Blackout Blues: New York Loses $1 Billion in the Dark

By Simon Eskow

The power outage that shut the lights off on 50 million North Americans in August will cost New York state more than $1 billion in lost tax and other revenue, discarded food and overtime for city workers, early assessments indicated.

City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. estimated the regional power outage was a black hole sucking $800 million in economic activity in addition to the loss of $250 million in food that restaurants, supermarkets and individuals had to throw away.

A week after the blackout, officials in Albany had yet to estimate state losses.

The only economic relief state businesses and individuals received was a week extension for filing state and federal tax returns and payments. Both the Internal Revenue Service and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance pushed filing deadlines to Aug. 22 as a result of the blackout.

While Gov. George Pataki declared a disaster emergency for New York state—making way for the tax extension—Washington did not do the same, to the irritation of city politicians looking for federal help. City officials asked the federal government to view the outage as it would a natural disaster, and Sen. Hillary Clinton sent a letter to the White House also asking for relief.