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The inconvenient truth is that California’s electrical infrastructure is woefully out of date because of utility company greed and malfeasance. The Democratic P

The inconvenient truth is that California’s electrical infrastructure is woefully out of date because of utility company greed and malfeasance. The Democratic Party machine here in the state is too corrupt and asleep at the wheel to do anything about it. See also the management of state’s water resources. Instead of proactively shutting off power during the high wind period, they left it on, and of course the decrepit equipment up in the bone dry mountains exploded and set everything on fire again.

cdme 2y ago
That's not the fault of the party you're blaming it on. The utilities fail to do so and have (and continue to) face lawsuits and repercussions. If the state were to intervene with their operation further I imagine you'd take issue with that meddling. It's certainly not caused by Delta smelt or a failure to rake leaves in the forest either.
- bugglebeetle 2y ago
  The government is already a utility provider, and the absence of LADWP shut offs is the likely cause of the Palisades Fire. Same thing with the Eaton Fire and Southern California Edison. So yes, actually, it is very much the fault of both parties I named.
  - kjkjadksj 2y ago
    Fires can get caused by all kinds of things beyond power lines. Its added risk but its only really a risk because the wind, humidity, and fuel load were so ideal. At that point it could be a cigarette butt or freak lightning storm or an arsonist and it would do in the hillside all the same.
    - bugglebeetle 2y ago
      The recent (across several years) major fires have been caused by utility companies, so while you might live in fear of hypothetical arsonists, freak lightning storms, and cigarette butts, it seems more productive to direct our attention to the actual causes.
      - cdme 2y ago
        And the solution is? More privatization?
  - cdme 2y ago
    I wasn’t aware the government owned SCE. I’m not aware of any republican policies to address the issue. Last I saw they were complaining about ASL translators being available during news conferences about the disaster.
    - bugglebeetle 2y ago
      > the absence of LADWP shut offs is the likely cause of the Palisades Fire And I’m not a Republican or right winger of any fashion.
ggreer 2y ago
How is it greed when CPUC[1] sets what prices utilities can charge, sets how much revenue they can collect, and has line item veto over their spending? See the 2020 PG&E GRC for an example of how much control the California government has over utility companies.[2] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Public_Utilities_Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Public_Utilities_Co... 2. https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M354/K486/354486687.PDF https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M354/K...
- bugglebeetle 2y ago
  The fact that you think the CPUC is over-regulating PG&E while they rake in sky-high profits and do fuck all to modernize their infrastructure only further demonstrates my point. Google “PG&E Profit 2024” and get back to me.
  - ggreer 2y ago
    If you're going to blame anyone for that, blame CPUC. They're the ones who dictate what rates PG&E can set, what their yearly revenue should be, and what they're allowed to modernize. This often causes problems, such as in 2014 when CPUC vetoed PG&E's plan to improve gas leak detection.[1] > We adopt TURN’s forecast reducing PG&E’s MWC FI forecast by $27.8 million composed of $14.1 million (based on a lower leak find rate) and 13.7 million (based on a five-year survey cycle). We base the adopted forecast on TURN’s combined (traditional and Picarro survey) leak find rate of 2.547% instead of PG&E’s find rate of 3.56% of services. The language itself is quite dry, but in short: CPUC stopped PG&E from improving their gas leak detection systems. When gas lines inevitably leaked and caused fires, PG&E was blamed, not CPUC. Like all utilities in California, PG&E's maximum profits are set by CPUC.[2] CPUC has been reducing these maximums over time. So if you're upset at PG&E's profits (which are around 10% of revenue), you should blame the people setting the profits, not the company that doesn't control what they can charge, what they can spend money on, or how much profit they can make. PG&E is grossly mismanaged and incompetent, but that's because they're part of a system that combines the worst parts of capitalism with the worst parts of government. If PG&E wanted to charge less, they couldn't because CPUC sets the minimum as well as the maximum rates. If a large consumer of electricity wants to switch to a community utility provider or to an off-grid solution, CPUC mandates that the consumer pay the original utility provider for the privilege of not getting the utility anymore.[3] The incentive structure could not be more backwards. 1. See pages 80-84 of https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M102/K361/102361873.PDF https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M102/K... 2. https://web.archive.org/web/20241212161014/https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/electric-costs/historical-electric-cost-data/rate-of-return https://web.archive.org/web/20241212161014/https://www.cpuc.... 3. https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/electric-power-procurement/power-charge-indifference-adjustment https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-ene...

