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PGE our friendly Bay Area Utility

So basically, you should be kind, and most of you are pathetic. Sounds about right.
 
scratchpad said:
Is "Leading with love" not good enough for all of you angry souls?

If you cant beat them, join them. They are hiring grunts. Most of you could'nt cut it though.
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Perhaps you missed this...

Bay Arean said:
IT IS NOT THE BRAVE LINEMEN WHO ARE COOKING UP THE QUARTERLIES AND CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY WITH THE PUC. Just stop with that noise.
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Escape pod said:
I’m extremely happy with PG&E. the service they provide has been a constant unrelenting unfluctuating voltage. PG&E has been very dependable and problem free.
I have a large fish tank that relies on PG&E for the circulation and oxygen and I’ve had the tank over 30 years. No power issues.
Bill has always been concise and accurate.
Thank you, PG&E for the service you provide please keep it up.
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You haven't had an outage in 30 years? Well good for you. Perhaps you share a grid segment with a hospital or other "critical" load. Or perhaps you're engaging in a bit of defensive prevarication.

OTOH, I can't recall a 30 *day* period without some kind of outage. In fact, my power is out this morning - a clear, calm morning without a whisper of wind or a cloud in the sky. A few minutes ago:

jcphpyb.png


byke said:
So you're the one! I always figured there had to be one person happy with pge, somewhere. Someone actually happy, not a pge bot review, but an actual person.
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Stockholm syndrome is the kindest of the possibilities.

littlebeast said:
we have a 24kw generac. two winters ago we lost power for 13 days (snowmaggedon). we are on a meter for our propane (plumbed propane from 6 huge tanks that service 14 homes). the bill for that month was a little over $1,500. i’m too lazy to chase down the bill and do the math, but have never had a PG&E bill that was even half that. not that they don’t suck. we also got evacuated during the 80,000 acre mosquito fire - which last i heard, PG&E is under criminal investigation for.
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Sounds like you don't have battery backup? In a properly set up system with battery, the generator only starts when the batteries are depleted, charges them under full load to a preset threshold and then shuts off. I.e., it runs in its most efficient envelope. That scenario is where the 53 cent per kw/h comes from.

The difference in consumption between partial and full load is not proportional - it becomes really inefficient at partial loads. Meaning that if you're running it constantly during an outage, all bets are off cost-wise.
 
jt2 said:
OTOH, I can't recall a 30 *day* period without some kind of outage. In fact, my power is out this morning - a clear, calm morning without a whisper of wind or a cloud in the sky. A few minutes ago:
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Hey Jeff can you tell me about your system?

Also, what general area are you in? Not being able to go 30 days without interruption seems not awesome. We're in the sticks too, but often go months without an outage. I keep an eye on yubanet and have noticed certain areas up 49 and out 20 that are always having issues and have never understood why there are so many outages without the weather that normally causes it.
 
I believe PG & E workers do a good job and many work in a very difficult industry. Boots on the ground folks I have met have always been solid. Just had one to my home and he rocked.

$2.2B profit should not be viewed negatively when they are raising their rates. OK that last part is bullshit, but the first part is not.
 
byke said:
Hey Jeff can you tell me about your system?

Also, what general area are you in? Not being able to go 30 days without interruption seems not awesome. We're in the sticks too, but often go months without an outage. I keep an eye on yubanet and have noticed certain areas up 49 and out 20 that are always having issues and have never understood why there are so many outages without the weather that normally causes it.
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We're outside of Murphys.

Other than the actual panels, I went with all Enphase because after a lot of research IMO they have the best end-to-end system integration and management. High level specs: 22kw ground mount array w/IQ8 inverters, 8x IQ 5P batteries (40kw/h total), with a 22kw Generac with a dedicated 300 gallon propane tank.

It is probably overkill (though there's a lot of conditioned space), and certainly wasn't cheap but I got good and sick of not only the endless outages but also the constant rate hikes so wanted something that I could go fully off grid if necessary. I'm absolutely thrilled with the system, not least of which is from the satisfaction of not subsidizing PG&E's criminality any further.
 
budman said:
I believe PG & E workers do a good job and many work in a very difficult industry. Boots on the ground folks I have met have always been solid. Just had one to my home and he rocked.

