PG&E's will show us

[juanbenae]

in 29 counties here in CA that will have power cut starting per the email I got at 4AM tomorrow morning. I forget the number of affected customers off hand but it's many. they are even warning of shut downs in suburban areas in the bay area where there is little chance of "wildfires" in most instances.

having moved from the bay to a more rural area in the foothills this past spring I figured it was only a matter of time before I would experience this. there was a shutdown a couple weeks ago on the hwy 80 corridor from Sac to Tahoe that brought little attention other than locally. the problem is that the red flag fire warning is forecasted to last only 36 hours, but all of the lines have to be confirm as sound before power can be turned back on. I suspect they will inspect the densely populated areas 1st to get power restored to the masses where as we rural living folks will be left to survive until they can get the lines cleared as sound.

some are suggesting a minimum of 5 days till power is restored up where im at. resort town? off season? we will rot before it's restored. ive got a generator that is wired in to power the fridge, the living room (TV & cable box!!) and the well but have only 10 gallons of gas having filled all my jugs. will be looking to get my generator moved over to propane as soon as this passes as many gas stations in Sonora are already posting "out of gas" signs as the rush started yesterday.

this is PG&E asking if we like apples? then how do you like these apples???

may lord of the flies ensue....

[sammyg2]

Yer throwing blame out pretty liberally there.
The ambulance-chasing LAWYERS are to blame here, not PG&E.


The lawyers sued PG&E for what could be construed as a natural disaster.
AND they plan to do it again. And again. And again.

If winds get so strong they bring down power lines, the lawyers sue PG&E.
So PG&E does the logical thing, they cut power when winds get too strong.

If we put all the personal injury and civil lawyers on the bottom of the ocean, that would solve most of our problems.

[biosurfer1]

Not sure what people expect. They have two choices, leave power on and risk another multi billion dollar fire lawsuit, or turn off the power and deal with the whiners.

Easy decision

[Bill Douglas]

Good luck and I hope the generator behaves.

[juanbenae]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Yer throwing blame out pretty liberally there.

I forgot that's yir game Sammy. sorry if I stepped on any toes. I do agree though Sammy, this is litigation driven in what seems extreme cutting off power to the burbs.

Originally Posted by biosurfer1

Not sure what people expect. They have two choices, leave power on and risk another multi billion dollar fire lawsuit, or turn off the power and deal with the whiners.

Easy decision

agreed. im not blaming PG&E for doing what's right, but many of the suburban areas burnt the last couple years bumped up against open space or wildland susceptible terrain. in the list of areas to be effected I got from the PG&E website some of the proposed areas seem pretty precluded from the chance of wildfires. my place and region is completely understandable and will roll with it. to PG&E's credit there are tree trimmers working ALL over up here 7 days a week.


thanks for the words zeke. this place is growing on me and im so glad to be out of silicon valley I can not even begin to tell ya. ive only spent a couple winters in my early 20s living in the snow in Tahoe so I have some experience.... but being a soft adult in the snow this winter may be another animal entirely.....

[Sooner or later]

Hate to hear about the power outages. Not a fun time,

PGE failed to repair lines and towers that they knew were defective. They have failed to trim or remove trees that were hazardous. Even with the 4th highest rated in the country and 50% higher than the US avg. they couldn't find to money to take corrective action.

Don't do your job, cause deaths and untold loss of property and you should expect to have lawyers crawling up your back.

Wall Street Journal blistered their azz in a July report showing PGE knew for years that they were exposed to disastrous fires caused by their defective equipment.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Yer throwing blame out pretty liberally there.
The ambulance-chasing LAWYERS are to blame here, not PG&E.


The lawyers sued PG&E for what could be construed as a natural disaster.
AND they plan to do it again. And again. And again.

If winds get so strong they bring down power lines, the lawyers sue PG&E.
So PG&E does the logical thing, they cut power when winds get too strong.

If we put all the personal injury and civil lawyers on the bottom of the ocean, that would solve most of our problems.

Nope, utterly wrong.

They neglected maintenance for many, many years, but their executive pay was superlative.

The fires in Butte County last year were just the most recent manifestation of their marginal periodic maintenance. Lawyers are responsible for this. For a change, not due to plaintiff's attorneys

[Evans, Marv]

I've got a similar system (about 7.5K) as "juanbenae". We had the power off for three days last season. It was inconvenient but not a killer. I'm considering getting a small diesel (15-20 kW) set up to power most of the house. I heard on the news SDG&E lost their bid to get the rate payers to pay their bills for their power problems. Supreme Court ruled against them.

