The winter of 1976-1977 was colder than this one. 1988-89 was as cold as this, with as many "ice days". Therefore, this is not a 1 in a 100 years storm but 1 in about 15 years - thus they should plan for it.
Part of the problem was meeting growing population demands with wind - and the turbines froze. The other problem was shutting down power to all industrial plants to heat homes - including the natural gas plants, shutting several of them down.
The winter of 1976-1977 was colder than this one. 1988-89 was as cold as this, with as many "ice days". Therefore, this is not a 1 in a 100 years storm but 1 in about 15 years - thus they should plan for it. I'm not sure if it's true, but I understand lots of people with Plasma TVs had them fried, due to power coming on and off...