Actually, this is a very informed look at the situation. However, there are municipally owned power companies out west that have low rates because they invested in dams way back when they were being built. Seattle City Lights is one of the best and Sacramento Municipal Utility District is not too bad. LA Power and Water? But generally speaking, the private companies are best from my limited experience… until the bean counters take over and until the governments start telling them what to do. The workers actually give a good days work and the companies run well until given budget cuts and other limits.
Yeah, Lightbringer might be informed, but he forgot a lot of examples where governments are very efficient.
It’s just that the US government is controlled by private entities mostly, so yeah.
The province of Quebec is the prime example of a province/states taking the electricity infrastructure, making it much better, cheaper, and available to everyone.
We are the population the government serves to. They should be scared of us, not them.
Lightbringer you ain’t never been to good ol’ boy NC and never heard of PWC and Duke Power. They do have to ask to raise rates bu can do so while the retainered lawyers leech it out and they can raise rates to cover the cleanup of all the coal ash ponds they have littering the landscape, conveniently located near the water sources “rivers etc” that can poison as many as possible as easily as possible. And with Coal Gonna Be King Again according to top placed gov’t promises, Duke Power be sitting pretty.
If everything in the freezer is soft when the power comes back on then just cook everything and re - freeze it. Ice cream ?? gotta eat it before it gets soft...Someone has to do it .
If a public utility has been privatised it is due to corruption. The company i work for is proud of this fact. Since private companies have taken over prices have increased to the point where people are becoming indebted to these companies for something that they once owned.
I have always thought the DMV was the best example of what things were like in the former USSR. Long lines, and none of the workers give a whit. Heck, they couldn't change things even if they wanted to.
I don't agree with all of this. For most of my adult life, the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commision) has been a "rubber-stamp" operation for utilities like PG&E. If PG&E had wanted to set aside money for tree-trimming and other maintenance, it would have been easy to get the CPUC's approval. Fact is, that was not a priority for PG&E. I'm not even sure such approval was required.
A similar lack of interest on the part of PG&E in maintaining its infrastructure was revealed in the aftermath of the horrific 2010 natural-gas explosion in San Bruno, California. A PG&E owned gas-main—30-inches in diameter—exploded, killing 8 people and burning down 38 homes. Among the other tidbits you'll find in the Wikipedia article on the topic, you'll find this: "On January 13, 2012, an independent audit from the State of California issued a report stating that PG&E had illegally diverted over $100 million from a fund used for safety operations, and instead used it for executive compensation and bonuses."
Of course, being the suspicious fellow that I am, I can't say I'm convinced that a publicly-owned utility would be immune to similar sorts of corruption. Or, for that matter, to other wonderfully inventive corrupt schemes.
As I said before, I'm of two minds on the public/private question.
Where there’s corruption, though, people have to get motivated to prosecute, convict, and jail those responsible. That means going after the CPUC, then. Grab some pollies by the throat and make them do it, and don’t let up on them.
Unfortunately, this is where my lack of expertise shows up. I didn't know about the $100 million diversion until last night. I don't have a clue whether PG&E was held accountable for it or not. It is probably true, however, that the 2010 explosion began a period of increased scrutiny of PG&E on the part of its regulators. It's been a rough decade for PG&E. So far as I can recall, though, no one has gone to jail.
You sound prepared! Anyone have any tips for a solid solar panel to power up the Rockpals. I just bought Fins 60watt cheapo discount Banggood version which I won’t see for a while, but thinking of a second one.
Problem is the people who can do something about are the ones benefitting from it. To a certain extent even me. The money that should have been used on maintenance is being shown as profit. Only way to do anything is get rid of the old and bring in the new. But then it will start all over again.
Emergency lighting has battery back up built in. Would it be better to have battery backup in home lighting that is only charged when needed than to have one big battery?
Emergency lighting provide short term lighting and the cheaper ones typically use a standard lead acid batter that has to be replaced every couple of years anyway. They also don’t have on/off switches so will waste power. A battery with inverter is much more flexible for power delivery and allows you to conserve power when not needed.
Government filled the coal stack then sold it. the new company burnt all the coal then said to the government unless you pay for the fuel we cant run the generator. So the taxpayer pays higher power prices and subsidies the fuel for a private company. It is great setup.