The importance of reliable power was highlighted after research showed the impact of power outages on home prices.
What's happening?
According to Texas Tech Now, researchers at Texas Tech University investigated how power interruptions affect regional economic growth and housing prices. Bradley Ewing and Zachary Keeler of the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business led the effort.
The researchers discovered that counties with shorter and fewer outages may have better employment growth, while reliable power helped boost local business. Additionally, they learned that normal operating interruptions negatively impact housing prices.
The experts said that increasing the average number of minutes customers experience during an outage by one standard deviation would cause more than $113 billion in lost home values.
Why is having battery storage important?
In February 2021, millions of Texans were left without power during a winter freeze. NBC News reported that the widespread failure of the state's power grid led to more than 200 deaths.
Adding battery storage is a great way to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. Per the Solar Energy Industries Association, battery storage allows homeowners to store energy when it's cheaper and use it when demand and prices spike.
If you're searching for home battery storage options, Pila offers less expensive alternatives to a full home backup. It works for both renters and homeowners.
With Pila, you only need one battery to protect your important appliances, which means you don't have to back up the entire house. For larger home backups, EnergySage is another great resource to explore.
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What's being done about power reliability?
An increasing number of homeowners have turned to solar as their energy source. More than half of residential solar panels in California were paired with battery storage in 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Meanwhile, the researchers behind the study told Texas Tech Now there is still work to be done when it comes to restoring power more quickly and preventing outages. However, Keeler said their findings can likely benefit residents.
"If we know how power reliability impacts housing prices, policymakers can consider that when making the decisions they need to make," Keeler noted. "Homebuyers can then factor in things like power reliability when figuring out how much they want to pay for a house or where they want to locate."
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