A Government Accountability Office report says that climate change could have far-reaching effects on the electricity grid. 

The report says that drought and changing rainfall patterns can lead to water shortages, which can affect power generation and transmission. Another impact of climate change is increased intensity of wildfire, which can affect power lines.

The impacts could cost billions.

“The issues that the GAO report describes, are not necessarily in the future," said Stacy Tellinghuisen of Western Resource Advocates. "I mean they are issues that we have been wrestling with for years, at least in the interior West.”

The GAO tagged the Southwest, where water shortages are already taking place, as one area of concern. It called for better federal planning and resilience of the power grid.