Posted on 10/21/2019 2:43:38 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Frustrated by PG&E Corp. PCG 3.61% ’s California blackouts and its existing options for exiting bankruptcy, the mayor of the state’s third-biggest city is proposing something radically different: turn the company into the nation’s largest customer-owned utility.
San Jose hopes to persuade other California cities and counties in coming weeks to line up behind the plan, which would strip PG&E of its status as an investor-owned company and turn it into a nonprofit electric-and-gas cooperative, Mayor Sam Liccardo said in an interview.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at store.wsj.com ...
“Where are the shareholders’ yachts?”
In essence the residents already own it since they will end up paying for all the fixed and liabilities via rate increases.
I am not taking that job. No way no how.
Capitalism bad bump.
” the nation’s largest customer-owned utility.”
Also known as spreading the liability on to everyone else.
I’m waiting for when Kali media, instead of announcing blackouts, will start lauding when the power will be on, and how the next 5 year plan will increase the power from two hours to three, per day...
Dang. What could possibly go wrong?
Exactly what is happening to PG&E. Heavily regulated by the state PUC, a commission of socialist bureaucrats in California. PG&E is damned if they do, damned if they don't - on anything. My wife worked as a manager at PG&E, and often complained about the PUC crippling PG&E from being successful. They forced PG&E to divest their most profitable ventures, giving them to 3rd-party companies, but forced PG&E to maintain and pay for the infrastructure. How many companies can do business like that and survive? State regulation strangled the company, now they want more regulation?
It was only a matter of time... After all, the immense successes as a result of the nationalization of other industries, worldwide, speak for themselves... /s
Ha! That will put the public in peril for all future fire damage and the expense of clearing brush from rights of way, likely in violation of Cali enviro laws.
You forgot....ALL wage negotiations with energy labor unions will be resolved in favor of the employees!
This fiasco can be laid squarely at the feet of the environmentalists and their garbage. California used to do controlled burns and you didn’t have these massive fires, but the weenies screamed until they were stopped. Nature needs those burns to reseed and clear out the dead stuff. Either we do the burns and dictate the results or she takes over and to heck with us. Sue the crap out of the environmentalists and let PG&E get back to running an electric company.
I don’t blame PG&E for the cutoffs since the state sued them for the damage due to previous fires. If California is going to make a business responsible for California’s stupid decisions, then they have nothing to complain about when that business cuts the power to keep from causing fires. Can’t have it both ways dipsticks!
It will have the same lack-of-investment problems as the privately owned utility, and it will be under more political pressure than ever to take actions that raise the cost of electricity.
How to make California into Venezuela:
Step 1 Tax the crap out of everyone and everything
Step 2 Take control of the energy supply
FBI raids at DWP, L.A. City Hall related to fallout from billing debacle
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-22/fbi-searches-dwp-headquarters-in-downtown-l-a
The costs come partly from maintaining enormous lengths of distribution and transmission lines serving few customers. This is part of the obligation to serve clause public utilities are stuck with.
Add to that new obligations to purchase electricity uneconomically. And besides that also they are excused from much of the regulatory burden.
Many communities with fairly dense customer bases want out of the utilities system as they don’t get stuck with that requirement to serve scattered customers. Even more so if they own generation facilities, as many irrigation districts do.
But in the end someone will get caught holding the bag, with uneconomic territory, infrastructure, regulation, and expensive generation.
No, it is rural distribution lines that are most vulnerable.
The thousands of miles of regular power poles out in the countryside, connecting a very scattered population to the grid.
Its not just the PUC.
All utilities are subject to multiple layers of regulators. The PUC is just one of them.
All of them inflate costs.
I did an analysis once of the manpower devoted to maintenance and replacement of gas pipelines (mainly retail/last mile). The admin back end and overhead FTE’s were about 3X the people in the field actually digging up and replacing pipe.
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