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PG&E is the worst power company in the western hemisphere. First in 2000 they had massive power outages due to early deregulation which led to the impeachment

PG&E is the worst power company in the western hemisphere. First in 2000 they had massive power outages due to early deregulation which led to the impeachment of governor Gray Davis. In 2017 the company killed thousands of customers and billions in property because of fires they caused! Now in 2019 they are doing massive shutdowns and directly killing their customers on life support! We have the highest prices (.22c a kilowatt hour) despite having lots of of green power generators who get half that rate based on a crooked "wholesale" reimbursement scheme! California could do better with any 3rd world power company, PG&E is always horribly run ..

millstone 7y ago
I remember the rolling blackouts in 2000; this was Enron's doing, but enabled by deregulation. PG&E was the victim. What should PG&E do now? California is a leader on climate change and needs strong statewise utilities as partners.
sokoloff 7y ago
> In 2017 the company killed thousands of customers 47, not "thousands", assuming all the 2017 wildfire deaths were attributable to PG&E. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_California_wildfires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_California_wildfires
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  In addition to the forty-odd folks killed in 2017, PG&E started the the Camp Fire (2018) where 85 people died, one is still missing, and 17 were injured. Who knows how many will get sick from the chemicals leeching out of the plastic water infrastructure and into the water itself. In 2015, PG&E only killed two people (Butte Fire). PG&E also poisoned a few hundred in Hinkley (the town Erin Brockovich made famous). PG&E killed another 8 in San Bruno (and injured 58. Oh gosh, let's not forget the Sierra Fire of 1994. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PG-E-Guilty-In-1994-Sierra-Blaze-739-counts-of-2821364.php https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PG-E-Guilty-In-1994-Sier... Edit: Oh gosh, downvotes. Do you guys really need links to all the blood on PG&E's hands? https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10160680-181/the-camp-fire-clean-up-is https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10160680-181/the-camp-fir... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubbs_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubbs_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Fire_(2018) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Fire_(2018)
  - khuey 7y ago
    The Tubbs Fire was probably not caused by PG&E equipment.
    - inferiorhuman 7y ago
      The Tubbs Fire was probably not caused by PG&E equipment. You're right, and if you take a look at what I wrote I did not mention the Tubbs Fire. Plenty of folks have died at the hands of PG&E, and I mistakenly added a link to it however.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
reaperducer 7y ago
PG&E is a terrible company, but spewing a bunch of nonsense hyperbole isn't helpful. Someone else pointed out that your statements about deaths are false. So I'll point out that California's electricity isn't 22¢/kWh. The California average is 16.06¢. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/ https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/ States that have it worse: Hawaii: 26.05¢ Alaska: 19.10¢ Connecticut: 17.55¢ Massachusetts: 17.12¢ Rhode Island: 16.42¢ New Hampshire: 16.17¢
- pravda 7y ago
  It's about 25¢/kwh in NYC! yay con edison! most expensive electricity that doesn't have to be shipped in by boat.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  The California average is 16.06¢. PG&E doesn't serve all of California. While we're being pedantic, PG&E's (non-low-income) rates are generally closer to $0.20-$0.30 per kWh. Their rates are a bit too complex to easily summarize but during peak hours you are pretty much guaranteed to be paying more than $0.20/kWh (and in many cases above $0.25/kWh). Off-peak rates are all above $0.12/kWh, generally more than $0.16/kWh. https://www.pge.com/tariffs/electric.shtml https://www.pge.com/tariffs/electric.shtml
- jjav 7y ago
  > California average is 16.06¢ Not sure how they come up with such a number, but California is large and has many electricity providers. But for PG&E in the Bay Area, let me quote from my PG&E electric bill here in hand: Daytime: $0.53476 (delivery) + $0.25069 (generation) = $0.785/kWh Part-peak: $0.28917 (delivery) + $0.10643 (generation) = $0.396/kWh Night: $0.13578 (delivery) + $0.03968 (generation) = $0.175/kWh The cheapest rate is 17.5 cents per kWh, that is late at night (currently after 11pm, soon to be changed to be after midnight). Daytime rate is 78.5 cents per kWh! This is PG&E in the Bay Area.
  - mrep 7y ago
    Oof, that's awful. I just got a bill recently here in seattle and got a $10.67 base charge and an additional $0.0902 charge per KWH for a total price of $48.50 dollars for 415 KWHs used in a 68 day period.
freddie_mercury 7y ago
Who are the 2nd and 3rd worst power companies in the western hemisphere? Whenever someone says something is "the worst" or "the best" I wonder how much due diligence they've actually performed to compare it to the alternatives. If you're going to claim something is the worst, surely you should know several others and be able to say why PG&E is worse than them. I mean, just off the top of my head, I'd put Venezuela's power company as worse than PG&E. More people have died from their power problems than from PG&E's. Just in March of 2019, the entire country was without power for 10 days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Venezuelan_blackouts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Venezuelan_blackouts
- Chai-T-Rex 7y ago
  I'm not sure that's down to Venezuela's power companies. That's right about when the US was trying to coup their government, right? Stuxnet's origin story can tell us a bit about what kinds of sabotage they pull.
heartbreak 7y ago
ERCOT prices in August were $9/kWH for several hours of the month, and the average rate for my load zone was well over $1/kWH. Are you sure $0.22/kWH is the “highest prices”? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-13/texas-power-prices-briefly-surpass-9-000-amid-searing-heat https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-13/texas-pow...
cft 7y ago
Not the worst. I was recently in Juticalpa, Honduras, and we did not have light for three days more or less. It's a capital of a state. Same thing in Rio Dulce, Guatemala: I was looking for candles since many shops ran out of batteries.
redtexture 7y ago
Gray Davis lost a recall election, was not impeached. Schwarzenegger won in the replacement election, in a three way race with 48% of the vote. 2003 California gubernatorial recall election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gubernatorial_recall_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gubernatorial_recal...
masonic 7y ago
Davis was recalled by voters, not impeached.

