NICK POPE
CONTRIBUTOR
A major utility provider cut power in certain areas of California on Tuesday morning to address wildfire risks.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) warned Monday that it may shut off power in parts of Northern California and the San Francisco Bay area on Tuesday if weather conditions warrant. The utility company announced Tuesday morning that it cut power to approximately 2,000 customers to protect against wildfire risks, which are elevated in dry, gusty and hot conditions.
“Early Tuesday morning, PG&E shut off power for safety for approximately 2,000 customers across small portions of eight counties and one tribal community,” the company said in a Tuesday morning notice. “These customers had previously been informed of a potential [Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS)] event.” (RELATED: Judge Skewers PG&E Over Wildfires: ‘Global Warming Is Not Starting These Fires’)
The company contacted customers who may be affected in advance of any potential power shut offs.
“Due to favorable weather conditions, PG&E has delayed the start of the planned PSPS event for approximately 10,000 additional customers — mostly in Glenn and Shasta counties,” the company said in the Tuesday morning notice. “PG&E is continually monitoring weather conditions and will update those customers on the status of the PSPS event for their area.”
California will see high temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday, with thermometers likely to reach into the triple digits in some areas. PG&E said Monday. The company is concerned that higher temperatures could overheat power infrastructure that is already under more strain from elevated use attributable to people trying to stay cool, and that these conditions could pose a wildfire risk when combined with dry and windy weather.
At present, a major wildfire is burning in the Sierra Nevada foothills in the Fresno area, The Mercury News reported Monday.
Wildfires have cost PG&E dearly in the past. The company had to file for bankruptcy in 2019 after being sued and fined in relation to wildfires that its equipment sparked.
More recently, downed utility lines and weather conditions set the stage for the Maui fires of August 2023, which claimed more than 100 lives and were likely made worse by several befuddling decisions from elected and unelected officials.
Beyond involvement in wildfires, California’s power grid has also drawn national attention for the high electricity prices consumers face; the state had the highest residential and commercial electricity prices of any of the contiguous states in April, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Energy sector experts have attributed these costs in part to California’s expansive regulatory regime and its commitment to generating 100% of its electricity from green sources by 2045.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
__________________________________________________________
Blaming the customer for shoddy product is a quality control problem common in a lot of industries.
Whatever happened to customer service?
United used to promote its “Friendly Skies.” Now they’ll throw you off the plane before you can say they/them.
It would be bad for them to name the real culprit (the government) for many of the problems easy and cowardly to point at customer.
Being a bureaucrat at PG&E or any public utility has got to be one of the worst jobs. Imagination is a handicap. The incentive is to do whatever the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) says. About the most innovative I can imagine them being permitted is negotiating better prices for truck fleet sales.
I heard a story a few years back which I do not know is true or not, but does show that people understand the PUC is at fault. Supposedly so many people were getting paid top dollar for rooftop solar power being sent to the grid that PG&E’s budget ran dry. They asked the PUC pretty please could they raise their rates to refill it. The PUC said, no, cut spending elsewhere. So PGE cut back on tree trimming near power lines, and the result was what anybody would expect.
I do put some credence in the story, since PG&E showed up a lot less for several years, then suddenly got religion and has been very active the last few years. But it’s not the kind of thing the puppet media would ever tell.
PGE pays wholesale rate for power sent to the grid not retail.
From their site:
“California State Assembly Bill 920 allows PG&E to make payments to NEM customers who generate more electricity than they use over their 12-month billing cycle. The compensation received is called Net Surplus Compensation (NSC). The rate can vary based on wholesale market prices ranging from about two to nine cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).”
What happens is that rooftop solar reduces PGE revenue from over baseline charges, which in california are significant. It’s one of the reasons “peak hours” got shifted in cali a few years ago. They used to be 4-7pm and are now 3-9 to try to make up that revenue shortfall.
peak hours shifted because of more widespread use of A/C and homes using more power in that period in general
In Australia where the companys owning the local distribution network can be separate from the generators they now have a lines charge thats based on the peak average usage – over say 30 mins as measured by the smart meter. Its worked over the whole day. The solar uptake is extemely high in most suburbs which means wholesale price – for consumers, industries might pay much more- is a few cents for kWh in the mid afternoon.
