Under cover of darkness

Don't worry everybody, we're fine here in northern California. As you may have heard, the unchallenged monopoly that is Pacific Gas and Electric has shut off power to hundreds of thousands of us in an effort to avoid devastating wildfires. Which they kind of caused. Through gross negligence. So what, do they want a cookie?

Because they're not getting one.

"Zzzzzt."

-Power lines

2018's Camp Fire was caused by a power line breaking and starting a blaze that killed 85 people and destroyed over eighteen thousand buildings. It was terrible, but I think many of us lost sight of the real victims here: PG&E. The company as a result of the lawsuits filed in the fire's wake were forced to declare bankruptcy just to stay in business. Which they're bad at. But I mean, it's not like they started the fire, they just let their equipment deteriorate to such a degree it was the direct cause of the fire.

They're only human right? What were they supposed to do? Invest their earnings back into maintaining equipment and infrastructure and trimming back trees that could snap power lines? And not pay its shareholders $4.5 billion in dividends?

"Wildfires? Sound like a poor problem."

-Typical PG&E shareholder

Did they even take into consideration what
this could do to the echo containment grid?
I mean, this is how you get ghosts.

Ok, so the reasoning behind the power outages is that in the event of high winds, the utility will simply cut the power and avoid another flame-ravaged hellscape like the last eighteen times this has happened. Cool. But less cool is the fact that this isn't a light switch we're talking about. According to PG&E, bringing the power back online could take as many as five days. Hospitals have generators, but most of us don't which can be a problem for older people or people with disabilities who may rely on power for home medical equipment.

Also, not to get all capitalist on us here, but a lot of people have, you know, jobs. And many businesses won't open if there's no power meaning plenty of employees will just lose days of work and consequently, pay.

Hey underpaid retail workers, you ok to
take another one for the team? Super.

Ironically, a monster would be a valid reason
to take the drastic step of shutting off the power.

But surely it's better to suffer some economic consequences if it means saving lives, right? Of course it is. I'm not a monster. But the trigger for making the call to shut off the power was supposed to be high winds and low humidity, specifically forty miles per hour winds and less than twenty percent humidity. These, coupled with poorly maintained infrastructure cause fires. And that's a sensible move except I don't think those conditions actually panned out. They certainly didn't where I live and same same up north according to this.

So imagine our surprise when, after the time of the shut off was pushed back three times because the winds never picked up, like at all, we all woke up in total darkness anyway. I suppose we can take solace both in the knowledge that we are safe from winds gusting upwards of seven miles per hour and that PG&E's shareholders won't see their portfolios take a hit.

On the upside, when we finally hit our breaking point and go
after the 1%, we'll be able to do so under cover of darkness.