The Cost of America’s Aging Grid and One Economist Determined to Fix It

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There’s a kind of stress most families don’t talk about. It’s the flicker of lights during a summer storm, the spike on a utility bill that wasn’t in the budget, the worry when the news says rolling blackouts might be coming. For millions of households, that’s not just an inconvenience. It becomes a life disrupted. The Department of Energy reports that nearly 70 percent of America’s grid infrastructure is more than 25 years old, and outages have more than doubled in the last two decades. And as demand rises, so do costs.

Sandra Namukaya has spent her career trying to change that challenge that so many Americans experience. An Infrastructure and Sustainability Economist with more than a decade of experience at the World Bank, Oregon’s Public Utility Commission, and the Ministry of Finance in Uganda, she’s worked at the intersection of policy and investment long enough to know that science alone isn’t enough. “Moving electrocatalysts or any emerging technology from the lab to large-scale deployment is rarely a straight path,” she told me. “It is under such circumstances that having strong public private partnerships is critical.”

The U.S. is never short on scientific breakthroughs. Labs across the country are producing new ways to create and store energy every year. Electrocatalysts, for example, could transform how we produce clean fuels that balance the grid when renewables dip. But too often, those ideas stay stuck in pilot mode.

Namukaya sees the missing piece clearly. Without government-backed risk sharing, private investors hesitate to move. Building shared testing labs, funding demonstration projects, and creating regulatory certainty can flip the switch. When public and private players align, investors step in faster, timelines shrink, and technologies scale before they go obsolete. 

Americans are paying more than ever for electricity. In just two years, residential prices climbed almost 15 percent. For families already stretched, that’s no small thing. So how do you ask utilities to adopt expensive new tech without pushing those bills even higher?

Namukaya says you stop judging projects only on upfront costs. “Many of these technologies generate significant benefits over time through improved reliability and avoided costs,” she explained. Those avoided costs include fewer grid failures, less money wasted on fossil fuel volatility, lower maintenance, and they matter more than the sticker price on day one. “If the technology performs, it will be rewarded.” That’s the kind of signal she believes regulators need to send, one that encourages innovation but still protects ratepayers.

Reliability is the part you only notice when it fails. Texas learned that in 2021 when a winter storm knocked out power for millions. Namukaya believes electrocatalysts and other advanced technologies are part of the solution. By producing clean fuels that can be stored and dispatched during peak demand, they act as a buffer for renewables that come and go with the weather.

“On the reliability side, they enable the efficient production of clean fuels and chemicals, that can be stored and dispatched during peak demand periods or times of low renewable output,” she said. That means families can trust the lights will stay on even when the wind dies down or the sun sets.

Energy isn’t just a monthly bill. It’s tied to everything such as economic competitiveness, job creation, even national security. Clean energy that’s reliable and affordable can help the U.S. cut dependence on imported fuels, stabilize household budgets, and give businesses a cost edge globally. But without frameworks that let innovation scale, we risk being left behind.

Namukaya’s focus on policy and economics may not make headlines like a shiny new solar panel, but it’s just as critical. She’s helping build the market structures that determine whether these technologies ever reach the people who need them. America’s grid is fragile, families are paying more, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Namukaya’s work points to a path forward that includes partnerships that share risk and investments that prioritize both innovation and affordability. Because reliable energy isn’t just about keeping the lights on. It’s about keeping the country strong, competitive, and ready for the future.

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This content is brought to you by Melissa Moraes.

Photo provided by the author.

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