Winter weather has taken its toll on both sides the US and Canadian border. One utility that has taken it in the chops from all the ice and snow has been electric companies that provide services to businesses and individuals. Now this wasn't the only time that there have been electrical outages due to severe weather. Power outages have become rather routine when severe weather hits. The question is, "How much mitigation do you want to invest in to reduce the impact of outages?"

The above is the theme from a Toronto Glob editorial, see the ice storm: Why you want the lights to go out, sometimes in the piece they call attention to the fact that you can't mitigate every risk. The costs to do so would be too high. Thus, the focus on risk management: View Presentation

"What is risk? See Post, It is the odds of suffering a loss in the future. It is a cost. And what about the reduction or elimination of that risk? Also a cost. In deciding whether to pay the price, utilities – and all of us – end up having to weigh three factors: the size of the possible damage, the likelihood of its occurrence, and the price of mitigation."

Risk management will become a greater part of the discussion as we move forward and the warming climate starts to impact our communities in varying ways. This will be a good discussion for communities to have. One way to reduce risk is to disperse it in the entire community (whole community). If individuals are better prepared than the costs for organizations can be lessened, and costs of single entity preparedness reduced.

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