41

I pay extra to get higher bandwidth than my neighbors. Nevertheless, I have been considering alternatives.

42

I got the second 300W power supply unit, aside from price/CPAP use, to see iffn I can set it up to power my cable/wifi/internet/phone in an outage. Unfortunately, usually when our power goes down so does the power to the cable relay station. I wonder iffn it could provide power to my router iffn it was just a local outage on our supply line?

43

Hardly expensive depending upon what one wants. If it’s bundled with TV then it can easily be that much or even much more. And in SF there is really only 1 option where you can get cable bundled with TV.

Just internet alone would be much cheaper though.

44

As I understand it, the previous year there were some issues with downed lines causing fires due to windy conditions. That means that PG&E knew they had a problem and had an entire year to fix any major issues with their lines and they opted to do nothing in favor of cutting power to over half a million residents.

Not just residents but schools, traffic control devices, communications, etc.

This is not just an inconvenience like shutting off people’s Facebook for a couple days. We are talking about a power utility in a first-world country.

The fact that we have to have rolling blackouts because a for-profit utility can’t be bothered to maintain its infrastructure is, in my opinion, completely unacceptable.

45

Not quite. They hired a bunch of contractors to trim and remove trees after the Paradise fire. Those of us in the mountains have seen them every day all over the place for a very long time. They started with transmission lines and have been doing primaries and secondaries for many months now. But the total mileage of power lines is quite incredible.

Still, their management might have been focused on profits and bean counting for years. Sometimes the upper managers do not listen to engineers and construction /maintenance folks and the right things get shelved by budget cuts. I cannot say if that is the case here, but it is generally the case in all industries and governments in the USA. It has become a real trend. Power to those who do not know the real business and focus on their own pay raises. Not being negative, just being realistic from my limited experiences.

46

Boeing. An engineer twice expressed extreme concerns about the 737max systems, and both times was shot down (so to speak).

47

Here we go again. California is once again experiencing the off-shore Santa Ana winds that blow from east to west. Those winds block the cool, high-humidity winds that normally blow in from the ocean. So once again, PG&E has announced that it will be shutting off the power tomorrow to many of its customers.

Unfortunately, that includes me!

Last time, I ended up tossing out the contents of my two freezers. Lost about $250 worth of food. This time I'm freezing 5 different 2-gallon water bottles (after piercing holes in their tops). I've got 2 for the freezer above the fridge, and 3 for the fridge itself. My second freezer is empty. I still don't have a generator, but I will be using the second of the neat tricks I learned in posts above. Liked 'em so much, I'm repeating them here.

I'm not sure how widely the shutdowns will reach, but last time there were nearly 800,000 customers affected. That left more than 2 million people in the dark. For our east-coast-centric news outlets, the outages registered a blip for a day or so, but—as Bill Maher noted—if 2 million folks lost power on the east coast, the shutdown would have been given non-stop, wall-to-wall coverage.

Okay, so be it.

Good luck to my fellow Californians.

48

Ok what?!

How are they not getting shut down pretty quickly?

49

Are you asking, "How [is PG&E] not getting shut down pretty quickly?" I don't know the answer to that, but PG&E did buy itself a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

It's a horrible situation. The only reason power needs to be shut down now is because PG&E—over a long span of years—did not perform tree-trimming and other maintenance on its grid. Money that should have been set aside for that purpose was instead paid as dividends to shareholders. These fires are not "acts of God," the term we apply to hurricanes and such. No, they are, in my opinion, an act of negligence on the part of PG&E.

So we're stuck. If we don't shut down the power, we risk catastrophic fire, and yet if we do shut it down, untold millions—and likely billions—of dollars are lost. My contribution was something like $200 to $300 in discarded food.

So, okay, I guess we have to turn off the juice. But the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The only silver lining for me is the confidence that I have more than enough flashlights to see me comfortably through whatever PG&E throws at me.

50

Was not the President going to spend huge dollars on infrastructure? Is this considered infrastructure or is this solely owned by power companies? Noot trying to start anything. I HATE politics and poliTICKians.

51

Owned by the utility, regulated by the state governments commissions and by national laws and court decision. The utilities also own interest in the dams for hydroelectric power and in other power generating equipment. The state determines the rates we pay for electricity, etc. if I understand correctly. Politics plays a big part in it. Should be interesting to watch what happens, but we cannot expect the customers to win no matter what.

