In reply to FuzzWuzzy :
It seems to be working here in Illinois. 
In reply to FuzzWuzzy :
It seems to be working here in Illinois.
jharry3 said:Gov Newson is already calling out "dog eat dog" capitalism. I doubt he ever heard of Ayn Rand but she certainly knew his type.
Apparently Mr Newsom has no idea that a singular highly regulated public utility has little to do with capitalism.
"Dog eat dog", really!? Where is the other "dog" Mr Slick?!
You would think he would know a bit more about capitalism growing up as a rich boy and getting some easy financing for his business from his super wealthy family friends.
It has nothing to do with the taxes, although it may have something to do with the government, or lack thereof.
As a whole, the electric utility industry does not have much in the way of operating regulations. Basically, keep the power on, don't kill anyone. For most of the industry that's pretty easy, and it doesn't regulate where you put your poles and wires.
Other utilities (telecoms and ISPs aside) are heavily regulated, water and gas specifically, because it was long thought that water and gas could kill someone when they go wrong. The states and feds watch those utilities with varying degrees of sensitivity. By comparison, the gas utility industry is constantly asked to remove potentially hazardous pipe, or install excess flow valves, or increase monitoring of steel or cast iron system, or increase monitoring and safety measures at regulator stations. Those regulations and requirements are not applied similarly to the electric industry.
The electric utilities are typically watched from a more financial standpoint, keep ENRON from happening again.
Trouble is, in California at least, it's pretty clear that letting PG&E operate like every other electric utility in the USA doesn't really work so well. Different environment with different challenges. Regulators missed that decades ago, and here we are.
Toyman01 said:California is going to have to trim more often and set the reclosers to once and done.
Time to invest in a bunch of these and a handful of helicopters.
If you want to see it in action, follow this link.
Let the Branches Hit the Floor!
Nice! Although not the sort of thing you want your drunk redneck acquaintances to get ahold of. "Here, hold my beer and watch this!" 
1988RedT2 said:Fueled by Caffeine said:Generally the infrastructure in this country is old. No one wants to spend money on it because taxes and government is the problem.
I suspect that very few Californians would claim that they don't pay enough in taxes, given that California has the highest state income tax rate in the nation, and ranks near the "top" in terms of highest total tax burden. There's plenty of money going into government. Perhaps it's what government is doing (and not doing) with that money that is the real issue.
You want European services. You pay European taxes. They aren't there yet.
jharry3 said:Donebrokeit said:I swear this could be a chapter in
Atlas Shrugged.
Gov Newson is already calling out "dog eat dog" capitalism. I doubt he ever heard of Ayn Rand but she certainly knew his type.
You guys do realize that Ayn Rand wrote fiction, don't you?
There are a ton of people who are highly skilled and appropriately paid people just to meet regulations. That works for sport as well as industry.
Just because it sounds good does not mean it's actually true.
Not this ayn rand crap again.
Fueled by Caffeine said:Not this ayn rand crap again.
On this, you and I can agree! 
Toyman01 said:In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :
Just a FYI, all overhead power lines are uninsulated, even if they are new. The only insulated overhead lines are phone and cable.
This is usually true, but not always. We do have some insulated overhead wires in areas prone to tree branch issues. It has its own set of issues but it can reduce outages in some cases. I have become less of a fan of it after getting feedback from line crews on it.
Jcamper
In reply to Jcamper :
I was always told the lower voltage stuff in Connecticut was insulated. Lots of trees in that state.
crankwalk said:
So big and diverse of a landscape. It just makes my laugh when somewhere as vast as the USA doesn't do something that works for Denmark or wherever and immediately the reason is because we are cheap and /or ignorant.
That attitude pisses me off so much.
Anyone who has read a random collection of any 100 words I've written here will understand that I do not in any way think the US is perfect.
But I am so bloody sick and tired of the "Well, civilized countries do it this way, so America should too" attitude that it makes me want to punch someone. What works great for a homogenous population of 10 or 20 million in a country smaller than one of our states probably doesn't even apply here.
Duke said:crankwalk said:
So big and diverse of a landscape. It just makes my laugh when somewhere as vast as the USA doesn't do something that works for Denmark or wherever and immediately the reason is because we are cheap and /or ignorant.That attitude pisses me off so much.
Anyone who has read a random collection of any 100 words I've written here will understand that I do not in any way think the US is perfect.