Reports after the 2018 Camp Fire claimed that considerable parts of the PG&E transmission system was in very poor condition, leading to greater probability of downed wires. Those are a major method of starting fires. Since it is probably a multi billion $ project to fix everything, cutting power is probably the only available option.
Another report pointed out that that more and more politically conceived restrictions prevent the utility companies from cutting back tree limbs and other fire hazards far enough to put them out of danger. It also said that politicians, especially through the political appointees who had replaced the experts on the utility commissions and other interested parties (lots of overlap of responsibilities in CA) forced PG&E to use monies intended for maintenance to instead build more W & S, while denying customer price increases for more maintenance funds (but obviously allowing price increases “for the climate”).
It seemed to me that the in the trials that eventually followed the investigations, various PG&E officers took one for the cause so blame would not fall where it actually belonged.
I wouldn’t think trimming trees would be all that expensive given their huge budgets. Tree trimmers don’t get paid much.
I checked what I wrote. It really does say the utilities are prevented from adequate cutting by green politic rules, nothing about the cost of cutting back tree limbs (which is generally done with BIG machines).
It is the transmission lines and related equipment that was (still is?) not being kept up because of green politics telling the utilities to build more w & s INSTEAD OF spending the allocated maintenance money on fixing the wires, insulators, poles, and any other pieces that wear out.
I also believe that this was the case – the California govt authorities refusing to allow PG&E to clear a wider path around their power lines.
Not so. Its the land owners who object – of course- despite a legal easement. The courts support them and refuse to allow nimbyism as it needs state wide rules.
Do you have an actual ordinance or state government intervention that supports your view
Can’t see why landowners would want their properties burned over.
As soon as I read the title, I knew it was California. I grew up in California, 60- 70’s and there was never a problem. Yes, they had forest fires, but they practiced forest management back then as well.
vive forest mgt.! (from a retired forester with 50 years experience)
good forestry solves problems- but the *&^%$ enviros/greens think it causes problems and want to end all forestry (forgetting where wood comes from)
No they don’t forget where the wood comes from. They will want to make you source your wood from far-away countries where forest management and environmental protection are feeble to non-existent.
NO! Use straw and mud.
Much more housing in those semi rural areas now , could be a reason
In 1950 California only had 10 mill people, its 4x that now. The rural counties outside the major centres then will have increased too
Alameda County covering the hills across the Bay from SFO is 1.6 mill now
High temperatures, eh. We could do with some over here where it’s miserable, grey, wet and 17C just.
“”Why has summer 2024 been so cold?
Following cooler temperatures in June, the Met Office have explained the real reason why we have been having a cold start to summer.””
https://www.heart.co.uk/news/weather/why-has-summer-2024-been-so-cold/
Yes, it’s the jet stream.
June was a real disappointment and we had the heating on in the evenings it was that unwarm. Or was it?
“”‘Junuary’ was actually very sunny, says Met Office
Despite being unseasonably cold at the start, June saw more sunshine than average for the time of year””
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/01/june-was-actually-very-sunny-says-met-office/
No, it didn’t. Neither was it the warmest spring on record. Yet they say it is.
If it’s more wind and solar etc then it’s more and more cabling to connect them up. An increase in risk? I’d say it is with the current woeful approach to forest and wildfire management. That surely means more power cuts in future.
Strativarius, sorry about your cool summer, looks like you live in UK. Here in Argentina (winter) there has been so much snow accumulation that in Patagonia they are projecting that one million sheep will die. How much of the world is waiting for that Global Warming deal to kick in?
Thanks, Ron.
That’s mutton.. you ought to live here.
I live in southern Monterey county (smack in the middle of this mess) and that sounds like last years “Hottest Summa Evah!!!” here. It was one coolest summers in decades and our grape harvest lasted to almost Thanksgiving because farmers were waiting for the fruit to actually develop. This year is getting back to normal and the handwringing is phenomenal.
