I’m interested in hearing other Californian’s views on this decision.

Up front, I think the sate, power companies and courts have chosen to punish residents until they get whatever they want.  I’m not sure what they want.

They have tried to frame it as a choice between fires or power.  If you want power, then you will get fires.  If you don’t want fires then you don’t get power.

With the number of fires burning in areas that have been without power, it seems their solution is a failure.

The past two weeks have been like living in a third world country.  Either the power has been off or it’s constant emails from SCE threatening to turn the power off.

I can’t imagine having to work, get kids to school, and live daily life here long term with the uncertainty of the current situation.

Hopefully, we can discuss the matter without the thread turning into a dumpster fire, no pun intended.

(Note:  I’m a Floridian, but currently living in California for a few years)

PGE doesn't want to be punished for damages caused by decades of poor maintenance practices.  It's a big job and costs a lot of money.  Newsome doesn't want to be held responsible for the state's poor forest/range management decisions.  So let's blame the utility company.  They're both acting like cunts.  Just my opinion.

The fact is local municipalities are afraid of the green lawyers and won’t give permission for the land management.

Also the PUC won’t give up the money for any maintenance until it breaks.

So Pg&e get the blame but really the people responsible are the Sacramento politicians.

I’ll keep buying Pg&e stock.

The problem lies partially with PG&E but mostly with poor forest management.  Bottom line.

Paradise was a shitstorm waiting to happen from ANY ignition source.  A cigarette butt could have burned that place to the ground.  In a big, forested, often dry state forests need to be, well, forested.

PG&E is in bankruptcy court.  They are padding their expenses on the balance sheet to keep more of their assets, and pay the creditors less.  They are protection their land investments.  They are one of the top land owners in the state.

Sacramento has been wanting to get PG&E's 36,000 acres in that area for a preservation.  They don't want to pay for it.

The power of turning off on a massive scale for "safety reasons" come from new regulations earlier this year that allows monopoly power companies to self-regulate.  We saw what happened when the FAA gave up the power to certify to Boeing.

The utilities have not been willing to spend money to upgrade and/or maintain.  That has been fine with both the stockholders and PUC and state for decades.  Now it is biting them and nobody wants to take the blame.

Burying all "local" lines is cost prohibitive and probably almost physically impossible in some of the mountain areas.

PG&E needs to get it's grid in order to allow them to cut out smaller areas.  SoCal Edison and the municipal power companies can to that to some extent in SoCal.

Electrical power needs to evolve beyond the early 1900's methods.  It will be good for the solar power companies, lithium miners and others, etc.  Plus eventually more solar power will be good for a lot of people.  Anybody that is confident the utilities can stand up to a major earthquake catastrophe will have a big surprise coming.  They can't in the short term post event.  You have your own batteries and panels, and then all you need are the guns to keep away the people who didn't plan.

Unlike after earthquakes, natural gas lines will likely still function during and after wild fires.

You could get a whole house, natural gas powered generator set up.  This would mean uninterrupted power even in the event of an electrical utility shut down.  Heck, it might even work after most earthquakes.

Storing gasoline, enough gasoline to keep your generator running after a major earthquake is, highly problematic.

Solar power works during the day but most don't have the batteries for energy storage, so no power at night.

Regularly losing the contents of your refrigerator and freezer as a consequence of utility power being shut down is not only a pain but also very expensive.  I'd guess about $2k per loss.

There are plenty of ways to power a house without electricity, but that isn’t the real issue.

In a modern world and not living in a remote area, the need for routine power outside of the grid should not be necessary.  The grid should be designed and maintained to tolerate the routine environmental conditions that occur locally.  Back up power should only be required for emergencies, not as a routine solution for bad practices and policies.

Most solar in California supplements the grid.  It is not designed to power the house.  (ETA:  Most solar wont even power the house during sunlight hours.  If grid power is off, the solar is useless.). Powering the house takes battery back ups, which are not economically feasible.  Generators will replace basic necessities, but bring along another level of issues; fires, gas storage, electrocution, carbon monoxide poisoning, pollution, noise, etc.  However, when services are down outside of the residence, like cable and internet, traffic lights, stores, gas stations and restaurants etc., nothing the resident does will replace that.  It’s not practical to live day to day without power.

We are in the third power outage in as many weeks.  Power has become unpredictable.  If a twig blows, power is shut off.  Once it is off, it takes a day and a half at minimum to restore.  There isn’t and hasn’t been a fire anywhere near us.  Our subdivision is new with under ground utilities.  We are not in a remote location by any stretch of the imagination.  (It is SCE, not PG&E here).

Damn, third in three weeks? are you in North L.A. County? We are looking at significant winds Tuesday - Thursday where I'm at. I'm on the very edge of a potential power off zone and am not looking forward to it.

I bet you guys can't even get gas when the powers out, huh?
I'm not from there, but I see it on TV and I figured it was a F you from PG&E for the law suit over the fire. From what I understand it was actually negligence on their part because they got an alarm that there was a problem on the line and they ignored it.

Gas is easy to come by since the outages are local.  Just drive a block or two and there is power.

I went to an SCE community briefing.  They are assholes.  No other way to put it.

They rightfully earned the same level of respect I give TSA and the DMV.  They don’t get the benefit of the doubt.

California is on a kick to eliminate natural gas, too.  I’m pretty sure Berkeley banned gas in new construction.  So, get it installed while you can.

The current situation with electricity somewhat proves how idiotic that proposition is.

I have a tankless gas water heater that requires very little electrical power to run.  It works great under generator power and doesn’t eat up amps.  Gas stoves can operate by just igniting them with a spark or lighter.

My main problem is internet/cable.  When the nodes don’t have power they don’t work regardless of what happens in the house.  I’m going to have to consider dish options.

Depends on the outage and area.  Some rural areas, you don't have gas stations on every corner.  PG&E's outages in northern California have tended to cover larger areas than more targeted SCE outages in their areas.  I ran across outage in the Lytle Creek area near Sierra and the 15 freeway, a friend lives up the canyon.  The gas stations near the freeway, some were open for gas but their restaurants/water/restrooms were closed.  I'm guessing they had limited generator capacity and water pumping hadn't been thought out.  They were several miles from other gas stations.  Likewise, I've heard of Sierra foothill communities where gas availability was at least somewhat problematic so planning ahead for crossing some of the passes and limited options in the mountains or small communities on the east side could spoil a trip.

Of course, just on a regular basis, one should not get too low on gas in Ca., anyways given the potential for power losses in a large earthquake, etc.

It is not a “fuck you” from PG&E.  It’s sanctioned by the state (CPUC) by their guidelines and permission.  SoCal Edison does the same thing. PG&E didn’t invent it.