It's wild to me how little people understand how many systems they rely on just to survive. It's only hard to for you to believe the impact because things have been running smoothly so you haven't had not notice the energy infrastructure you're depending on.

The entire electrical grid of the US is destroyed you no longer have the means to provide clean drinking water and food to the nation. You would have immediate and widespread economic collapse. Even the military would be crippled in there ability to help since, per the article, 99% of their power comes from the consumer grid.

You can lose power for a few days and be fine because you are still supported by a massive electrical infrastructure. But a destroyed grid would be catastrophic.