Potential Power Outages

The way I see it pg&e is trying to get rate hikes approved + immunity bill passed. If they wanted to they could have prevented all of this along time ago by installing the proper infrastructure  ( basically industrial sized gfci's and buried cable where appropriate) but they decided to milk profits and argue that it is cost prohibitive.
Now they are continuing typical corporate raider BS to milk it dry before the state either gives them what they want or we take over with MUD like in Sacramento

Definitely one of the possible motives 

Roseville, CA has power (not part of PG&E) and most utilities are underground. 

My Parents have been without power in Napa since midnight.

the cost of making their power lines safe from dried trees would be less if they had maintained them the whole time, instead of finally getting to it after they cause a multi county fire.

Yes, it's costly now, but it seems like they thought the cost of maintaining the power lines was more than the cost of people's home's and lives.  And they haven't done much soul searching yet either. but then again, what customers are they going to lose?

Is it actually windy where anyone is right now ? I'm in Napa where power has been out since midnight, and there's just the slightest breath of a northwest wind. Haven't seen the shift to an easterly component yet. So far, this looks like another egg on the face of PGE.

Another thing that frustrates me about the situation with pg&e, is that instead of having a conversation about why their equipment isn't safe to operate under certain weather conditions, and how to make it safe, they suggest that everyone go and fire up a generator.
How many thousands of inexperienced people are hooking up generators and running them in extremely dangerous red flag conditions?
 Are we really safer, or has the culpability just shifted, away from the party big enough to do something about it.

Another thing that frustrates me about the situation with pg&e, is that instead of having a conversation about why their equipment isn't safe to operate under certain weather conditions, and how to make it safe, they suggest that everyone go and fire up a generator.
How many thousands of inexperienced people are hooking up generators and running them in extremely dangerous red flag conditions?
 Are we really safer, or has the culpability just shifted, away from the party big enough to do something about it.

Couldn't have said it better. 

If you have any fancy equip like a 4K 60” tv.... I highly suggest unplugging it from power... before PG&E kicks power back on.... we come across that often. And TV cable boxes. Modems and computers get Fried.

Is it actually windy where anyone is right now ? I'm in Napa where power has been out since midnight, and there's just the slightest breath of a northwest wind. Haven't seen the shift to an easterly component yet. So far, this looks like another egg on the face of PGE.

My Aunt north of Yuba City says its very windy right now

Is it actually windy where anyone is right now ?

Barely a breeze in downtown SJ today, and just a light breeze up here in the hills. We still have power. Too bad, as I was hoping to be without for a few days... Gotta put the standby generator to the test once in a while...

My Parents have been without power in Napa since midnight.

the cost of making their power lines safe from dried trees would be less if they had maintained them the whole time, instead of finally getting to it after they cause a multi county fire.

Yes, it's costly now, but it seems like they thought the cost of maintaining the power lines was more than the cost of people's home's and lives.  And they haven't done much soul searching yet either. but then again, what customers are they going to lose?

Its really not that simple. To maintain the transmission lines across Northern California is a TREMENDOUS task. Not all trees and vegetation are on public lands or easements. Many times trees close to transmission lines are on private property and homeowners do not want their trees touched. The state and department of forestry need to assist as well

Another thing that frustrates me about the situation with pg&e, is that instead of having a conversation about why their equipment isn't safe to operate under certain weather conditions, and how to make it safe, they suggest that everyone go and fire up a generator.
How many thousands of inexperienced people are hooking up generators and running them in extremely dangerous red flag conditions?
 Are we really safer, or has the culpability just shifted, away from the party big enough to do something about it.

. Installing a generator by a trained professional should pose no risk. Its much different than high voltage transmission lines in dangerous conditions   

The cost to adequately trim the vegetation around all the power lines would be insane.

Not so sure about that. PG&E does not trim around the powerline along the road to our house. I complained and took it all the way to the PUC, and they agreed that PG&E should not (and, in fact, cannot by the rules they set) trim on our road. But, that was because we are the only house on the road. As I understand it, if there is more than one house on a line, they are required to trim.

And, in fact, trimming does make a huge difference. In the 12 years we've been here, the power line has been ripped off the roof of our house twice due to falling trees/branches, and a couple more times we had trees/branches down the lines, but were lucky enough to stay connected to it. Our road/drive is only 1/10th of a mile long. In contrast, the much longer roads in our immediate neighborhood all get trimmed regularly by PG&E, because there are multiple houses. To my knowledge, none of them have had a downed line in that same time period.

You might wonder why we don't trim it ourselves. Well, we don't own any of the land, and there are 5 different land owners along that short stretch of road. One of those friendly neighbors went ballistic when I trimmed a 1" diameter branch that was rubbing on our car every time we drove by. Actually, I get along with all of the neighbors, but they tend to all be a bit quirky. Maybe that's why I fit in so well...

PG&E is in a hell of spot.  People complain when power lines start a fire and when they cut off power during wind events.  The cost to adequately trim the vegetation around all the power lines would be insane.   They really can't win with the customer.

This is so true

You might wonder why we don't trim it ourselves. Well, we don't own any of the land, and there are 5 different land owners along that short stretch of road. One of those friendly neighbors went ballistic when I trimmed a 1" diameter branch that was rubbing on our car every time we drove by

This is seriously part of the problem. Utilities need permission to trim trees on private property and many times aren't given it

Read on Twitter an interesting opinion: that the power outrages are not about preventing fires but rather to absolve PG&E of any responsibility should a fire occur. Ie more about avoiding litigation than actually preventing fires. I’m not knowledgeable enough to cogently argue this one way or another but sounds likely given the precarious financial state of the company. Thoughts?

I view the outages as more of a big middle finger to California for being held financially responsible for the 2017 fires, but I'm pretty cynical. Yours sounds like a more reasonable explanation. Or maybe a little of both.

The Tubbs fire was NOT caused by PG&E.  But the courts are allowing lawsuits against them for Not shutting off the power. 

Our power has been off since about midnight. It's good to have a standby generator with automatic transfer switch! I installed it more than 10 years ago, and it's still going strong...

Our power has been off since about midnight. It's good to have a standby generator with automatic transfer switch! I installed it more than 10 years ago, and it's still going strong...

Looks like evergreen and some parts of east san jose have been turned off since midnight.

Snipe and Pork,

Thanks for the opposing argument.

this would all be solved if we just went out and raked the forest