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PG&E CEO Says It Could Impose Blackouts in California for a Decade
Wall Street Journal ^ | October 18, 2019 | Katherine Blunt

Posted on 10/18/2019 4:42:30 PM PDT by karpov

PG&E Corp.’s chief executive said Friday that it could take as long as 10 years for the company to improve its electric system enough to significantly diminish the need to pull the plug on customers to reduce the risk of sparking fires.

Bill Johnson, who joined the company in May, made the disclosure at a California Public Utilities Commission hearing where the panel’s president, Marybel Batjer, sharply criticized the company’s “inadequate execution” of a shut-off in which it turned off power to large portions of Northern California for more than two days last week.

The commission convened an emergency meeting to examine PG&E’s handling of the massive blackout, which left roughly two million people in the dark and created widespread havoc from the Bay Area to the northern reaches of the state. Several of the company’s top executives were summoned to detail the problems and take questions from regulators.

“I can tell you that you guys failed on so many levels on fairly simple stuff,” Ms. Batjer said.

The agency earlier this week ordered PG&E to address numerous problems with its strategy for such blackouts, known as public safety power shut-offs. It condemned the company’s failure to provide maps and other critical information to residents and local officials ahead of the shut-off. PG&E’s website crashed for two days during the blackout, and its call centers were overwhelmed.

Mr. Johnson on Friday apologized for the hardships caused by the shut-off but defended the company’s decision to implement it, noting that none of its power lines sparked fires, even though strong winds in certain areas caused damage to its system.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; US: California
KEYWORDS: blackout; califblackouts; california; californiablackout; energy; marybelbatjer; pgande; pge
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1 posted on 10/18/2019 4:42:30 PM PDT by karpov
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To: karpov

Guess I’m going to have to invest in a bigger RV with a bigger generator.


2 posted on 10/18/2019 4:44:45 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!)
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To: karpov

The planet is scheduled to end in 11.26 years. They better hurry up.


3 posted on 10/18/2019 4:45:40 PM PDT by Libloather (CHANGE CLIMATE CHANGE!)
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To: karpov

Thanks for the warning. I’ll focus on getting a “Lights Out” plan together. Battery op radio, flashlights, canned food with pull off lids, and so on.


4 posted on 10/18/2019 4:46:03 PM PDT by lee martell
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: karpov

If these freakin’ idiot democrat “environmentalists” in California had allowed forest management instead of hugging trees and letting undergrowth to explode, there would not be near the danger of wild fires...


6 posted on 10/18/2019 4:48:13 PM PDT by JBW1949 (I'm really PC.....Patriotically Correct)
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To: karpov

The simple solution is to give the state the option to tell the utility to stay open and give it immunity from suit if there is a fire. If the state won’t do that, it can’t complain about them shutting down.


7 posted on 10/18/2019 4:50:36 PM PDT by Defiant (I hope the Russians trick me into voting for Trump again in 2020.)
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To: karpov

How many of the board members have stock in generators?


8 posted on 10/18/2019 4:51:32 PM PDT by bgill
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To: karpov

They’ll never get it right. Even if there is never another Dim president to end things, their state lawmakers will legislate the commoners back to the stone age.


9 posted on 10/18/2019 4:51:52 PM PDT by Ingtar (Bedbugs, thy name is Democrat.)
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To: karpov
Time to rub sticks together and burn whale blubber.

Fossil fuels are evil anyway. That magical outlet in the wall gives you all the power you need!

10 posted on 10/18/2019 4:52:37 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: karpov

One of the things a company looks at before moving to a country is that country’s infrastructure. Roads, telephone service, fresh water, electric power, transportation nets, etc. If any of those is dicey or intermittent, the cost of doing business there goes up. If you have to purify your own water or generate your own electricity or use Ham radio instead of telephones, your cost of doing business usually is too high to move there.

At what point will companies (and their highly paid employees) decided to move out of Californistan because it costs too much to do business there?


11 posted on 10/18/2019 4:58:19 PM PDT by Gen.Blather
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To: karpov

I thank God Almighty for inspiring me and my wife to move from our state and leave behind family and friends more than a decade ago now.

After we made the move to Florida’s central Gulf Coast we missed California, family, and friends and questioned whether we did the right thing.

But as we observed the state slipping ever further down the rabbit hole we knew we had done the right thing. And, now we are ever so glad we made the move when we did.


12 posted on 10/18/2019 4:58:49 PM PDT by ocrp1982 (Lurking since the late 90's. Recently retired. No tagline yet.)
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To: karpov

Test runs as they are trying to become the next Venezuela or North Korea.


13 posted on 10/18/2019 5:00:36 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: karpov

I suspect that most Californians are MORE THAN HAPPY to sacrifice a bit to save the planet (don’t forget - wildfires emit a HUGE amount of CO2, not to mention burning fuel)...so what’s the problem here?


14 posted on 10/18/2019 5:04:48 PM PDT by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart - I just don't te Don'tll anyone.)
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: karpov

Could they please make sure they do it on the day of the election?


16 posted on 10/18/2019 5:06:09 PM PDT by TonyM (Score Event)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
Time to rub sticks together and burn whale blubber.

Carbon neutral, renewable, organic, gluten free, non-GMO whale oil...

17 posted on 10/18/2019 5:07:23 PM PDT by null and void (Convicted spies are shot, traitors are hanged, saboteurs are subject to summary execution...)
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To: karpov
Damned if you do... Damned if you don't...
18 posted on 10/18/2019 5:07:55 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is Sam Adams now that we desperately need him)
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To: ocrp1982

... Florida’s central Gulf Coast

A little windy right now...


19 posted on 10/18/2019 5:09:17 PM PDT by HangnJudge (Kipling was right about Humanity)
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To: karpov

We had stronger winds yesterday than when we had four days of black outs.
I just got my property taxes with flyer informing me that there is now a
Vegetation Management & Defensible Space Ordinance going into affect.
There will now be on site inspections starting June 2020.


20 posted on 10/18/2019 5:10:15 PM PDT by freds6girlies (many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. Mt. 19:30. R.I.P. G & J)
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