[Bugsinrugs]

Governor Newsom sighted a bill earlier this year exempting PG&E from any future liability from any wildfire that may be their fault.

[biosurfer1]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

Governor Newsom sighted a bill earlier this year exempting PG&E from any future liability from any wildfire that may be their fault.

LOL...do you really believe that? That a bill was passed, almost unanimously, in both houses, by both parties that simply said PG&E was exempt from future liability against any fire they cause?

[ckissick]

They say our power might be out for 7 days. I'll be cooking in the Westfalia, I guess - no gas stove in the house. I bought the last two cans of Dinty Moore beef stew. The shelves at Safeway were getting pretty sparse. Long lines at the gas station.

They say the high winds will hit Half Moon Bay at 4 AM Thursday morning. Yet Caltrans will close the Devils Slide Tunnel at noon tomorrow, 16 hours before the wind arrives, "just in case".

So this is what it's like to prepare for a hurricane. I've never done this before. We only have earthquakes and don't exactly have any warning for that.

[tabs]

Let them eat cake.

[Heel n Toe]

PG&E sends this out to keep your spirits up until the outage is over...

[GH85Carrera]

So a lot of cities and areas with no electricity. Anyone with a water well, no water or electricity.

That would move them right up to the top of the list as a miserable city in which to live. Heck, with no electricity, that means no internet as well! The horrors.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

agreed. im not blaming PG&E for doing what's right, but many of the suburban areas burnt the last couple years bumped up against open space or wildland susceptible terrain. in the list of areas to be effected I got from the PG&E website some of the proposed areas seem pretty precluded from the chance of wildfires. my place and region is completely understandable and will roll with it. to PG&E's credit there are tree trimmers working ALL over up here 7 days a week.

The lawyers are behind this BS, but PG&E are not angels either.
They are sending a message that if we bite the hands that feeds, they stop feeding.

Ain't right but what else they gonna do?

That reminds me of a time about 10 years ago in California.
USFS and CAL-FIRE fire wanted big ole increases in budget. the economy didn't support it, so they decided they'd show us.
Punish us, for not giving them whatever the heck they wanted.

Wild-fires hit and they were "rather restrained" in the response.
Small fires got big quickly while they watched from the sidelines, saying we told you so.

Eventually they got in the game but of course it was too late, the fires were way out of control.
Again, the thiefs-in-charge said we told you so, now give us the money!
It quietly back-fired on them (see what I did there?) and people at the top resigned after quietly being threatened with prosecution for manslaughter.


http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/07/30/the-politics-of-fire-suppression-did-bush-administration-budget-cuts-caused-bigger-wildfires/

[Bugsinrugs]

Originally Posted by biosurfer1

LOL...do you really believe that? That a bill was passed, almost unanimously, in both houses, by both parties that simply said PG&E was exempt from future liability against any fire they cause?

My bad.....the bill raises rates that goes into a fund to pay for wildfire damage over 1 billion. PG$E must come out of bankruptcy first.
https://www.kqed.org/news/11760618/newsom-signs-wildfire-liability-bill-utility-customers-to-pay-10-5-billion-into-new-fund

[juanbenae]

PG&E's update/info site has crashed.....

still have power as of now, pushed the shutdown back until noon according to local sac news casts. the wind is pushing the smoke from a mariposa fire about 100 miles away that is 2000 acres and only 10% contained. scary.

[Sooner or later]

Good luck. I hope they keep delaying the cut off.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

I've got a similar system (about 7.5K) as "juanbenae". We had the power off for three days last season. It was inconvenient but not a killer. I'm considering getting a small diesel (15-20 kW) set up to power most of the house. I heard on the news SDG&E lost their bid to get the rate payers to pay their bills for their power problems. Supreme Court ruled against them.

Be careful how you wire that up with solar. The Solar needs to be on the utility side of the transfer switch. You cannot have the solar participate with the generator with a standard grid-tie system.

[Evans, Marv]

James, thanks for the advice. The company that installed the solar did hook it up on the utility side. I also have a transfer switch that isolates the circuits that get power when using the generator.