I would wager a lot of power companies run their equipment to failure. Anecdata, but Pepco in Maryland burned me once. When we first moved into our house motor

I would wager a lot of power companies run their equipment to failure. Anecdata, but Pepco in Maryland burned me once. When we first moved into our house motor loads (vacuum, disposal, etc.) caused all the lights in the house to dim. We called an electrician and he said the problem was the transformer in the green box outside our house and to call Pepco to fix it. We did and Pepco dragged their feet forever. Weeks later they said they inspected it and it was fine. Fast forward 2 years when our house has a massive power surge which fries 2 computers (just the PSUs) and bursts some bulbs. We call an electrician and he says the transformer outside failed and to call Pepco. We did and Pepco had someone out in, no joke, in 20 minutes to fix it. As a nice side effect, motor loads no longer cause the lights to dim. We filed a claim with Pepco for damages, citing the previous incident 2 years ago as evidence they knew the transformer was failing but they denied the claim with no explanation.