$2.2B profit should not be viewed negatively when they are raising their rates. OK that last part is bullshit, but the first part is not.
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Absolutely not.

Any labor forcing corrupt and antiquated compensation models on the public through monopoly or legislation denying fair competition should be called out for the graft and corruption they are participating in.
 
Brokenlink said:
Also, while it's easy to blame the company for not maintaining their lines, it's not that simple. The amount of permits, public outcry, and agency pushback on any maintenance related project is insane. We have dead trees, burned in fires but caused by pg&e that have been sitting for two or three years because we can't get through the permitting process due to agency personnel.issues and egos. It's soul sucking to say the least.
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I have zero doubt that is true. The Gubment can't get the F out of its own way when it comes to stuff like this. The Coastal commission is one that is out of control too. I just don't understand... oh different thread for that. :laughing
 
budman said:
I believe PG & E workers do a good job and many work in a very difficult industry. Boots on the ground folks I have met have always been solid. Just had one to my home and he rocked.

$2.2B profit should not be viewed negatively when they are raising their rates. OK that last part is bullshit, but the first part is not.
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Please; let’s not exaggerate using bullshit!

Pacific Gas & Electric operating expenses for the quarter ending December 31, 2023 were $5.906B, a 12.71% increase year-over-year.
Pacific Gas & Electric operating expenses for the twelve months ending December 31, 2023 were $21.757B, a 9.65% increase year-over-year.
Pacific Gas & Electric annual operating expenses for 2023 were $21.757B, a 9.65% increase from 2022.
Pacific Gas & Electric annual operating expenses for 2022 were $19.843B, a 5.78% increase from 2021.
Pacific Gas & Electric annual operating expenses for 2021 were $18.759B, a 12.24% increase from 2020.
 
Prolly dumb question, but do the operating expenses include past liability payments and bankruptcy expenses with interest accrued? The issue of functional maintenance matters
the most, epic fails there.
 
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So you are saying because expenses went up 2b in profit is OK?
 
Escape pod said:
Please; let’s not exaggerate using bullshit!
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That seems a little incongruous from a guy who claims to not have had a single outage in 30 years, that PG&E is efficient, reliable, honest and reasonably priced. Heroic, even. :laughing

:rofl
 
budman said:
So you are saying because expenses went up 2b in profit is OK?
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They should not post a single nickel in profit until they have made the necessary infrastructure mitigations to ensure that there is no need to cut power when it gets windy. As long as there is an active PSPS program, not one nickel.

Likewise with rate increases - as long as they remain the highest cost electric utility in the CONUS despite being among the highest in no-fuel generation (hydro, geo...), any posted profit should be seen as an opportunity for RICO charges.
 
jt2 said:
They should not post a single nickel in profit until they have made the necessary infrastructure mitigations to ensure that there is no need to cut power when it gets windy. As long as there is an active PSPS program, not one nickel.

Likewise with rate increases - as long as they remain the highest cost electric utility in the CONUS despite being among the highest in no-fuel generation (hydro, geo...), any posted profit should be seen as an opportunity for RICO charges.
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Can’t underestimate and/or control the power of Mother Nature. No matter whatever mitigations you can come up with. PSPS is to help prevent any catastrophic events. You know like the ones that people died in the past with.

Businesses are in business to make money.
 
scratchpad said:
Can’t underestimate and/or control the power of Mother Nature. No matter whatever mitigations you can come up with. PSPS is to help prevent any catastrophic events. You know like the ones that people died in the past with.

Businesses are in business to make money.
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re: making money I'm about as capitalist as they come, but there is clearly a line that needs to be drawn on a monopoly utility posting a profit when they've been criminally negligent on maintaining infrastructure to the point where it costs lives, homes and billions of dollars of damage.

True that you can't control the weather, but if memory serves, in most if not all of the major fires, negligence on the part of PG&E was a major factor. They need to make whatever investments are necessary to bulletproof the infrastructure - and because of their criminal negligence, THEY should foot the bill, not ratepayers.

scratchpad said:
“Leading with Love” is Pg&e CEO Patti Poppe’s slogan

There was a bit of sarcasm in my comment
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Whoosh. My bad. :thumbup
 
If home electricity is necessary for social stability, which it totally is in a country like the US, then it becomes a national security issue and should be operated the same as a non-profit public water/sewer/etc service.
 
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