Whenever a huge storm hits, many homes and businesses in our counties go dark. Dominion Virginia Power crews get right on the job to restore power and, in sweltering or frigid conditions, do so politely and efficiently—although thousands of customers have to wait their turn. Sometimes the damage is tremendous, as occurred in the storms of the July 1 weekend. Then the power companies bear a huge expense in overtime and paying contractors to repair the lines as quickly as possible.

As the climate heats up, we fear that massive thunderstorms and hurricanes will become more common, with ever-increasing consequent damage to the power grid.

This time, with the storm that swept in from the Midwest (a derecho, a new word for the vocabulary) the damage was unanticipated, sudden and broad. No company can be prepared to cope with so many electrical outages efficiently. And this time, the damage struck the power center of the country, leaving D.C. and its suburbs in the dark for severa...