52

I am by no means an expert, but I believe PG&E owns its power distribution grids. Federal infrastructure dollars might be sent its way, but those dollars would have to be in the form of grants or gifts to PG&E.

I believe PG&E also received large grants of land as part of its early history. At present, it is one of the largest private owners of land in California.

53

Thank you for the responses. Here in Fay. NC we have PWC a public utility supposedly owned by the city. They do just as they please. A few miles away you can be served by Lumbee River a co op with excellent service and lower rates. They also make it possible for customers to buy things like led bulbs shower heads etc at cost. Even though we have moved from their service area, we still recieve a “capital refund” sort of thing that averages about a hundred bucks. The city owned utility PWC gives out calendars if you go to their main office and stand in line.The bigger they are the sorrier they get.

54

A utility should not be privately owned. It is an essential service and private ownership puts profit above service. However without private ownership nepotism will run riot.

55

I am of two minds on the public/private question. Frankly, I have not attempted any serious study of the issue.

Two of the arguments for private ownership are:

  1. Private ownership creates an incentive for owners to take care of their property. This is a classic libertarian argument.
  2. Profit motives give the private owner an incentive to run a streamlined, efficient operation.

In the case of PG&E, the first seems not to have worked. PG&E's failure to maintain its grid has led to the fires that forced it into bankruptcy.

Don't know much about the second, but there are probably good reasons not to expect perfect efficiency from a government-run operation.

56

Yes, but not-perfect is better than way-worse.

57

Actually, for-profit utilities are probably the best solution. If governmentally run, you know service will suck, costs will rise, and you’ll simply have no choice due to the monopoly granted to it. Ie, “Don’t like it? Where else you gonna go? Haha!”. (Anyone who lives where a cableco was granted a monopoly knows this full-well.)

Anyone ever been to any government agency (DMV, Labor, etc.), like, ever? People there literally work in slow-motion that you think you’re caught up in a time-dilation bubble or something. If any government agency went private, it’d be put out of business within a year. Monopoly power, a captive audience, and backing by government force is the Perfect Storm of sloth.

Becoming a utility is simply about liability, so that in case some kid sticks a fork into an outlet and fries himself, the utility can’t be sued for supplying a “dangerous product”. It’s shielded from (most) liability in exchange for operating “for the public good”.

They still have to get permission to raise prices, etc., so they’re not run like a pharmco which could arbitrarily raise the price of its products (Shkreli, anyone?). So if anything, they have to do maintenance, upgrades, etc., only with the bux they’re allowed to collect. Kinda like a landlord who can’t raise rents at-will but still needs to maintain and keep up the building even with destructive tenants, ever-increasing taxes, and so on.

If PG&E has been “neglecting” anything, they should be able to show their books as to what they’re spending their bux on, and people should be able to have a look and see for themselves. In fact, people would have a right to see their finances.

The conflict is, for good or ill, that management has a fiduciary duty to their shareholders and stakeholders. That means, specifically, maximise profits and disburse to the s/s as a reward for investing in the company. Unless there’s an obligation to spend on X, they can’t.

So… anyone out there want to subpoena their books and see whether/not they’ve been slacking off for real? Politicians love to want to appear as Champions Of The People and hurl insults at any perceived badguy, so let one of them take up the mantle. As far as PG&E, either clear them or condemn them. :laughing:

58

It’s a nice little power source but will most likely not work with a ref/freezer as when the compressor kicks on it will need more power (@1100 or so) than the lil Rockpals (600watts) can provide. Should work great for LED flashlights, laptops and cpaps though.

FYI, Costco might (they do up here) have the Yamaha 1600 gas generator for $449. That would do it. https://www.costco.com/A-iPower-1600W-Running—2000W-Peak-Gasoline-Powered-Inverter-Generator.product.100343958.html

59

I bought this one a year ago. In testing it it runs my fridge (new energy efficient) and freezer at the same time. If possible start one up before the other since there’s a huge surge when the compressor starts as noted above.

It’s noisier than a Honda but also half the price.

60

I have a Goal Zero Yeti 1000 rated for 1500W continuous/3000W surge for that and their 100W solar panel.