NEW YORK — A record number of Americans still are without power and heating in many parts of the country, with the outlook for the nation’s energy grid and its economy set to worsen further in the coming days.
The number of people without power in the U.S. hit 663,000 in the first nine days of the year, up from 659,000 the same period last year, according to the latest count from the U,S.
Department of Energy.
For comparison, the total number of U.N. workers in the country reached 3.7 million during the same time period, according the United Nations.
Nearly half of the U-S.
population lives in the affected areas of the northeast and mid-Atlantic states.
The highest-affected area, Pennsylvania, has had more than 3.4 million customers without power for more than a week, according it’s utility.
“The energy crisis is not a new problem, and the challenges facing the U of A are not.
But the severity and duration of the problem is,” said U.K. energy minister Ed Davey.
Davey said that as a result of the winter weather, the U.-S.
has lost its capacity to deliver electricity to more than half of all Americans.
More than half the U’s electricity has been generated in the last three weeks, Davey said.
He said the energy crisis would continue into next week, and blamed a lack of coordination from federal officials, who he said have “failing to deliver a timely response to the crisis.”
Dave.