But I am so bloody sick and tired of the "Well, civilized countries do it this way, so America should too" attitude that it makes me want to punch someone.
It reminds me of the "attitude" (not really an attitude, just mild surprise) that so few Americans have a passport. Well, living in most of the US you can only drive to two different countries. So no need to really have it unless you go to Canada or Mexico frequently. (and before anyone says that Canadians have passports, why don't Americans... Well yeah, 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the USA). And while I value the cultural and educational importance of travel and want to go to many European countries, I have the same bucket list of things in the USA that I'll never get to half of:
Seriously, is there another country that you can get all of this? I'd imagine China is probably able to, but anyone else? UK at one point could have, but not anymore...
/Pointless Tangent
In reply to mtn :
When I lived in San Diego for a few years, it had literally everything. Wanted to ski/snowboard? Go north an hour or two and you'll hit mountains. Feel like going to the beach the next day? Drive west for 20-30 minutes. Wanna hit up the sand dunes? Go east 30-45 minutes.
Even after moving to Kansas, I still have no need for a passport.
STM317 said:All I'm going to say is that we all make a choice every day to live where we do. Humans have been uprooting their lives and moving to greener pastures for as long as there have been humans. Live in a place where you can live your best life. If you decide that's CA, with it's climate (both natural and political), then you just accept the drawbacks as the cost of doing business, and hopefully do your best to mitigate.
In other words:
When the place you grew up in, your family lives in, you have become familiar with goes to crap, just walk away. No sense pointing out what is wrong or trying to make it better. Just let life and society roll over you...
No place someone will live is perfect, but we should never stop trying to make them better (of course, many times, this "making it better" is what makes it worse)
To continue the tangent, I do have a passport. I've spent some time in Canada, Mexico and parts of the Caribbean. That's enough for me.
Not much in the rest of the world is of interest to me. I don't see myself ever going to the other continents.
In reply to Toyman01 :
You need to go to prague. Where beer is better and cheaper than water.
In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :
I don't doubt it. But I also don't drink beer. 
In reply to Toyman01 :
I dont either. Stupid gout.
Anyway. Amazing place. Amazing history. It's cool to go to a place and stand on a bridge built 400 or so years before our country was founded.
I took my wife to barcelona this year. First time she had ever been to europe. She's hooked now. Its fun to see all the ways we are alike and different.
pheller said:It has nothing to do with the taxes, although it may have something to do with the government, or lack thereof.
As a whole, the electric utility industry does not have much in the way of operating regulations. Basically, keep the power on, don't kill anyone. For most of the industry that's pretty easy, and it doesn't regulate where you put your poles and wires.
Other utilities (telecoms and ISPs aside) are heavily regulated, water and gas specifically, because it was long thought that water and gas could kill someone when they go wrong. The states and feds watch those utilities with varying degrees of sensitivity. By comparison, the gas utility industry is constantly asked to remove potentially hazardous pipe, or install excess flow valves, or increase monitoring of steel or cast iron system, or increase monitoring and safety measures at regulator stations. Those regulations and requirements are not applied similarly to the electric industry.
The electric utilities are typically watched from a more financial standpoint, keep ENRON from happening again.
Trouble is, in California at least, it's pretty clear that letting PG&E operate like every other electric utility in the USA doesn't really work so well. Different environment with different challenges. Regulators missed that decades ago, and here we are.
I don't know about California, but the electric companies in Illinois are heavily regulated.
pheller said:It has nothing to do with the taxes, although it may have something to do with the government, or lack thereof.
As a whole, the electric utility industry does not have much in the way of operating regulations. Basically, keep the power on, don't kill anyone. For most of the industry that's pretty easy, and it doesn't regulate where you put your poles and wires.
Other utilities (telecoms and ISPs aside) are heavily regulated, water and gas specifically, because it was long thought that water and gas could kill someone when they go wrong. The states and feds watch those utilities with varying degrees of sensitivity. By comparison, the gas utility industry is constantly asked to remove potentially hazardous pipe, or install excess flow valves, or increase monitoring of steel or cast iron system, or increase monitoring and safety measures at regulator stations. Those regulations and requirements are not applied similarly to the electric industry.
The electric utilities are typically watched from a more financial standpoint, keep ENRON from happening again.
Trouble is, in California at least, it's pretty clear that letting PG&E operate like every other electric utility in the USA doesn't really work so well. Different environment with different challenges. Regulators missed that decades ago, and here we are.
