Reliability and Beryl

[drcampbell]

The remnants of Hurricane Beryl passed through southeastern Michigan during the past 24 hours. We had moderately heavy rain showers -- maybe one inch per hour -- and didn't have any high winds.

I live in Ferndale, a hundred-year-old neighborhood serviced by DTE. DTE is rather lackadaisical about tree trimming, and they don't use squirrel guards at all.

All morning, I've been hearing arcs, snaps, crackles & pops, each accompanied by a brief (less than one second) outage. Ten or more per hour.

This is not at all confidence inspiring. How did we manage to let America's infrastructure sink toward turd-world nation status?

 

[jim dungar]

The remnants of Hurricane Beryl passed through southeastern Michigan during the past 24 hours. We had moderately heavy rain showers -- maybe one inch per hour -- and didn't have any high winds.

I live in Ferndale, a hundred-year-old neighborhood serviced by DTE. DTE is rather lackadaisical about tree trimming, and they don't use squirrel guards at all.

All morning, I've been hearing arcs, snaps, crackles & pops, each accompanied by a brief (less than one second) outage. Ten or more per hour.

This is not at all confidence inspiring. How did we manage to let America's infrastructure sink toward turd-world nation status?

Is it really 'third world' if the outages are less than one second?

 

[ptonsparky]

Power for profit.

 

[PaulMmn]

We let greedy, profit-taking investors take over the control of formerly non-profit infrastructure and medical institutions.
Story goes a man left Blue-Cross/Blue-Shield (somewhere) a decent fortune in his will, because at the time they were a non-profit organization. In the mean time, 'investors' saw all the money BC/BS had in its control and re-arranged things so BC/BS was no longer non-profit. Man's other heirs sued BC/BS; courts made BC/BS return the money, because it was predicated on them being non-profit.

 

[Ken_S]

The remnants of Hurricane Beryl passed through southeastern Michigan during the past 24 hours. We had moderately heavy rain showers -- maybe one inch per hour -- and didn't have any high winds.

I live in Ferndale, a hundred-year-old neighborhood serviced by DTE. DTE is rather lackadaisical about tree trimming, and they don't use squirrel guards at all.

All morning, I've been hearing arcs, snaps, crackles & pops, each accompanied by a brief (less than one second) outage. Ten or more per hour.

This is not at all confidence inspiring. How did we manage to let America's infrastructure sink toward turd-world nation status?

Greed.

 

[hillbilly1]

In our area, BREMC does a pretty good job considering the right of way clearing is pretty narrow. Folks complain if they cut it back to where it should be. We have a lot of old growth trees that are much taller than the power lines. The line just in front of my house has been broken and re-spliced many times over the years. Unless it’s a lot of trees and lines down, they can usually get it back on in an hour or so.

 

[jim dungar]

Greed.

My retirement funds are partially invested in utilities, am I greedy, or are you talking about CEO salaries?

 

[Ken_S]

My retirement funds are partially invested in utilities, am I greedy, or are you talking about CEO salaries?

Corporate boards, their pay and the focus on increasing profits at any cost.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

It got a lot worse after the industry was deregulated.

 

[gadfly56]

We let greedy, profit-taking investors take over the control of formerly non-profit infrastructure and medical institutions.
Story goes a man left Blue-Cross/Blue-Shield (somewhere) a decent fortune in his will, because at the time they were a non-profit organization. In the mean time, 'investors' saw all the money BC/BS had in its control and re-arranged things so BC/BS was no longer non-profit. Man's other heirs sued BC/BS; courts made BC/BS return the money, because it was predicated on them being non-profit.

Where in the world do you live?!? It certainly isn't Kentucky, because never have utilities been "non-profit" except by accident. In fact, before deregulation, most POCO's, as regulated monopolies, had guaranteed rates of return.

 

[Little Bill]

All morning, I've been hearing arcs, snaps, crackles & pops,

You fell asleep in your Rice Crispies!