PG&E

Depending on where you live, you may/may not have followed the massive Northern California wild fires last year. Paradise (the town) was destroyed completely. Other communities and scattered homes were also affected, either directly by the fires, by blowing debris, by the efforts to control the fires, etc, etc. At minimum 86 people died. It might well be more as this has long been an “off-the-grid” area where weed has traditionally been one of the largest cash crops. At best guess, one of PG&Es transformers blew, starting the fire which spread extremely rapidly due to high winds and drought conditions.

There has been a lot of finger pointing for the last year. A lot of he said/she said. A lot of “no one is personally responsible.” What I do know is that PG&E, like some of the other massive industries (see Boeing) underwent a culture shift in the last 10-20 years to an emphasis on making money and paying dividends to stockholders

Honestly? Maintenance and upgrades of an aging electrical system aren’t cheap. Money spent on maintenance isn’t available to pay high salaries to certain executives and stockholders. At the same time, no one seems to want to pay the real costs of the energy they use. So – no win all around and more finger pointing.

None of this is helped by the fact that this fall, we once again have extremely dry conditions, high winds, higher than normal conditions, coupled with areas of brush not cleared and trees interfering with power lines. Yes, PG&E is making progress on clearing trees and branches away from power lines and transformers, but it isn’t realistic to expect that years of neglect are going to be remedied in a few short months.

Parts of the area have already gone through one power outage. To say that the communications were terrible is an understatement. As it turned out, most of the areas that “might have to be turned off” were not. And, of course, there are all those whose very lives are dependent on electricity who suddenly realized they were going to have a problem. Now, I can understand the issue if you are living in one of the accessible buildings – it is part of the cities responsibility to make sure that your respirator will have power. That you have a location where you can recharge your electric wheelchair. But for everyone else. Hello? What part of living on a portion of the Hayward Fault don’t you get? An earthquake could easily knock out your power. What were you planning on doing?

The city of Berkeley has been desperately trying to identify those at highest risk and assist in plans. For a city of independent people, leftover hippies and the like, there seems to be a huge element of “you need to take care of me.”

With PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) literally supplying millions of customers, I would have expected some confusion. After all, I guess it is too much for some people to understand that if some portions have to be taken off the grid – everyone downstream is going to be without power. Because of the cost (see above) most areas are supplied by a single source. You turn off that grid area because it is in a high fire risk zone and ……. you get the idea

Which leads us to today. It is unseasonably hot. It is windy. The hills in which I live are fairly high fire risk. Not only is it dry, but over the decades, people have planted eucalyptus, a lot of eucalyptus trees. Originally, our power was scheduled to go off at 1700. Now potentially it is 2000. We have made plans: Richmond is not affected which means that I can drop off everything that needs to stay cool or frozen with Shana. I have a couple of coolers. Because of George’s med supplies, we have lots and lots of cold packs, all of which are frozen.  We will leave only if there is an actual fire. Everything is charged, and frankly – I can get internet on my phone if I am desperate.

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About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!
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21 Responses to PG&E

  1. AlisonH says:

    The kicker though is that PG&E requested a rate increase to do some specific large maintenance tasks, CALPUC approved it, and suddenly the executives were getting bonuses for several years that equaled the amount coming in from that increase. Then they came back to CALPUC with that exact same list and said they needed a rate increase (again, hoping nobody would notice who might publicize it) to do that deferred maintenance.

    They would have gotten away with it, too, except that San Bruno Mountain blew up just then, killing one of the more responsible CALPUC regulators among the three dozen or so there.

    That’s when we finally started to learn how badly they were mismanaging things. The heads of both entities were replaced.

    PG&E was ordered to inspect every line. They fought it, they delayed it, and then with the deadline coming up they hired lots of contractors to get it done.

    And got caught using people who had no qualifications for doing the work. So they had to pay to do the whole thing over, and we got the streets torn up and the snarled traffic again.

    The infamous Pipeline 132 runs a hundred feet or so from my house between two gas stations. They ran a metal pipeline down the side street for awhile there while they worked and I had this fear that someone would hit it.

    PG&E has earned their felony conviction. A lot of that maintenance has been paid for, they simply pocketed it.

    • Holly Doyne says:

      Added in that we need to pay the electricians, and engineers and line workers a good wage. When it comes to paying out of pocket – people can accept that their house has tippled in value, but not that they have to pay 10% more for their electricity.
      No executive needs to get paid what the leadership of PG&E has taken home for the last few years. But then, I know people who have a huge amount of responsibility (read military) who don’t get paid 10% of what those executives bring home.

      I do know some people who work for PG&E – who care – who try and also say that it is easier this year to affect change than it has in the past

  2. Cat says:

    We are heading into summer here. There have already been bad fires in other states. You will remember the hills behind us with people wanting to live in “natural bushland” – the people who don’t clear their gutters and the undergrowth. That we haven’t had a major fire with the loss of many lives – not just houses – is something that amazes me. Get one long goods train (90 plus bogies – railway trucks) stuck along the line coming down the hills and blocking boom gates – the only way out for some – and the subsequent damage would be catastrophic. I look at your part of the world and think it has similar issues – including the eucalyptus. Hope you don’t need to leave at any time.

