I agree that the power grids are vulnerable and that the risks are high, but it still leaves me with the question of what I can do to reduce the effect on me and mine personally.

At the level I exist at it does not matter much if the cause is a solar flare or a winter ice storm.
I would still end up with no power. The additional problems like loss of GPS, telephone or radio communication and damaged computers are just icing on the cake.

That seems to put me back to preparing for it like almost any other power outage. (back up generator, heating, water, light, stored food, etc?)

I don't think it is quite fair to blame the govt for inaction in this case either.
There is the basic problem of business mathematics involved here too.
Power companies try to keep their costs down and most of the costs of power losses are not born by power companies. The large costs listed in the report are almost all losses of income to power users caused by loss of power, instead of out of pocket expenses. In other words, losses generalized to the economy.

The costs of upgrading the grid are out of pocket expenses to the power companies though, which they would have to pass directly to their customers.
This means they all have a real hard time justifying the expense to their accountants.

Anyhow, I have very little influence over the business decisions of large or small corporations.

So again I am left doing what I can to prepare at my level, and that means pretty basic and simple emergency preparations.