California burning-again

[Davist]

Originally Posted by 54ny77

CA a third world power grid. Who knew?

Or maybe "USA a litigious society. We all knew"

The price of putting distribution lines underground is astronomical and they have a huge territory served, they're already on the hook for what? $30B or something? Overhead distribution, wind, tree limbs falling, etc can all lead to an outage and a potential arc which in an area that doesn't get rain from St Patrick's day to Thanksgiving is a tinderbox. I lived and worked in NorCal in the electrical industry during the 90s.

I don't see another choice for them. I'm amazed the Enron stuff didn't sink them (electricity wholesale price +800% or so IIRC and spot buys way above that)

[CunegoFan]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

California Says PG&E Power Lines Caused Camp Fire That Killed 85 (New York Times)

California is hardly going to conclude it was at fault for not setting rates high enough to fund adequate maintenance.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by CunegoFan

California is hardly going to conclude it was at fault for not setting rates high enough to fund adequate maintenance.

PG&E is / was / probably will be a poorly run company. During their last bankruptcy the CFO after spending an hour ordering lunch for the bankers told them “I didn’t sign up for this” . One bankers replied, “for $600K per year, the sure the F&$% you did.”

In Grad School the overarching environmental policy be pushed was “let things be” . It was good for the environmental groups and companies like PGE since it
meant they had to do / spend nothing to protect natural and Human Resources . This policy philosophy has failed.