    • Holly Doyne says:

      I remember the hills, and looking down on the city. Valerie, who lives over near Sydney, said that fire season has started there – and a couple of months early.

  3. Isobel says:

    Oy. Thinking of you.

  4. Mary says:

    ’ve seen the fires last year and now. It is a frightful situation and you discussed it so well.

    I hope all is OK for you and I will keep hoping that you all remain safe and impacted as little as possible.

  5. Joanna says:

    We’re away from our RV (home) in Coarsegold and just got notified that our power is going off tomorrow am. I’m so grateful that we live in our RV community. We have friends that are going into our rig, taking the stuff out of our freezer/frig and putting the freezer items in our freezer in our shed. This little chest freezer can be maintained with our generator being run a few hours per day.
    It’s believed that we may be out of power for 48 hours or so. With our lifestyle and the help of good friends, we can continue our journey. We plan on returning to Coarsegold Nov. 23. two weeks in Reno/Sparks and then on to New Orleans, a cruise and a 3 day exploration of the New Orleans area.
    Life is good.

    • Holly Doyne says:

      And it is amazing the number of people who don’t reach out to others – I don’t get it, but… we are spending the afternoon at our daughters. She is fixing dinner and we are charging everything. Just glad I hadn’t restocked the fridge or freeze since everything was pretty empty while George was in the hospital. Hope everything works out well at your end.

  6. Christine says:

    Wow, are you effected that directly ? I had no Idea the danger was thst close to your home I will cross my fingers that you will not be in harms way!

    All the very best for you and George !

  7. Jill says:

    That fire danger must be a worry for you. I know you are more than ready for what comes your way. Electricity outage or fire? Absolutely no contest. 
    Here in Australia we are battling fires too.
    https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/bushfires-continue-to-rage-in-nsw-and-queensland/news-story/92fab9b645eeaf9984d99faac1887b51

    • Holly says:

      and there are still those who deny that the climate is changing… personally, I think we are past the tipping point. Not to say we shouldn’t attempt to slow things down, but I don’t think this genie is going to be shoved back in the bottle.

  8. Clint says:

    Been following the fires and power. I still get updates from the fire department. They were supposed to take me off their list but government, what can I say. After years of fires and one time 5 days of no power I can truly say I don’t miss it.
    Did I ever mention that we once had to sue PG&E after they burned half our avocado grove?

    • Holly says:

      and there are times you can’t get on a list – but it is impossible to get off one….

      no, hadn’t heard about PG&E roasting your avocados..

  9. April says:

    I was going to ask you how much at risk were you.

    At least you have a plan, dont wait too long please or you will be stuck with melting icepacks in the car, while standing still in traffic.

    Would it be better to go early>

    • Holly says:

      actually, I am not willing to leave the house empty. With no power the alarm system doesn’t work. The dogs will bark, so that is as good as it gets. I don’t expect us, short of a neighbor being stupid or malignant, to have a direct risk of fire

      • April says:

        Ah, sort of we are not home come loot all you like ?
        dandy. I really hope it doesnt get close enough you have to leave. mentally much better and health wise for george much better .

  10. Kathi says:

    Stay safe

  11. Janet says:

    I completely understand. However I wonder how many of PG&E’s power shut offs were related to their bankruptcy case. I live in Danville at the foot of Mt Diablo – a vast open area. My power is not switched off – is it because affluent people would complain? I think the fire risk is comparable. My daughter, a Berkeley Police Officer is preparing to deploy to Sonoma County for the second time in 2 years…when does a public utility put people above profit????

    • Holly says:

      Well, that certainly is what PG&E along with CALPUB were doing for years (see Alison’s comment above). Hopefully Jen will be safe and back home soonest

  12. Lynne says:

    Keeping you in my prayers..

  13. Valerie says:

    Gosh – Holly I thought for a moment you had relocated to Australia. Such a scenario is mirrored – pretty much – here! Our fire season has started almost two months early this year. We could not even get access to the air support required as it was still in service elsewhere in the world. NSW has now bitten the bullet and invested in ownership of its own aircraft.

    As for the power and the desire to make as much profit as possible to keep shareholders happy, our power grid is in such a deplorable state I think the shareholders have all moved on in any case! I find it extraordinary that those very same people who complain about the service provided by any business (be it, energy, property, banking, whatever) acknowledge they have a stake in said company! We cannot continue to live this way. I have no answers. We do not personally hold shares. Our pension fund would have as part of a wider investment portfolio. We are doing sort of okay in the current financial climate (approaching zero% interest rates, great for mortgagees, not so great for anyone on a fixed income hoping for any little bit extra they can garner).

    We keep on keeping on. As a ‘man on the street’ we have no power to change anything. Voting governments in or out doesn’t seem to have any impact either. Is democracy as we knew it, changed forever? I hope not. We just need to find a government with more ‘balls’ to do the right thing and consider the people they represent and not themselves.

    Hope springs eternal.

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