Irresponsibility rests with PG&E
Once more, because of the irresponsibility of PG&E, the California Public Utility Commission, Governor Newsom, and the California State Legislature, thousands of rate paying citizens of California are forced to forgo electrical power at the whim of an uncaring utility company. We, the people, pay a handsome amount of funds monthly to PG&E who, in turn, have the responsibility to provide safe electrical power to many thousands of rate-payers. PG&E eloquently states “because of safety concerns” they will de-energize the power grids during adverse weather events. This is not all together fact. What PG&E fears is further litigation if juries find them responsible for fires commenced because of their aging, uncared for infrastructure. For years I have assumed PG&E charged me premium rates in rural California with the understanding that the utility company provide me with safe electrical power. Sadly this is not the case. Irresponsibility heavily rests with policies of PG&E to ignore the provision of “safe electrical power” and thus we have de-energization at their whim. I have written the CUPC, Governor Newsom, and several legislative bodies proposing that PG&E has grown so large it cannot be managed in an effective manner and the company should be split into smaller, more manageable utility companies able to provide safe power that the present PG&E seemingly cannot to its customer base. After all, is PG&E not a “public utility”? I am seething that PG&E’s power woes mirror those of North Korea who cannot provide this necessary product in a safe reliable manner. California should hang their head in shame at PG&E, at the CPUC, and the entire California legislative body for this happenstance.
— Sherman D. Baker, Kelseyville
Outage outrageous
Pacific Gas and Electric has gone too far! How dare they shut off millions of people’s lives, businesses, government and schools for some measly 40 miles per hour winds. Is their equipment so bad it breaks under such silly conditions?
Governor Newsom said it perfectly: “This is not a climate change story as much as a story about greed and mismanagement over the course of decades. Neglect, a desire to advance not public safety but profits.”
PG&E is GREEDY and has been for the last 40 years! They waste millions on advertising, trying to make us think they are the good guys! HAH! They spend millions on huge salaries and bonuses yet cannot keep the electricity on, because their equipment is ancient and decrepit. But who cares, I’m sure all their overpaid employees and rich stock holders can afford expensive generators, so they can live comfortably, while we suffer!
The greedy stockholders, overpaid and bonus-rich executives, who stole our electricity and held the North State in bondage and darkness for two days? Did they suffer as well, or did they have the best generators stolen money and crappy management can buy?
How many on the board are supporters of Trump, because only Godless demons would perpetrate the kind of pay back PG&E did. Just like the Devil Trump, Paradise sues you, so you pay us all back and put us into darkness and real danger for two breezy days.
If your PG&E’s crappy equipment can’t withstand 40 miles per hour winds, then it is time for PG&E to start investing in equipment and technology, instead of putting stolen money in their already bulging pockets.
All affected should do a class action lawsuit and own that which we have already paid for and run our own company with taxpayers as shareholders, instead of a bunch of undeserving PG&E con-artists!
Shame on all of you! Including the California Public Utility Commissioners, who have not put our interests first, but cow to every demand by PGE. How many of them have PG&E stock or have accepted “gift” from rich executives to vote the PGE way, instead of standing up for California citizens?
For forty years, I have watched PGE spend billions on ads trying to justify rate increases to “spend on safety and update equipment.” BULL! Every year PG&E sends crews to trim a few twigs off my trees, while my leaning pole has two trees growing up into the transformer on County property. Same thing on the property line, trees already twisted in the line on both sides of the fence that is our problem, even though there is no reason to run the power lines down the fence line. Every road has telephone poles that are ready to fall due to neglect!
While Governor Newsom stood by us, Congressman Doug LaMalfa, in great Trump fashion, totally sold us out, just like he did the farmers. It seems as if California, which fancies itself as one of the top world economies, is becoming a third world country. Expecting the power to stay on when the wind blows isn’t that giant a leap for mankind, yet here we are 50 years after the first moon landing having great inconvenience and personal or economic losses for many of our residents. With only a few rare exceptions, there haven’t been such huge problems until the last few years. Decades of frivolous lawsuits, foot-dragging bureaucracies, and a virtual “no-touch” forest policy have coupled with onerous regulations on utilities on where, when, how, and what kind of electricity to generate. It has all come home to roost. This traitor to California needs to go where all Trump supporters should go! Out of government!
— Pat Johnston
