If a company is warned by the electricity supplier that a power cut is coming, it takes time to power down information systems. Bringing them back online does not tend to go smoothly. Losing electricity supply for hours could cost companies hundreds of millions of dollars, she believes. They should be aware that companies headquartered in California or with sizeable operations there may find that their business is damaged seriously this summer by power cuts. For financial institutions the threats posed seem particularly grave.
Trading is an urgent activity.
The loss of data feeds and computers would leave traders stranded. For them there is the frightening threat of a day of high market volatility combining with an inability to act. In addition to suffering loss of trading business, financial institutions could lose huge sums through a failure to buy or sell its proprietary positions when markets are moving. Yet, according to Banning-Wright, most firms are unprepared. But California's unfortunate political choices have brought the state to this, a plight familiar to those in the Third World.