> But they did get a big warning shot in 1989 and 2011, and ignored those lessons for cost reasons.

Cost is always a valid reason!

> A couple hundred people died.

Looks like about a thousand people in the US die of hypothermia every year, on average. So this happens frequently in states that aren't in its own interconnection, too.

Which actually works out to rather more than one person per winter, when averaged out.