So much incorrect in this it would take me days to fix it. Sorry but just not true. Jcamper
aircooled said:STM317 said:All I'm going to say is that we all make a choice every day to live where we do. Humans have been uprooting their lives and moving to greener pastures for as long as there have been humans. Live in a place where you can live your best life. If you decide that's CA, with it's climate (both natural and political), then you just accept the drawbacks as the cost of doing business, and hopefully do your best to mitigate.
In other words:
When the place you grew up in, your family lives in, you have become familiar with goes to crap, just walk away. No sense pointing out what is wrong or trying to make it better. Just let life and society roll over you...
No place someone will live is perfect, but we should never stop trying to make them better (of course, many times, this "making it better" is what makes it worse)
Yeah, uprooting your life is never an easy choice. It wasn't an easy choice for European immigrants to leave behind their lives and strike out for the US in the early 20th century. It's not an easy choice for the people literally walking 1000s of miles from South/Central America to try to get into the US now. They left everything they love behind because they think there's a better chance of happiness somewhere else.
There are some things about CA that are impossible to change (Environmental things like Earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides, water shortages, etc) and some things that are just very unlikely to change (the political and business environment). You can continue to invest your time into a situation/location that's trending in a direction you don't like, hoping to turn it around, or you can cut your losses and look to invest your time into a place with a trajectory that you find more appealing (assuming there is one). I'm not condemning anybody for their choices, but you're making a choice either way.
What's easier for an individual to change, the political/commerce/environmental situations of an entire state, or where they choose to live? If complaining about your surroundings makes you feel better temporarily I guess that's fine but moving might actually bring real happiness. Everybody has their limit to what they'll tolerate. If the benefits of living in a place outweigh the drawbacks, then stick around. If the good stuff just isn't worth the stress/hassle, then maybe it's time for a change? Control what you can control. If you'd be happier somewhere else, that's entirely within your control. Why choose to be unhappy? If you wouldn't be happier anywhere else, and you're convinced you're in the best spot for you, even with it's warts, then aren't you kind of critiquing the Mona Lisa? It's like the guy who's married to a supermodel complaining about putting up with her crap. All I'm saying is If the juice isn't worth the squeeze, you don't have to put up with it.
Fueled by Caffeine said:In reply to Toyman01 :
You need to go to prague. Where beer is better and cheaper than water.
Prague is on my list.
Ireland, Scotland, England, Normandy, Prague, then somewhere in Germany, Poland, and Italy. And the Camino de Santiago. That is the bucket list for me. Hopefully I'll get to some of them some day, but if I don't that is ok.
So far I've only done Jamaica and Canada.
I work in the gas utility industry. We work very closely with our electric utility partners.
Their level of regulation is nothing compared to ours in terms of being told how to put things in the ground, what things to take out of the ground, how often to check for problems, etc.
Electric utilities need meet requirements about amount of time the power can be off (system reliability) but nobody is telling them "you need to replace these old wires every 10 years".
I want someone to correct me, so I can learn, because from my experience the electric utility industry is swimming in money and aside from financial regulation, is not being required to install expensive equipment per regs.
STM317 said:.There are some things about CA that are impossible to change (Environmental things like Earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides, water shortages, etc)
I’m sorry but none of these things are “Impossible” to greatly improve.
I’ll just take “water shortages” since that’s what I posted about earlier in this thread.
Simple, just cancel the stupid high-speed train project and redirect the funding to raising the Shasta Lake dam or build a pipeline from southern Oregon to Lake Shasta; solved!!!
Our politicians won’t do it because they can’t line their pockets by buying up the land the high-speed train will be built on before the route is announced to the public.
I'm with aircooled…I’ve lived my whole life in California…this is my home…I’m not going to cut and run, I’m going to attack the bad guys and fight to fix MY HOME.
As both a customer and a longtime shareholder, I am very pleased with the level of reliability that Dominion Virginia Energy has maintained.
https://sustainability.dominionenergy.com/energy-reliability-and-affordability/electric-reliability/
Perhaps CA could learn something by examining the relationship between the Commonwealth of Virginia and Dominion Energy.
Alternatively, much could be accomplished if PG&E's customers banded together and marched on corporate headquarters with righteous anger, torches, and pitchforks instead of doing a doormat imitation.
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