cdme 2y ago

That's not the fault of the party you're blaming it on. The utilities fail to do so and have (and continue to) face lawsuits and repercussions. If the state were to intervene with their operation further I imagine you'd take issue with that meddling. It's certainly not caused by Delta smelt or a failure to rake leaves in the forest either.

bugglebeetle 2y ago
The government is already a utility provider, and the absence of LADWP shut offs is the likely cause of the Palisades Fire. Same thing with the Eaton Fire and Southern California Edison. So yes, actually, it is very much the fault of both parties I named.
- kjkjadksj 2y ago
  Fires can get caused by all kinds of things beyond power lines. Its added risk but its only really a risk because the wind, humidity, and fuel load were so ideal. At that point it could be a cigarette butt or freak lightning storm or an arsonist and it would do in the hillside all the same.
  - bugglebeetle 2y ago
    The recent (across several years) major fires have been caused by utility companies, so while you might live in fear of hypothetical arsonists, freak lightning storms, and cigarette butts, it seems more productive to direct our attention to the actual causes.
    - cdme 2y ago
      And the solution is? More privatization?
- cdme 2y ago
  I wasn’t aware the government owned SCE. I’m not aware of any republican policies to address the issue. Last I saw they were complaining about ASL translators being available during news conferences about the disaster.
  - bugglebeetle 2y ago
    > the absence of LADWP shut offs is the likely cause of the Palisades Fire And I’m not a Republican or right winger of any fashion.

ggreer 2y ago

How is it greed when CPUC[1] sets what prices utilities can charge, sets how much revenue they can collect, and has line item veto over their spending? See the 2020 PG&E GRC for an example of how much control the California government has over utility companies.[2] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Public_Utilities_Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Public_Utilities_Co... 2. https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M354/K486/354486687.PDF https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M354/K...

bugglebeetle 2y ago
The fact that you think the CPUC is over-regulating PG&E while they rake in sky-high profits and do fuck all to modernize their infrastructure only further demonstrates my point. Google “PG&E Profit 2024” and get back to me.
- ggreer 2y ago
  If you're going to blame anyone for that, blame CPUC. They're the ones who dictate what rates PG&E can set, what their yearly revenue should be, and what they're allowed to modernize. This often causes problems, such as in 2014 when CPUC vetoed PG&E's plan to improve gas leak detection.[1] > We adopt TURN’s forecast reducing PG&E’s MWC FI forecast by $27.8 million composed of $14.1 million (based on a lower leak find rate) and 13.7 million (based on a five-year survey cycle). We base the adopted forecast on TURN’s combined (traditional and Picarro survey) leak find rate of 2.547% instead of PG&E’s find rate of 3.56% of services. The language itself is quite dry, but in short: CPUC stopped PG&E from improving their gas leak detection systems. When gas lines inevitably leaked and caused fires, PG&E was blamed, not CPUC. Like all utilities in California, PG&E's maximum profits are set by CPUC.[2] CPUC has been reducing these maximums over time. So if you're upset at PG&E's profits (which are around 10% of revenue), you should blame the people setting the profits, not the company that doesn't control what they can charge, what they can spend money on, or how much profit they can make. PG&E is grossly mismanaged and incompetent, but that's because they're part of a system that combines the worst parts of capitalism with the worst parts of government. If PG&E wanted to charge less, they couldn't because CPUC sets the minimum as well as the maximum rates. If a large consumer of electricity wants to switch to a community utility provider or to an off-grid solution, CPUC mandates that the consumer pay the original utility provider for the privilege of not getting the utility anymore.[3] The incentive structure could not be more backwards. 1. See pages 80-84 of https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M102/K361/102361873.PDF https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M102/K... 2. https://web.archive.org/web/20241212161014/https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/electric-costs/historical-electric-cost-data/rate-of-return https://web.archive.org/web/20241212161014/https://www.cpuc.... 3. https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/electric-power-procurement/power-charge-indifference-adjustment https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-ene...