Actually doing wildlands management in California would be blocked by sue-and-settle lawsuits by the Green NGOs.
Actual wildland management can no longer be accomplished because Gov. Gavin Newsom outlawed the sale of all gasoline powered chainsaws in California to stop climate change starting in January 2024.
Please give gruesome a hand saw and suggest he cut very close to the tree from the limb on which he is perched.
Wow. Shutting off power with weather forecasts.
Good thing residents won’t have to pay those expensive electric bills.
Of course, more wind will generate more power, and houses with solar always have their own power …so no problem.
The magical “green” electric system, massive monetary punishments for utilitiy customers and insanely controlling government makes California absolutely Utopian.
Luckily businesses, hospitals, fire companies, police and residents aren’t hurt by outages.
No better place to live and work……right?
,…and houses with solar always have their own power.’
Do the inverters work when the utility cuts power?
The default is to cut off the inverter during an outage so it a) won’t try to power the whole grid and b) will not electrocute line workers. There are ways to avoid this by buying extra circuits that prevent the inverter from staying linked to the grid while still supplying the house.
Thanks. My stand by generator has an automatic transfer switch that decouples my load from the grid, which also means it’s most likely out of phase with the grid. I can see where some ‘extra circuits’ would allow panels to continue operating at 60 hz, but I think maintaining amperage would be a mess. Also, one of the subsidies for rooftop solar comes from selling energy back into the grid, which I assume a transfer switch would prevent.
Back in 2009. I installed 3 1/2 kilo-watt faceplate of panels on the hillside below our south-facing home. Materials cost $12,500 but Colorado Springs Utilities sent me a check for $9,500 as a rebate (they also buy back excess energy produced). A grid-tied system will shut down during a power outage, so I installed a sub-panel. This has the critical systems: well pump, refrigerator, freezer, pellet stove, LPG water heater, along with the solar panels and a 60VDC inverter/charger. The sub-panel is normally connected to the mains, but when power is out I throw one breaker and those circuits are powered by solar or twelve lead-acid batteries (14.4 nominal kWh). Oh, and I have a nine kW gas generator that can plug into the sub-panel as well. I monitor the system through my Home Assistant software.
On May 6, due to high winds, the electricity was shut off for 29 hours. I briefly ran the generator in the morning, but otherwise ran off solar or battery power.
It’s a little sketchy at night.
Not if you have a strong flashlight!
That made me choke Weel said!
Depends on the way the system is designed. Most residential systems are grid tied so Ironically, they shut off when the grid goes down. However systems designed with battery or generator backup have automatic transfer switches (which really are pretty simple devices) that isolate the house/residential system from the grid when grid power goes down. I have that kind because I live pretty rural and last year I had 5 power outages from June to Nov and it wasn’t even hot.
edit: I live in southern Monterey county where this is going on.
If gruesome continues, most everyone there will be “living pretty rural”.
There was a piece here on WUWT about the outfits managing goats used for brush
control on the coastal range in CA that were being required to increase their
employees pay by a high amount. With a hot dry spell being forecast we might now
see why the goats have been used for this work.. CA is very poorly managed.
higher pay required by who, the state?
Yes. As I recall it was overtime and double time for the herders who basically have a 24 hours per day job. Even if there isn’t much to do at night the animals have to be kept from wandering off site or being eaten by wolves.
While most people are happy with more money coming in, I suspect that many herders are people who value the time away from the noise and hustle of city life and prefer the company of animals to street gangs. In other words it is a desired life choice that can be denied by the state through employment rules.
One of the larger traveling goat grazers in the country is from ID and starts down in S CA and works his way north with his wife and kids. Lives out of a semi.
Here’s a short Utube vid of a contract grazer in WI=======>
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XcuSHL8IF10
note the age of the workers…..
With the number of foreigners coming into CA the notion that
these herders need more $$ is bull. The local sheep producers
in my area are mostly using Peruvian greencard herders.
