of the broader initiative to update the Calculator.
And when asked how they'd cope with a three-day outage, 42% of residential respondents said they'd relocate some or all family members, while 65% of businesses said they'd simply shut down for the duration.
These findings will feed into the next major update of the Calculator, expected in early 2027, giving utilities—especially rural cooperatives that have historically been underrepresented in this kind of research—better data to justify investments that keep the lights on. It's another example of how the Office of Electricity's research partnerships help translate real customer experiences into the kind of evidence that supports a more reliable, resilient, and affordable grid for all Americans.
For more information, please visit the report link found here or contact the project principal investigator, Peter Larsen.
