This is the first time in 64 hours that I have had electricity and water. PG&E said that they were shutting down because of wind and high temps, fire danger you know. I don't think you could fly a kite with this breeze and you need a sweater till 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This is so crazy. Six hundred thousand residence with houses and businesses that can't run without juice. I can't help but feel that PG&E is using this to cover their a$$ for the mistakes that they have made in the past. The politics in this is rotten to the bone. Profits for stock holders replace upgrades and modernization. Now they want to shut down anytime the breeze comes up and it's hotter than eighty degrees. If there was a reasonable way to go off grid I would be there.

Some how I don't feel better for the rant, a new episode is just around the corner. ....Tedd

 

Yep, just like Big Oil and Big Pharma - Greedy Bastards!!

 

I was fortunate in San Jose that we didn't lose power. The outage was as close as 2 miles from me though, and I feel for those people. That was a s$&t show made solely by PG&E that should have never happened. Improper maintenance schedules and trimming of foliage made all of this happen. The fire that happened last year made them freak out in such a way that people lot a large amount of money in spoiled food, lost wages and lost productivity. These types of things should not happen in our society, yet here we are.
On top of all of that, we pay the highest utility rates in the nation. For what?

 

SCE (Southern California Edison) had a list of areas they might shutdown. The list was extensive, but not huge. It was mostly canyons and the areas below the canyons. They actually turned off power in about 5% of the areas they had listed as possible to shutdown. Our house was in one of those areas, but they never shut it down. And the winds were easily 30 - 50 mph starting around noon Thursday, ending about 6PM Friday, next to 0% humidity during that time period.

 

This is what happens when things go Corporate. All the small guys got bought up or put under and no one pays attention to the consumer anymore.

 

It's what happens when you have a monopoly crooked politicians combined with money.

I left for my place at Eagle Lake, had juice there. It's high desert and we get 30 -40 mph winds daily after 3 o'clock in the summer. If they followed the same practices there wouldn't be electricity three months out of the year.

The last text I received (yesterday) reminded me to get ready for another outage as the forecast is for wind and low humidity. Something has to change...... Tedd

 

A lot of people need a 'Texas Lead Enema' these days.

 

Looks like the Saddle Ridge Fire in So Cal was down high voltage power lines. LA DWP lines this time.

 

I’m gonna play devils advocate here, but didn’t California fine PG&E $1 billon for the 2018 wildfires? I’m guessing the lost revenue from a few days of power outages is less than $1 billion.

 

They've been fined for gross negligence. A properly designed and maintained power grid doesn't need to be turned off because the wind blows.

 

Cant u guys get small personal generators to power part of your house when this happens? Ive had a 6000watt gasoline unit since 1999. Ive had to use it twice(once for 4 0r 5 days when the North East grid crashed). Once when we had a bad storm and lost power for about 14 hrs. We also use when using power tools where extension cords wont reach.

 

Water is the main issue I have a 6000 kw generator but I pump water from 660 feet. 6000 kw is rough on a pump if you get many restarts and it will only run the pump. Plus it's a hassle to shut down the main line and run a monster drop line through the house. I've been here 30 years and have probably only had to used the generator 5 or 6 times in all that time, sometimes it was because 4 or 5 feet of snow that caused it.... Tedd

 

We’re in NoCal just north of SF. PG&E cut power in nearby canyons, rural, and tree rich areas to make up for their lack of maintenance. We didn’t lose power so it’s easy to say we’d rather see shut off than conflagration. But no one died in our house due to lack of power. No vegetables or food spoiled, either so we’re “lucky”.

We have a generator to power parts of the house in emergencies, originally purchased for _winter_ rain storms with the heavy winds we get from November to April. Before the latest wind/heat shut offs, we’d lose power on average about 4-6 days per year due to downed power lines or other failures. It may be time for a bigger generator. I have little confidence that PG&E will get better.

For reference, it’s a 4 cylinder Ford, badged as Coleman, which was expensive. But 15 years on, with consistent power when we needed it for babies and eventually us as old people, it seems like a good investment. Only more so now.

I just wish PG&E hadn’t forgotten how to run a power company. Summer shut offs were unheard of growing up here. They knew what to do. Like Olds knew how to build cars that worked and sold.

In our neighborhood they’ve started marking hazardous trees with much more vigor in the last 6 months. From what I can see, they’re getting more serious about cutting trees on private property. I can only hope they’re paying as much attention to high amperage lines in the hinterlands which seem to be a real threat.

As it happens, our house insurance is up for renewal and has gone up 30% in 3 years due to fire costs. CA regulates premium hikes, my insurer has taken max for 3 years in a row. So there are lots of knock on effects. Like this week when power supply electricians were triaging who’s power they’d fix — fires/police first, then commercial, then homes.

Weird new world.
Chris