PG&E - Paralyzed from the neck up..

[bubbatime]

The lawyers are in charge now. Billion dollar lawsuits bring this kind of "service".

I expect that this will become standard practice. Normal and long outages, several times a year, that would make the grid in Tijuana look first rate.

Small business, especially computers, servers, and internet businesses, will be better suited to MOVE to a better location. Plan now, get it done. This "problem" is entirely political and won't be solved anytime soon.

 

[mbacfp]

Heard similar stuff about PG&E, LA DWP, etc. I have Southern California Edison and the new tactic is shutting off the power during red flag high wind scenarios. I know some folks whose power has been off for 40 hours. The Maria fire is believed to have been ignited when SCE turned the power back on. Easy fire near me was pretty bad and almost took out the Reagan Library.

Not sure what the answer is or who is to blame. Fires and winds have been like this since I moved here in 1988 as a child.

 

[Fawteen]

Originally Posted by mbacfp
Easy fire near me was pretty bad and almost took out the Reagan Library.


And yet it didn't take out the Reagan Library because (according to firefighters) the area around the library is regularly cleared of underbrush. It made what little fire that did get through very easy to put out. It's a shame that the folks in California refuse do that on a larger scale around their power lines.

 

[czbrian]

Originally Posted by KrisZ
PG&E will have even less money staring 2020 because all new developments are mandated to have solar installed. PG&E is forced to buy the electricity produced by solar and wind at very high prices, you know, to make the technology viable. That's where all the money is going.
If they stopped the "green" energy nonsense, there would be plenty of money to maintain and even upgrade the infrastructure.


PG&E being a regulated utility recovers their costs plus a profit through rate cases with the public utility commission. How does purchasing energy from solar or wind for retail sale reduce their funds available for transmission maintenance and upgrades? They are separate business units. We have significant amount of renewable generation here in Texas but don't have the problems that PG&E has.

 

[Lapham3]

We have friends living not that far from Paradise for 40 years. They own a beautiful home and rural acreage and have had a dedicated generator for years. The comments we get from them regarding how their town and neighbors are doing is sobering as much stress and danger. They also said that it seems, like hurricane areas, insurance is going away for many. They would like to sell and leave, but who could and would buy?

 

[ragtoplvr]

Before I commented on PGE I would need to know the salaries paid to the executives and the BOD. And what the dividend was, and how that compared to the industry as a whole. A public utility should not be a way to get rich.

Rod

 

[Cujet]

Those of us in South Florida are very used to extended power outages. Interestingly, the power has been far more reliable in recent years after a series of major upgrades to the grid and clearance of trees. The cost of power has not risen, so I gather that the work was really not that expensive with regard to overall billing.


I have 7 generators, for various uses. Including my very favorite (because it's a homemade monster and very efficient) :

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted by UncleDave
Originally Posted by fdcg27
Nothing wrong with PG&E's grid that couldn't be fixed with more money, meaning sharply higher rates for the ratepayers.
I think this utility has taken a bum rap for not having had enough money to maintain its easements.
Enough money would mean higher rates and we can't have that.
I also think that the years of unusually dry conditions accompanied by unusually strong winds have created a situation that the state government is going to have to deal with, perhaps over the years to come.
Blaming a utility company is both futile and foolish.


There wasn't a problem I couldn't deal with if I'd been COMMUNICATED with clearly.

They could have done that for free.


The fact that they paid their exec 11M in bonuses while their grid was deteriorating, and their other myriad of issues is secondary.


UD


Okay, I should have grasped that from your thread title.
Instead of surprising everyone with suspensions in delivery and fluctuating voltage, maybe there should have been a clearly understood and communicated plan as to what would happen under what conditions? It does seem as though the power companies acted ad hoc without SOPs in place, as though they don't have engineers to work out plans for foreseeable scenarios, as this one was.
Kudos to you for thinking on the fly in dealing with the situation.
Wonder how many throughout the state will be planning for future unpredictable power delivery and buying some sort of genset to at least provide enough power to run their refrigerators? Doesn't sound very environmentally friendly, but disposing of a refrigerator full of spoiled food isn't either.
I'll add that healthy bonuses paid out without regard to operating performance are endemic to American industry and may be elsewhere as well.

 

[UncleDave]

Heres what I mean -This is just one day in the span of weeks how this went -

Word came from PG&E that we weren't going to be effected that day...

So I told 200 people to come to work

Then (after everyone showed up) - were going to be effected- Sorry!

Then we heard wed be shut down at 1

So I told 200 people to go home at 11 and 5 guys started started shutting IT down so we could do it safely- we have over 1K computers so thats 200 a guy.

11 became 12, then 1

2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Then at 830 we got shut down. I could have had everyone stay the full day, but instead I had to eat yet another day of productivity over bad communication.

Then at 10PM the building mysteriously came back on - undoing the hours of work it took to shut it down - half the town was down half was up? Whats is going on?