millstone 7y ago

I remember the rolling blackouts in 2000; this was Enron's doing, but enabled by deregulation. PG&E was the victim. What should PG&E do now? California is a leader on climate change and needs strong statewise utilities as partners.

sokoloff 7y ago

> In 2017 the company killed thousands of customers 47, not "thousands", assuming all the 2017 wildfire deaths were attributable to PG&E. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_California_wildfires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_California_wildfires

inferiorhuman 7y ago
In addition to the forty-odd folks killed in 2017, PG&E started the the Camp Fire (2018) where 85 people died, one is still missing, and 17 were injured. Who knows how many will get sick from the chemicals leeching out of the plastic water infrastructure and into the water itself. In 2015, PG&E only killed two people (Butte Fire). PG&E also poisoned a few hundred in Hinkley (the town Erin Brockovich made famous). PG&E killed another 8 in San Bruno (and injured 58. Oh gosh, let's not forget the Sierra Fire of 1994. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PG-E-Guilty-In-1994-Sierra-Blaze-739-counts-of-2821364.php https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PG-E-Guilty-In-1994-Sier... Edit: Oh gosh, downvotes. Do you guys really need links to all the blood on PG&E's hands? https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10160680-181/the-camp-fire-clean-up-is https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10160680-181/the-camp-fir... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubbs_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubbs_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Fire_(2018) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Fire_(2018)
- khuey 7y ago
  The Tubbs Fire was probably not caused by PG&E equipment.
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    The Tubbs Fire was probably not caused by PG&E equipment. You're right, and if you take a look at what I wrote I did not mention the Tubbs Fire. Plenty of folks have died at the hands of PG&E, and I mistakenly added a link to it however.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

reaperducer 7y ago

PG&E is a terrible company, but spewing a bunch of nonsense hyperbole isn't helpful. Someone else pointed out that your statements about deaths are false. So I'll point out that California's electricity isn't 22¢/kWh. The California average is 16.06¢. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/ https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/ States that have it worse: Hawaii: 26.05¢ Alaska: 19.10¢ Connecticut: 17.55¢ Massachusetts: 17.12¢ Rhode Island: 16.42¢ New Hampshire: 16.17¢

pravda 7y ago
It's about 25¢/kwh in NYC! yay con edison! most expensive electricity that doesn't have to be shipped in by boat.
inferiorhuman 7y ago
The California average is 16.06¢. PG&E doesn't serve all of California. While we're being pedantic, PG&E's (non-low-income) rates are generally closer to $0.20-$0.30 per kWh. Their rates are a bit too complex to easily summarize but during peak hours you are pretty much guaranteed to be paying more than $0.20/kWh (and in many cases above $0.25/kWh). Off-peak rates are all above $0.12/kWh, generally more than $0.16/kWh. https://www.pge.com/tariffs/electric.shtml https://www.pge.com/tariffs/electric.shtml
jjav 7y ago
> California average is 16.06¢ Not sure how they come up with such a number, but California is large and has many electricity providers. But for PG&E in the Bay Area, let me quote from my PG&E electric bill here in hand: Daytime: $0.53476 (delivery) + $0.25069 (generation) = $0.785/kWh Part-peak: $0.28917 (delivery) + $0.10643 (generation) = $0.396/kWh Night: $0.13578 (delivery) + $0.03968 (generation) = $0.175/kWh The cheapest rate is 17.5 cents per kWh, that is late at night (currently after 11pm, soon to be changed to be after midnight). Daytime rate is 78.5 cents per kWh! This is PG&E in the Bay Area.
- mrep 7y ago
  Oof, that's awful. I just got a bill recently here in seattle and got a $10.67 base charge and an additional $0.0902 charge per KWH for a total price of $48.50 dollars for 415 KWHs used in a 68 day period.

freddie_mercury 7y ago

Who are the 2nd and 3rd worst power companies in the western hemisphere? Whenever someone says something is "the worst" or "the best" I wonder how much due diligence they've actually performed to compare it to the alternatives. If you're going to claim something is the worst, surely you should know several others and be able to say why PG&E is worse than them. I mean, just off the top of my head, I'd put Venezuela's power company as worse than PG&E. More people have died from their power problems than from PG&E's. Just in March of 2019, the entire country was without power for 10 days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Venezuelan_blackouts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Venezuelan_blackouts

Chai-T-Rex 7y ago
I'm not sure that's down to Venezuela's power companies. That's right about when the US was trying to coup their government, right? Stuxnet's origin story can tell us a bit about what kinds of sabotage they pull.

heartbreak 7y ago

ERCOT prices in August were $9/kWH for several hours of the month, and the average rate for my load zone was well over $1/kWH. Are you sure $0.22/kWH is the “highest prices”? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-13/texas-power-prices-briefly-surpass-9-000-amid-searing-heat https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-13/texas-pow...

cft 7y ago

Not the worst. I was recently in Juticalpa, Honduras, and we did not have light for three days more or less. It's a capital of a state. Same thing in Rio Dulce, Guatemala: I was looking for candles since many shops ran out of batteries.

redtexture 7y ago

Gray Davis lost a recall election, was not impeached. Schwarzenegger won in the replacement election, in a three way race with 48% of the vote. 2003 California gubernatorial recall election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gubernatorial_recall_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gubernatorial_recal...

masonic 7y ago

Davis was recalled by voters, not impeached.