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Does it count as a national emergency if it starts to happen every year or two? At what point do we accept that energy companies will always neglect their infra
by Pingk 3y ago
Does it count as a national emergency if it starts to happen every year or two? At what point do we accept that energy companies will always neglect their infrastructure and the government has to actually invest in fixing it?
- ryandrake 3y agoSeems like a great deal for the electric companies. Profits go right into their pockets while taxpayers take care of those pesky costs. All they have to do is fail to do the one thing they’re actually asked to do and convince the public that that constitutes an emergency.
- Drakim 3y agoI wonder if laws could be passed demanding a certain uptime, with very hefty fines on failure. Want to be an electric company? Sure thing boss, but that entails obligations akin to taxi companies needing their cars to be safe to drive on public roads.
- jncfhnb 3y agoRegulators generally have discretion to impose fines and penalties as they wish
- bradknowles 3y agoUnless they're owned by the companies they're supposed to be regulating.
- jncfhnb 3y agoThey’re not
- Pingk 3y agoI should have worded my comment better. I don't like the "privatise the profits, socialise the losses" culture we've made. If they want government assistance, that means government regulation. If they don't, they don't.
- FireBeyond 3y agoI don't see why it should be, as selfish as that may sound. Texas made a conscious choice to isolate their grid from the rest of the country, for ideological reasons as much as any. It can be a state emergency. I don't see why we should be stepping in to fix something for Texas that they absolutely can fix, but are choosing not to.
- Pingk 3y agoYeah I didn't phrase my comment very well. I agree with your point, if they want government assistance, they accept government regulation. If they don't, they don't.
- rayiner 3y agoThe government doesn’t need to invest in it. It can make generators and grid operators do the investments and recovery the funds from ratepayers.
- throw555chip 3y agoLike these cases? - hurricanes hit eastern states every year and the US taxpayer helps - wildfires hit western states every year and the US taxpayer helps - tornadoes hit the mid-western states every year and the US taxpayer helps
- fulladder 3y agoWhy would energy companies be less likely to invest in their infrastructure compared with, say, a bakery investing to repair a broken oven?
- n6h6 3y agoBecause if a baker's oven breaks and they can't provide their service, they cannot charge for their service, and customers can easily go to some other bakery.
- dreamcompiler 3y agoBefore energy deregulation in Texas, power companies were required by law to build in extra capacity for weather events, and Texas power was among the most reliable in the nation for many decades. Yes it was a separate grid, and it was utterly reliable. Both things were true. After deregulation, the Texas power companies were motivated purely by profit, which meant they got rid of extra capacity, winterization mechanisms, etc because all those things cost them money. A grid that runs right on the hairy edge of failure works great as long as everything happens as planned, but eventually a February 2021 comes along. Some penalties for lack of winterization have supposedly been put back in place, but knowing how Texas politics works I expect most of the power companies have figured out ways around them.