The micro grid came on ??? What the ???? Where did this come from, and why did no one say anything about it? News about etc micro grid was non existent - only guess is that PGE didnt want most to know about it.

This kind of thing went on and on for two weeks.



The minute you tell people they aren't coming to work they only want to know one thing - am I going to be paid.

UD

 

[Blaze]

Here in wild fire prone eastern Washington State we have a program through the DNR that they pay the landowner to clear brush and build a defensible area around their homes.

 

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted by Cujet
Those of us in South Florida are very used to extended power outages. Interestingly, the power has been far more reliable in recent years after a series of major upgrades to the grid and clearance of trees. The cost of power has not risen, so I gather that the work was really not that expensive with regard to overall billing.


I have 7 generators, for various uses. Including my very favorite (because it's a homemade monster and very efficient) :

Love it - the "cujetoid"

Im down to 5 gensets- (2 honda 2K- 1 yamaha 3K, one Onan 8K, one Powertech 8K) feeling vulnerable.....

UD

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by Blaze
Here in wild fire prone eastern Washington State we have a program through the DNR that they pay the landowner to clear brush and build a defensible area around their homes.



What a novel idea.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted by UncleDave
Originally Posted by Cujet
Those of us in South Florida are very used to extended power outages. Interestingly, the power has been far more reliable in recent years after a series of major upgrades to the grid and clearance of trees. The cost of power has not risen, so I gather that the work was really not that expensive with regard to overall billing.


I have 7 generators, for various uses. Including my very favorite (because it's a homemade monster and very efficient) :

Love it - the "cujetoid"

Im down to 5 gensets- (2 honda 2K- 1 yamaha 3K, one Onan 8K, one Powertech 8K) feeling vulnerable.....

UD

I want a video of that custom thingy running.
Also, CUJET, does it have any turbos?

 

[Al]

Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
They need to force them into bankruptcy and sell them to the highest bidder!

They are already in bankruptcy.

I said this a while back on this board and folks said I was smoking dope. Even if there is a "commission"..for the most part the regulations became such that competitors were allowed in as generators (NUGS). And the problem is the utility that controlled the grid was responsible to maintain service. The result is that the "Home Utilities" could not compete. To save money they cut way back on tree trimming and cut their line department. Oh yea all this started in California and spread East. The rest is History.

Sad but true. And yes I worked for a Utility in PA...GPU/Met Ed..saw it up close and personal.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted by Al
Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
They need to force them into bankruptcy and sell them to the highest bidder!

They are already in bankruptcy.

I said this a while back on this board and folks said I was smoking dope. Even if there is a "commission"..for the most part the regulations became such that competitors were allowed in as generators (NUGS). And the problem is the utility that controlled the grid was responsible to maintain service. The result is that the "Home Utilities" could not compete. To save money they cut way back on tree trimming and cut their line department. Oh yea all this started in California and spread East. The rest is History.

Sad but true. And yes I worked for a Utility in PA...GPU/Met Ed..saw it up close and personal.



This sounds like an economic model that would also allow others to offer goods for sale in a retail store provided and maintained by me.
Whomever thought that this was a deregulatory initiative was probably not an economics or finance major. Probably something more like public administration.
Maybe it's time to go back to the regulated rate of return monopoly model.
If you want a solar array atop your house, great, but there's no reason for the local utility to buy the excess output since it saves them nothing.

 

[dogememe]

It sucked not having any power for several days and even worse they had no idea when it was going out or coming back.

I work at an auto parts store and I set up a generator and got our computers, servers, networking equipment, credit card terminals, and phone system online, so we could be open, but no lights so we had to close at 6 when it got dark. Had record sales (generators, gas cans, 10w-30, fuel stabilizer, inverters, batteries, flashlights, etc) so our company made good money but I feel for all the small businesses whose food went bad and/or couldn't be open.

I've been thinking about moving, I'm fact had plans to, although it fell through, I'm going to prioritize that now. I have a phone/video interview for a job in Springfield MO next week. With our insane cost of living I at least expect a hot shower, lights, and internet. And it seems CA can't even deliver that!! Time to Go!

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted by dogememe
I've been thinking about moving, I'm fact had plans to, although it fell through, I'm going to prioritize that now. I have a phone/video interview for a job in Springfield MO next week. With our insane cost of living I at least expect a hot shower, lights, and internet. And it seems CA can't even deliver that!! Time to Go!


Why the heck would anyone move from Northern CA to Missouri?

 

[paoester]

Springfield MO is good. Lots of fishing in the area. Good people.

 

[dishdude]

I'm sure the people are great and I can see wanting to leave wildfires. But for snow and tornadoes?

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted by dishdude
I'm sure the people are great and I can see wanting to leave wildfires. But for snow and tornadoes?

And good eating, good people, free-er highways, clean smelling forests, etc ect