4 ms·

I sure hope the liability laws are not such that PG&E gets wiped out. I don’t think it makes much sense to assign most of the causal weight to a spark when it w

I sure hope the liability laws are not such that PG&E gets wiped out. I don’t think it makes much sense to assign most of the causal weight to a spark when it would do nothing without all that tinder. There would have been another spark, eventually. If you don’t want to sometimes worry about forest fires, don’t build your house in the woods. It isn’t that complicated.

21 8y ago
If you throw a match with intention and it causes a fire, you will go to prison. If they neglected fire warnings, there should be some responsability.
- gxigzigxigxi 8y ago
  Sure. If there was gross negligence, some liability would be reasonable. Probably not 100% of damages, but some. That’s not what we are talking about though. I think under current law they could be liable even if they took all due care.
  - olliej 8y ago
    PG&E bills literally include a line item for maintenance, beyond the basic costs. PG&E has repeatedly issued bonuses and comp packages funded by cash they received from that line item while not performing maintenance of their network. This is exactly what happened last year (line that they weren't maintaining caused that fire), and when they blew up san bruno (when a gas line that had even been stated to need maintenance exploded and killed people). If you can make a profit while doing all the required work, then fair play to you, but if you're turning a "profit" without performing all the maintenance your network requires, and then getting tax payer support whenever that goes wrong you are not running at a profit. You're a tax payer subsidized siphon, taking money from tax payers to fund bonuses and investors. If you can't run a profit without tax payer backup, you aren't profitable.
irascible 8y ago
PGE has been fucking consumers forever. The fact that it's a publicly traded company is disgusting. It should be siezed by the state and provide service at break even.they have a history of public boondoggles going back to the hetch hetchy free water for copper deal..
mbloom1915 8y ago
Equipment decades old coupled with IT systems equally antiquated- this is a core problem for all utilities not just PG&E (I would know, I work for one). Unfortunately, I think we can expect more utility faults as well as severe weather that will continue to cause damage to people and homes. Utilities do not invest in IT unless they are incentivized to do so through rate recovery. This has plagued them to fall drastically behind in IT capability and hiring talent, as well as outsourced a majority of their operations (ie. Siemens, ABB, IBM, etc not only provide the solution but are hired to run the project management and strategy). It sucks companies so vital to reliable electricity see IT investment as a balance sheet stop sign but it will not change unless regulators force their hand...
twtw 8y ago
> If you don’t want to sometimes worry about forest fires, don’t build your house in the woods. It isn’t that complicated. Yeah, like Malibu. Very wooded.
cwkoss 8y ago
I need to start a wicker-furniture store with good insurance next to a power substation in CA.
- sjg007 8y ago
  Cheaper to short the utility company stocks probably.
aplummer 8y ago
> If you don’t want to sometimes worry about forest fires, don’t build your house in the woods. It isn’t that complicated. Bushfires in Australia have previously covered more than 10 million acres. Recently people in greek suburbs were literally driven into the sea. It is pretty complicated.
- gxigzigxigxi 8y ago
  Exceptions to the general rule that fires mostly affect those who live in the woods. Does not affect my assertion that living away from the woods dramatically decreases your risk/worry of being involved in or affected by forest fires.
kaizendad 8y ago
The SoCal fires this year are not in the woods, so it happens both in the woods (NorCal) and not in the woods (SoCal), and people die and communities are razed both in the woods and not in the woods.

21 8y ago

If you throw a match with intention and it causes a fire, you will go to prison. If they neglected fire warnings, there should be some responsability.

gxigzigxigxi 8y ago
Sure. If there was gross negligence, some liability would be reasonable. Probably not 100% of damages, but some. That’s not what we are talking about though. I think under current law they could be liable even if they took all due care.
- olliej 8y ago
  PG&E bills literally include a line item for maintenance, beyond the basic costs. PG&E has repeatedly issued bonuses and comp packages funded by cash they received from that line item while not performing maintenance of their network. This is exactly what happened last year (line that they weren't maintaining caused that fire), and when they blew up san bruno (when a gas line that had even been stated to need maintenance exploded and killed people). If you can make a profit while doing all the required work, then fair play to you, but if you're turning a "profit" without performing all the maintenance your network requires, and then getting tax payer support whenever that goes wrong you are not running at a profit. You're a tax payer subsidized siphon, taking money from tax payers to fund bonuses and investors. If you can't run a profit without tax payer backup, you aren't profitable.

irascible 8y ago

PGE has been fucking consumers forever. The fact that it's a publicly traded company is disgusting. It should be siezed by the state and provide service at break even.they have a history of public boondoggles going back to the hetch hetchy free water for copper deal..

mbloom1915 8y ago

Equipment decades old coupled with IT systems equally antiquated- this is a core problem for all utilities not just PG&E (I would know, I work for one). Unfortunately, I think we can expect more utility faults as well as severe weather that will continue to cause damage to people and homes. Utilities do not invest in IT unless they are incentivized to do so through rate recovery. This has plagued them to fall drastically behind in IT capability and hiring talent, as well as outsourced a majority of their operations (ie. Siemens, ABB, IBM, etc not only provide the solution but are hired to run the project management and strategy). It sucks companies so vital to reliable electricity see IT investment as a balance sheet stop sign but it will not change unless regulators force their hand...

twtw 8y ago

> If you don’t want to sometimes worry about forest fires, don’t build your house in the woods. It isn’t that complicated. Yeah, like Malibu. Very wooded.

cwkoss 8y ago

I need to start a wicker-furniture store with good insurance next to a power substation in CA.

sjg007 8y ago
Cheaper to short the utility company stocks probably.

aplummer 8y ago

> If you don’t want to sometimes worry about forest fires, don’t build your house in the woods. It isn’t that complicated. Bushfires in Australia have previously covered more than 10 million acres. Recently people in greek suburbs were literally driven into the sea. It is pretty complicated.

gxigzigxigxi 8y ago
Exceptions to the general rule that fires mostly affect those who live in the woods. Does not affect my assertion that living away from the woods dramatically decreases your risk/worry of being involved in or affected by forest fires.

kaizendad 8y ago

The SoCal fires this year are not in the woods, so it happens both in the woods (NorCal) and not in the woods (SoCal), and people die and communities are razed both in the woods and not in the woods.