They turned off the electricity to Northern California because it was "too windy"

[Tobra]

No, seriously.

They had fires where people died traced to electric wires grounding out on trees. Yesterday they turned off the juice to much of Nor Cal. It was not really that windy, so I suspect they want to make it hurt enough that the people demand something be done, likely some sort of hold harmless legislation.

Maybe Tabs is right about that third world country thing.

[sammyg2]

Re: "California’s inverse condemnation law".

They want it rescinded and are punishing their customers to get their way.
jerry moonbeam brown is leading the charge.

[vash]

how long did it last?

we got a memo stating this was a possibility. it was windy as hell here yesterday, but our juice remained on. maybe because we already burned down all the trees?

the latest memo stated that they were gonna do a 100% clear cut around the power lines. all of them. good time to own a tree cutting company. those guys are all gonna get new boats!!

[Steve Carlton]

In some areas it was extremely windy. Good call for the situation, until they resolve the wind > fire situation.

[BeyGon]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Re: "California’s inverse condemnation law".

They want it rescinded and are punishing their customers to get their way.
jerry moonbeam brown is leading the charge.

shouldn't be hard, isn't most of NorCal liberal voters?

[Evans, Marv]

Same kind of thing happened here last season. The power company turned power off for more than 24 hrs. They received a lot of push back on it.

[Aerkuld]

Just a little bit of perspective here . . .

PG&E turned off power in a dozen counties in Northern California, NOT turned off power to Northern California.

Power was turned off in 'Red Flag Warning' areas, where there was a risk of high winds combined with a substantial fire risk. From what I understand, this may have affected 60,000 consumers.

Realistically, that's a minimal impact, for a potentially huge risk avoidance.

When I heard about this yesterday I was initially somewhat surprised.

My next thought was, that's actually quite a good idea given the events in that region a year ago.

Thinking further, they've had a year to clear trees away from power lines - shouldn't they have done it by now?

[vash]

Originally Posted by Aerkuld

Just a little bit of perspective here . . .

PG&E turned off power in a dozen counties in Northern California, NOT turned off power to Northern California.

Power was turned off in 'Red Flag Warning' areas, where there was a risk of high winds combined with a substantial fire risk. From what I understand, this may have affected 60,000 consumers.

Realistically, that's a minimal impact, for a potentially huge risk avoidance.

When I heard about this yesterday I was initially somewhat surprised.

My next thought was, that's actually quite a good idea given the events in that region a year ago.

Thinking further, they've had a year to clear trees away from power lines - shouldn't they have done it by now?

your first point was rock solid. if i told people once, i told them a zillion times..don't exaggerate.

[Craig T]

I live in a very high risk fire area, just a couple miles from where last year's big Ventura Co fire started. I lived in smoke and ash for a week, but much worse for many close to me.

That fire started when Santa Ana Winds blew the power lines so hard it caused a transformer to explode. Until they replace the aging power grid equipment, I'm happy to hear they are shutting off power in my area during the Red Flag Warning period.

Charge up the Kindle and unplug for a few hours.

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by vash

your first point was rock solid. if i told people once, i told them a zillion times..don't exaggerate.

"I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate" is one of my Father's favorites.

I don't think Tobra's original statement was intended to be misleading in this instance, but it's a good example of a common occurrence across all flavors of the media in general.

The original statement was essentially true - They turned off the electricity to Northern California because it was "too windy". However, it's written in a way to create sensation in that it failed to clarify, so leads you to believe, power was turned off to ALL of Northern California.


Realistically, They turned off power to parts of Northern California because it was "too windy", is a far more accurate statement.

[sammyg2]

I don't live in a high risk fire area and I'll be pissed if they turn off my power.
If I wanted to live in a third world country I'd move to one.

This is a political power grab for more power and more $$$$$.
All they have to do is "influence" public attitude, not hard to do.

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

I don't live in a high risk fire area and I'll be pissed if they turn off my power.
If I wanted to live in a third world country I'd move to one.

This is a political power grab for more power and more $$$$$.
All they have to do is "influence" public attitude, not hard to do.

Based on a basic understanding of the situation, if you didn't live in a high risk fire area they wouldn't have turned off your power.


Sure, there's likely some financial motive to this such as, "At PG&E we're going to have to increase your electricity rates to cover the cost of tree trimming. Still, we won't need to turn the power off anymore.", but I'm sure the safety aspect is very real.

They'd look a complete bunch of asses if fires had started from power lines blowing in to trees and they turn around and say, "Yeah, we thought that may happen"

[Deschodt]

The reality is very few people got the power turned off, they had plenty of warning, and San Diego county has been doing this for years... If we're gonna start mocking US infrastructure, this is going to be a long thread... I've lived in third world countries, we're not all that far off anymore in terms of bridges, potholes, corruption, you name it...

It does sound like PG&E is doing it more out of fear of lawsuits and to put political pressure on someone, more than anything.. They are truly a hated organization. I once interviewed there, never went through so much security to get to my interview... I asked why, they said they are not well liked, get a lot of threats, and that was shortly after the san Bruno gas explosion catastrophe...

[Tobra]

Yes, I was being hyperbolic by intent in the title. It impacted a lot of people in areas that were not windy. It typically is windy early and late in the day, many were without power for 24 hours.

Sam nailed it in response numero uno

[Noah930]

The utility turned off power to one of our offices in the San Fernando Valley. Unfortunately, that office hosts the server on which my office runs. So my office says they were unable to do any work yesterday. (I was in Ventura County at another office.)

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Aerkuld

Based on a basic understanding of the situation, if you didn't live in a high risk fire area they wouldn't have turned off your power.


Sure, there's likely some financial motive to this such as, "At PG&E we're going to have to increase your electricity rates to cover the cost of tree trimming. Still, we won't need to turn the power off anymore.", but I'm sure the safety aspect is very real.

They'd look a complete bunch of asses if fires had started from power lines blowing in to trees and they turn around and say, "Yeah, we thought that may happen"

I am so glad you are down with the program...you should be a spokes person for PG&E....

Before Thatcher GB suffered from rolling blackouts...it is part of becoming a post industrial Forth World nation...

Why doesn't Infrastructure get done in America...let's say a Trill will do it...try funding it...another Trill on the credit card will not fly...

You had your 800B in Shovel Ready Jobs bill already...you already ate the hamburger...and now you want another one??????

[onewhippedpuppy]

I’m shocked that CA doesn’t do preventative tree trimming. They’ve been doing it here for years to prevent damage from wind and ice storms. Yes it costs money, but I’m sure fighting massive forest fires isn’t cheap either.

[Steve Carlton]

I'm no expert on this, but I think there are more causes than power lines blowing into trees. A locale article mentioned sparks flying off power lines and I believe a grounded power line can ignite a fire as well. It sounds like power lines need to be upgraded or buried under ground to eliminate this cause of fires.

[john70t]

I got advice to leave the fridge/AC/microwave off for an hour after everything starts up.

Motors don't like low and surging voltage from everybody pulling max juice at once.

[RKDinOKC]

Know several people that got tired of their power being unreliable for whatever reason and got generators to fill the stop gaps.
Some had gas service and used that, some didn't and installed underground propane tanks.