NEW YORK, NY August 12, 2004 — It was one year ago tomorrow when the largest power failure ever hit the north-east. Some 50 million people lost electricity on a hot summer afternoon. It's estimated that it cost New York City's economy one billion dollars and leaves the question where were you when the lights went out? WNYC's Richard Hake reports.

I was right here. Hosting All Things Considered.

Hake in 2003: Let's update our listeners now. If you're just joining us, you're listening to WNYC. We are working on a breaking, developing story. At 4:11 this afternoon power went out at least here in our lower Manhattan studios This affecting the five boros now

The word then came that power was out upstate in New Jersey Boston and all the way up to Canada. Was it terrorism? No. Quickly we reported it was a problem with the massive grid. That's the system by which bulk electricity is transported over great distances via transmission cables. And when WNYC's battery power ran out and we were forced to work with flashlights and scraps of notepaper we could only imagine what was going on in the rest of the city.

Flauranges: Hi, This is Paul Flauranges from NYC Trasit. How are you Richard?

Hake:I'm fine Paul it's a little warm and dark here We're broadcasting via telephone, but what can you tell us about the subways? Are people still trapped?

Flauranges:I imagine that there are still people trapped. We've done a pretty good job up till now in evacuating the entire system

The power failure hit at the beginning of rush hour .stranding hundreds of thousands of commuters who then took to the streets and bridges by foot. Boro President Marty Markowitz used a megaphone at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge to get his message out.

Markowitz: Welcome home Brooklyn everything's going to be allright

But other people had farther to go and some couldn't get home.

New Yorker: Some delivery guy in like a bread truck drove what was it 10-15 of us up to 115 from 42nd street. So we all rode up in the back of this bread truck hanging on and we got out at 115th. These folks live in the Bronx and I was offering them to stay in my apartment because I have four beds in my apartment.

As the sun slipped past the horizon making the darkened, humid city even darker people gathered on the street corners and at their local bars.

The amazing thing though that even without the power people still have time to be cool here even though the temperature is hot. It's very stylish.

And with no major incidents to report even city officials praised that blase New york attitude.

Bloomberg: There's nobody that's a bigger fan of New Yorker's than I am. You are seeing the very best of the best. When the going gets tough New Yorkers pull together. They are a very proud people they are people who understand we live in a complex world together.

The next morning with the store shelves bare and few buildings with operating elevators and running water residents did cooperate.

Resident: We are taking it in stride and checking in on our neighbors making sure they are ok. Luckily we have a gas stove so we were able to cook breakfast this morning of course we are trying to use up as much food as possible. We're just taking it one day at a time.

And remarkably there wasn't any serious injury. A doctor in the emergency room at saint vincent's hospital describes what he saw.

Doctor: A lot of people with anxiety, that kind of stuff dehydration. Sprains from falling over .people tripping in the dark. A few wrist fractures that maybe wouldn't have happened but nobody getting hit by cars or anything like that.

Even without power...you could still buy stuff. There's always someone willing to sell you something...especially if it runs on batteries. The hot item on Canal Street ..

Guy: You have a tv, a tv, a flashlight, a double fluorescent light and an am and fm radio all for forty dollars.

But lots of people lost money. The city controller's office says it cost a billion dollars in spoiled food, lost retail, tourism income, lost wages and in many other areas. Can a power failure of this magnitude happen again? Yes even a year later says New York's Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer.

Unfortunately, as the blackout revealed since de-regulation, the spirit of competition between the electric companies has outweighed the spirit of providing quality electricity to the public.

There's a stalemate in Congress over the President's energy bill. It's delaying steps to create mandatory standards among electric companies. William Museler runs the state's grid. He's the President and CEO of the New York State Independent System Operator which also monitors wholesale power to the individual electric companies.

We can be confident in the system as it stands today if everyone follows the rules. The grid a year ago was not in bad shape nor was it undersized for the load it was meeting. The problem is the design of the grid assumes that each operating area is following the rules. One of the primary rules is that if you have problems you contain them to your area.

And that didn't happen last year. Tree limbs were to blame for downing wires in Ohio. That caused power swings that cascaded throughout the grid system in the northeast. New York's rules are mandatory but they're not in other areas which could affect the city again. In times when technology and new building make the demand on electricity even greater, Museler says these rules are even more important. And it strengthens the argument to always turn off the lights when you leave a room.

Museler: I don't think in New York that the conservation effort is lost. We are one of the most efficient socities in the country when it comes to the use of electricity. Part of it is that we are so compact and we work very tight quarters and big buildings. And we are already very energy efficient in New York state, but that doesn't mean more can be done.

And if the lights do go out again. We can always go back to that guy on Canal Street.

Guy: It's a signing candle you see. Have you seen a singing candle. It's a light with music. It has a button and you can turn it on and off.

For WNYC, I M Richard Hake.