Why the IIJA is Great News for Electric Utilities

The recent passing into law of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is a huge win for utility companies, especially those in the water and electricity sectors.  All told, the IIJA includes $65 billion for the electric grid, and over $47 billion for cybersecurity and other tactics designed to maximize resilience.  The Act also includes $7.5 billion to create a national electric vehicle (EV) charging network.

How the IIJA Benefits Electric Utilities

The strength of the Act lies in its massive scope.  The $65 billion dedicated for the grid is the largest such investment in U.S. history.  And it comes at the perfect time, given that the electric grid is aging just when it needs to evolve to meet future challenges like EV demand, increasingly severe weather, and the advent of clean energy sources to name just a few.

The funds will help accelerate the deployment of smart grid technologies that can improve reliability and reduce outages.  It will also help weatherize the grid, including storm-hardening in coastal regions and improving fire protection out west.

Arguably even more critical is the $47 billion allocated to cybersecurity.  We are obviously living in a world where everything is interconnected and networked, which exponentially increases the number of opportunities for hackers to exploit weakness or gaps.  And if an advanced hacker takes control of the grid, we could all be in for a world of hurt.  To help cope with this growing threat, the cyber portion of the funds will go toward training, promoting physical security, and providing cybersecurity tools to small and medium-sized utilities.

There’s no doubt about it, electric utilities stand to benefit from the passing of the IIJA because many of them are in dire need of assistance to evolve with the times.  Especially for smaller electric utilities, the task of dealing with all the change can be daunting, and the funds from the IIJA can only help.