PG&E was the cause of the Paradise California burn down, and will probably be sued out of business. The issue is one of appropriate design for areas of high winds. Pole spacing and conductor separations need to be sized to the environment. Apparently they haven't been.
So, who is going to provide the power now? Some company that can magically fix all these problems? If it's easy then any company can do it. Perhaps the lawyers can engineer a solution...
Sued out of existence does not mean non-existence. It means, as GM has so plainly shown, a new life. Either a new PG&E will emerge, or someone will purchase the company parts and continue to provide service. It is plain, however, that PG&E cannot survive as it is in the face of the lawsuits from the fires of last year.
All true. But who is going to buy the company and fix all these problems. Are the customers OK with raising the rates to fix the problems? Or do they expect it to be done for free?
This is California. These things always get fixed. They are always expensive. And those of us who have lived there have paid. And those who continue to live there will continue to pay. It might not fly in Nebraska, but that is the reality in a state economy that is larger than most of the world's countries.
It has nothing to do with the size of your economy. What matters is the bills that the customers actually pay. If the rate payers in Ca get tired of the rates, the rates will change. But experience shows that CA customers are not rate sensitive.
While your statement makes sense in an environment of competition, it is null and void for natural gas, electric power and water/sewer systems. The rate you are given is the rate you will pay. The only way to pay less for power is to generate your own power (which may soon be highly regulated) or reduce consumption. That's why every year millions of snowbirds boondock in the California/Arizona BLM areas where they can power their lifestyle off the sun, compost their sewage, and piss in the wind.
