Same story again different colors. PG&E making a mint while people get screwed 

I'm not quite sure that's an accurate statement. 

In 2000-2001, PG&E got screwed by Enron's market manipulation. ( Good job those who pushed so hard for deregulation of public utility services! ) 

PG&E is currently in bankruptcy proceedings, largely as a result of liabilities from wildfires in 2017 and 2018. Under California's application of inverse condemnation, a power utility is responsible for any damage caused by a wildfire if it was determined that their equipment was part of the cause. This applies even if the utility was in 100% compliance with all laws and regulations. 

So you have a terrible combination where housing prices in the state are driving more and more people to build in wildfire prone areas, climate change is increasing the frequency of weather conditions favorable to wildfire ignition, and the utility company that is being held financially liable for damages while at the same time not being allowed by the PUC to raise capital for infrastructure changes to reduce the chances of electrical equipment starting such things. 

The answer is easy. Money. If people want a power grid that is safe and reliable, then the utility should be given the funds to do it via rates and appropriate tax revenues. They should not be expected to turn profits like private enterprise. The power grid is for the benefit of all, not just the financial benefit of those who have equity stakes.

This situation is the logical extension of 40+ years of America's only real product ; financial engineering.


On Wed, Dec 25, 2019 at 9:18 PM Michael Loftis <mloftis@wgops.com> wrote:


On Wed, Dec 25, 2019 at 19:00 Constantine A. Murenin <mureninc@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, 25 Dec 2019 at 19:32, Michael Thomas <mike@mtcc.com> wrote:
On the dark side, this is probably coming to a lot more states and
countries due to climate change. Australia. Sigh.

Do you have a source for this?  It would seem that these power issues are rather unique to California not because of some "climate change" bogeyman, but rather because of a failed public policy at the state level.

It would also seem that these issues of rolling blackouts aren't even new to California, either, as, apparently, it's already been the norm during 2000/2001:


Having lived through the blackouts that was entirely different. 90% Enron manipulating the markets. There was plenty of capacity both in transmission and generation, but Enron manipulated prices and apparent supply to make money and screwed the whole state over. There was just about 2x the generating capacity, no real shortage. 

This time it’s PG&E all alone, but still fallout from back then. Too much liability and they’ve not maintained the infrastructure and so they decided that to reduce the liability costs it’s cheaper to blackout. Same story again different colors. PG&E making a mint while people get screwed (PG&E was mostly at the getting screwed end in 2000-2001)

C.
--

"Genius might be described as a supreme capacity for getting its possessors
into trouble of all kinds."
-- Samuel Butler