Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Atlas is shrugging - and the liberal trash who bought on this sorry state of affairs will double down on class warfare while pursuing more regulations & strangulations...
So, not a peep about Obama and the EPA shutting down all those coal plants that generate electricity, eh? We have the most anti-energy, anti-progress government in history, and still people don’t get it. Heaven help us!
Welcome to 0bama's future of bankrupt coal fired power plants.
You asked for it, it's sustainable and green. What's not to like?
Yeah because its totally in the interest of the utility to drag its feet in repairing and providing service.
Yeah, that will work, huh? I know when my boss is standing over me I feel sooo much more motivated (not). Like they are not trying their best. What an insult.
Get used to it.
0bama wants all of us to live without electricity.
Racist electricity: always trying to get away from the black wires and to the white wires...
Ridiculous
The grid is old, the work is spread out, these people are acting like lunatics
Good UNION WORKERS WILL TAKE THEIR SWEET TIME ON OVERTIME to get the power back on. Perhaps the Mayor will call BHO to make it a National disaster and proclaim a week off with pay for all DC Gov employees.
Must be time for the fed to take over PEPCO!
Wait for it...
All these electric companies are running worker lean - depending on other companies to send crews when the crap hits. The crews from other parts of the country from other companies are just hitting the areas now - give them time.
The same screaming happened last October in New England- there were companies working those lines from as far as California...takes a while to drive equipment over hill and dale.
If I was in that position and took incoming crap like that, I’d resign and tell the complainers, “OK, if you’re so smart, YOU do it.”
I live in MD in the affected area. I went without power for 55 hours.
The main problem with PEPCO is that it doesn’t have an effective catastrophic response plan. I work in telecommunications [specifically, disaster recovery] and have a lot of expertise in this area. Power is not the same as telecom - but is similar enough.
Two examples:
First, PEPCO is either incompetant, lying to the public, or both.
It claimed that it spent the first 24 hours conducting a comprehensive field assessment of the damage. Yet, after 48 hours, it tried to claim that there was not a 4 1/2 foot diameter tree - together with two telephone poles and downed power lines laying across the entire southbound lanes of Connecticut Avenue in Kensington, MD [my town just outside DC].
Just so happens that this route is probably the most major traffic commuter artery in the area. Not that they had to restore the power there sooner - but NOT clearing the debris [the downed power lines were dead] for more than 48 hours is unforgiveable.
It took someone notifying the local news to do a spot at 11 pm on Sunday night - and lo and behold, the PEPCO crews came out at 5 am Monday, removed the debris, AND restored the power.
Quite a feat for PEPCO, considering it denied that this situation in the first place ...
Second, PEPCO has no common sense.
It requested [and got] a 4-truck electric utility crew from Maine to come down here to help out. The crew drove 13 hours on Monday and was sent into my community immediately.
They came onto my cul-de-sac, turned around, and then stopped. They got out of their trucks and were inspecting maps. I went out and asked if there was a problem, since my street’s power was already restored.
They told me that PEPCO told them to go into my community to repair downed power equipment - but had not given the crew any names, address, or telephone numbers where the outages had occurred - OR A PEPCO TECHNICIAN TO RIDE WITH THEM TO SHOW THEM WHERE TO GO. And this is a 12-street, 300 home community. They had no idea where they were.
I was able to direct them to streets where I knew outages had occurred. And, after that, they were able to help out.
This after months of TV ads touting how Pepco has been improving service. Back to the drawing board Pepco! Less talk, more do!
I wouldn't get upset until recovery of electrical service takes more than 10 days. Why? BECAUSE that is typically how long it takes the Gulf Coast to recover from a significant hurricane.
When you take a hard look at the weather system that hit last week it was essentially a dry land hurricane. When you looked at the duration of the storm it was essentially a dry land hurricane. when you look at the area affected it was essentially a dry land hurricane.
So, how is an electrical company supposed to immediately repair damages of that level without any prior experience, reserve (and taxed) non-revenue producing resources, and no written agreements for mutual support from surrounding companies?
In the Gulf Coast you will see convoys of utility and tree removal trucks moving towards a hurricane's projected landfall 24 hours BEFORE landfall. In the Gulf Coast you will see established truck parks for those trucks 100 miles outside the projected landfall 12-18 hours BEFORE landfall.
I could go on with the differences between those who are (unfortunately) experienced with major utility interruptions and those who ain't.
Bottom line - people were caught totally unprepared and are now paying for it.
This week I am replacing my old generator, it still works thanks to annual inspections and repairs, because it is a decade old and I don't want it to crap out two days after a storm hit. Wonder if any one in the Mid-Atlantic states did anything similar to this last year?