Today’s vast network of transmission and distribution equipment still includes components from over 100 years ago. Varying age, condition, and capacities make it difficult to provide reliable power, and unreliable equipment, severe weather, and overloading can all cause power disruptions and damages to electric equipment. Unfortunately, as climate change gets worse, so does the problem. More than half of major power outages between 2000 and 2016 were caused by natural hazards such as hurricanes, heat waves, and wildfires.

The Build Back Better Act helped address that inadequacy, providing $2 billion in for the construction of high capacity transmission lines. The Build Back Better Act would fund $2 billion dollars to update and modernize our transmission infrastructure, leveraging $2 billion private for $4 billion total, which would create 24,680 direct, 8,120 indirect, and 18,760 induced jobs, a total of 52,000 jobs over the 10 years. 

The combined  $2.5 billion in the IIJA and $2 billion in the Build Back Better Act would result in 55,530 direct, 18,270 indirect, and 42,210 induced jobs-years, a total of 117,000 job-years. Again, these totals assume federal investments cover 20% of the project costs, with local spending making up the rest.