CA. I’ve run sheep and goats but not on a contract/traveling basis,
just on our own property, my employees are mostly 4 legged and love
what they do. We contract out the shearing to a traveling crew and
sell the kid/lamb to a order buyer…
Sheep and goats do a good job when managed properly. I recall the article about extreme overtime for the herders that would probably put most companies out of business, leaving more invasive grass and brush as fire fuel.
The California Legislature is managed by democrats and has been since 1958.
Any mismanagement comes directly from the laws authored by that party. There are no other parties responsible.
“The company is concerned that higher temperatures could overheat power infrastructure…”
I’m surprised that the power infrastructure isn’t so well engineered as to not have a problem with very hot weather. Just exactly what are they talking about?
see above about maintenance. Lack thereof was what all the yelling and time in court was about after the Camp Fire debacle.
Instead of maintaining and upgrading the grid/infrastructure money was spent on chasing the NetZero holy grail. After being sued for negligence causing massive fires and losing the only recourse for the utility companies is to shut down the transmission lines when danger approaches. Let this be a lesson in unintended consequences and remembered when you want to sue the oil companies.
I understand not switching or operating field equipment on a high fire risk day, but cutting power just seems wrong.
A rather large percentage of fires are caused by wires or other parts breaking and the electricity thus able to spark the abundant tinder into really effective flames.
If their system is in that bad a state of disrepair, then that’s pretty negligent, almost criminal..
And who is it that is negligent? In California’s case it is the political controllers of the utility, repeatedly preventing the utility from doing what is necessary
Have they; our overlords forgotten.
Fire needs 3 things
Oxygen: which no one can do a thing about.
Heat: which can be from many sources, arson, hot exhaust pipe, spark from things colliding and electricity.
Fuel: is the thing that can be controlled. cut it down; plow it under; controlled burn, remove it.
BUT NO.
This turn off the power, has now spread to Maui where the powers that be are suing the power company, for burning down Lahaina.
SO
Power blackouts will be going on here as soon as the wind blows.
LAHAINA FIRE was caused by excess fuel.
Earthjustice and the Sierra Club sued and lobbied for a controlled burn ban in Hawaii that helped make the deadly Maui fires happen.
https://x.com/JunkScience/status/1708862635758788639
Hold climate change activists accountable for Maui wildfire missteps
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/2785374/hold-climate-change-activists-accountable-for-maui-wildfire-missteps/
We must send you back to the stone age to protect the environment.
It seems they are a bit late. I’m seeing over 100 fires now in CA. Colorado with 64% of the land area has 12 fires, two of which are controlled burns.
Wildfire smoke map: Track fires and red flag warnings across the US and Colorado | coloradoan.com
Calfire only has 16 active incidents listed right now (however we have had almost 3K outbreaks most of which have been handled pretty well).
https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents
but there are other agencies that might have some active (forest service, military bases,county stations, etc)
Here in south Monterey county we have something spark off almost every other day but our local guys hit them pretty hard. They generally wind up an air asset at first notice but that can change as resources get swamped.
I don’t recall the exact number claimed but in most places more than 90% of fires are started by human activity, most of it not intended to start a fire.
That jibes, but for a strange reason we get a LOT of arson out here. That and homeless fires. There are a lot of encampments along the Salinas river and their evening and warming fires frequently bust out.
OMG the illegal (in Cali) use of small gas/propane/diesel generators will proliferate by the thousands and more fires from hot exhausts and spilled fuel will be inevitable. The continued saga of unforeseen consequences from the Left.
Best of luck to everyone concerned.
In NE Washington State: Since the 2015 fire that swept through thousands of acres (due mostly through the stubbornness of the ‘tribe’ refusing help from the ‘locals’ to cut firebreaks) (but don’t say that out loud)… the brush growth has exploded, and many folk are VERY concerned that 2024 will be a scary Fall, should things remain dry.
Why would anyone care what happens in California? That socialist hell deserves all the misery it gets.
This is welcome news. In the recent past they refused to acknowledge blame for the wildfires.
Progress of sorts.