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That attitude is all very well until you remember that there are people with medical equipment out there and literally rely on power to live. I’m not saying th

• zaroth 7y ago
  Yes, I saw the story that someone who was on oxygen died during the outage. People with life essential medical equipment which runs on electrical power absolutely must ensure they have a backup power supply, be ready to activate it, and have a plan should an outage continue beyond their backup capacity. Power goes out, whether it’s a blackout, brownout, planned maintenance, or otherwise. Everyone should have plans for managing during an outage.
  • kaens 7y ago
    And people who are not capable of having a backup power supply?
    • deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    • zaroth 7y ago
      Medicaid should cover it.
      • ncmncm 7y ago
        Why not PGE? What control does Medicaid have over power distribution system maintenance?
        • zaroth 7y ago
          Because no utility can guarantee continuous service, nor should they economically be on the hook to provide batteries to everyone who needs 100% continuous service. Medicaid has no control over power distribution system maintenance but can absolutely foresee occasional unscheduled electrical outages occurring. Just like many essential buildings, like hospitals, provision their own electrical backup systems, so too must individuals who medically rely on power. Here’s a site talking about emergency preparedness for households with children which require medical monitoring including equipment which requires AC power; https://complexchild.org/articles/2011-articles/december/power-outage/ https://complexchild.org/articles/2011-articles/december/pow... Keeping someone alive is sometimes tough work. There is a high level of individual responsibility here for someone who is not in an assisted living facility.
          • ncmncm 7y ago
            You are being awfully free with your "shoulds". Being granted a monopoly in exchange for operating a public utility creates a serious -- some would say sacred -- obligation. How essential services are provisioned is a social choice. Formulaire notions like "Medicaid should do it" are not useful. Medicaid is staffed by people who understand medical services. Power distribution networks are staffed by people who understand power. It is far from clear that the former are the right people to be making choices about the latter. It happens that my mother is in a semi-assisted facility. They had no power for three days, no backup power, and residents are not allowed generators. The phones there didn't work without power.
  • deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  • wglb 7y ago
    How much should we spend? And for what length of outage? One week of full backup would be quite expensive.
    • zaroth 7y ago
      You should have enough to shelter in place for a reasonable outage, plus enough that when that clock runs out, to decide you need to head to the hospital, and enough time to actually get there. People who aren’t capable of planning this out for themselves should have a social worker doing it for them, and obviously people need to be capable of operating their life essential equipment at home, or they need someone on hand to operate it for them. I mean - how can “you die if the power goes out” be an acceptable risk to send someone home to? I assume that would be medical malpractice. In reality, and in this case, a backup was on hand. Something else happened/failed in the intervening moments which contributed to this person’s death. IMO the story is being weaponized irresponsibly against PG&E because they make a good target which sells a lot of clicks.
      • ncmncm 7y ago
        The irresponsibility is clearly on PGE's side. There was no noticeable wind in most of the areas cut, and none predicted. The cut amounted to simple extortion: indemnify us against consequences of our own deliberate negligence, or we will cut again! Trees did not just start growing near power lines last year. PGE have decades of data, and know in excruciating detail what consequences to expect from sending out billion-dollar dividends instead of performing maintenance.
        • erik_seaberg 7y ago
          Didn't some areas lose power only because they were served by lines leading into high wind areas?
          • ncmncm 7y ago
            Some places. But the local PGE offices in places that were cut off had power delivered. Extortionate behavior should be addressed by law enforcement. There should be a murder investigation for everybody killed by this action, and the executives responsible charged personally.
• LoSboccacc 7y ago
  blackout happens, while a utility has to inform for planner maintenance unplanned events are _always_ possible and people depending on electricity for their lives need to make sure they're prepared on a very short notice as a circuit breaker can trip anytime. not discounting the responsibility on the utility in any way, but a faulty kettle would have been as deadly.