Warning: PG&E on the warpath

[peter d]

Here in central NY state/upstate same thing. Mostly no permits here. I do a service upgrade, then call national grid, "hey I need a work request number for a service I just upgraded so my inspector can call it in.......no its all done and reconnected, dont need anything other than the work request......yep, thanks. You will hear from the inspector in a few days then just reseal it at your convenience. Have a good day."

How's that work? No permit but it gets inspected and approved? Or NG just comes out and reseals once you upgrade and call it in?

 

[mbrooke]

Remember that PG&E has one of the highest residential electricity rate in the nation and they have several levels of kWh quota that raises the price with each step. California has significant number of illegal cultivation incidents that they sort of have to have a very strict policy to protect their business from organized crime.

As theft goes up and real crooks improvise to avoid detection, everyone gets scrutinized and treated like a criminal.



That sort of make sense. Capabilities and actually used features are significantly different for each utility but meters that allow on-demand kW load polling is getting more common.
Adding up all the customer meters and street lights should theoretically equal the kWh at substation but technical losses allows pilfered energy to get lost when you can only compare monthly kWh usage.

Smart meters absolutely make it easier to narrow down where theft is happening. When instantaneous primary reading is taken during a time that has the lowest instantaneous kW sum of served accounts and there's a point when the primary kW is high enough to rule out any error and from there, they start chasing down stream to find the leak.

The most unequal thing of all is equal treatment of unequal people :happyyes::happyyes:




(IMHO:angel

 

[peter d]

This is what happens when monopolies are in control. :rant::rant:

 

[Ponchik]

I am also in the PG&E territory. I don't like working with them. I always pull my meter do my disconnect and reconnect then do the inspection and have PG&E come back. The customer and I can wait for their time, especially when dealing with local AHJ.

Theoretically If the inspection office is out 1 week that means the customer will not be reconnected until it gets inspected. On top of that, if PG&E has emergencies then the reconnect gets to the bottom of the list. :rant::rant:

FYI bay area guys, now they (PG&E) are really enforcing their stupid rule that you can not have a meter/main installed on a bedroom wall. Watch out for that one.

 

[peter d]

Can you do your own cut and reconnect in PG&E land?

 

[Ponchik]

Can you do your own cut and reconnect in PG&E land?

According to PG&E rules "NO".

 

[jaggedben]

According to PG&E rules "NO".

And yet with the type of behaviors cited by the OP, they essentially force you to do it.

I posted my own thread about the same sort of thing a couple months back. Didn't name the utility, but well, now you know.

It's not reasonable to expect customers to live without electricity for days or weeks, the way people have set up their lives it's dangerous. But that's what they're forcing you to do if you follow 'the rules.'

 

[electrofelon]

How's that work? No permit but it gets inspected and approved? Or NG just comes out and reseals once you upgrade and call it in?

The inspection (private 3rd party agency except the larger cities) is required by the utility before they will reseal it. Really, you could just skip the inspection and put the cut seal back on and either it would sit like that for years or if they noticed it they would probably just reseal it - but I make sure it gets resealed, just not very professional to leave it otherwise.

 

[electrofelon]

And yet with the type of behaviors cited by curt, they essentially force you to do it.

Yeah, you would think if they wanted you to go thru a certain process, they would make it easy and convenient in order to get maximum compliance :roll:

 

[mjf]

I feel so spoiled, we cut and reconnect, cut seals and pull meters, and pretty much do what we want and the poco never hassles us. In fact, they're quite happy when we do their job for them.

Same here (provided we're on the disconnect/reconnect program list).

 

[Ponchik]

And yet with the type of behaviors cited by the OP, they essentially force you to do it.

I posted my own thread about the same sort of thing a couple months back. Didn't name the utility, but well, now you know.

It's not reasonable to expect customers to live without electricity for days or weeks, the way people have set up their lives it's dangerous. But that's what they're forcing you to do if you follow 'the rules.'

IF I follow the rules. :happyyes:

Like the OP I can not leave my clients without power.

 

[ptonsparky]

That's it! I will not do any work if it involves PG&E. My decision is final. Thank you all for the assistance in the decision.

 

[peter d]

The inspection (private 3rd party agency except the larger cities) is required by the utility before they will reseal it. Really, you could just skip the inspection and put the cut seal back on and either it would sit like that for years or if they noticed it they would probably just reseal it - but I make sure it gets resealed, just not very professional to leave it otherwise.

There's a few services here like that.

 

[kwired]

That's it! I will not do any work if it involves PG&E. My decision is final. Thank you all for the assistance in the decision.

Same here. I think NPPD can be a pain sometimes, but this makes them look pretty good.

 

[electricguy61]

Just an update:

It's now almost 48 hours for the customer with no power. I thought I'd made some progress yesterday about 12pm, got through to a sympathetic senior person. Call the emergency number last night, wait on hold 4 different times, total of 1.5 hrs, to be told that it had been scheduled for 2pm, but had notes said "customer cancelled". Obviously no one had cancelled. The call center finally figured out that all "routine calls" had been cancelled because of "on going weather related emergencies". Mind you, the storms didn't start until late last night in the north bay, still haven't hit here, so there were no storm related emergencies, but the t-man was cancelled.

Because of "weather related emergencies", they could not schedule it today, but it is scheduled for sometime between 8am and 5pm tomorrow, which will mean the customer has been without power for 72+ hours. Unless of course, there are in fact "weather related emergencies", which will mean they'll get cancelled again.

Everyone I have spoken to has been great, very sympathetic and have tried hard to get it repaired. It is the Corporation, the "powers that be" that have created this situation. And they really don't care.

 

[ptonsparky]

Just an update:

It's now almost 48 hours for the customer with no power. I thought I'd made some progress yesterday about 12pm, got through to a sympathetic senior person. Call the emergency number last night, wait on hold 4 different times, total of 1.5 hrs, to be told that it had been scheduled for 2pm, but had notes said "customer cancelled". Obviously no one had cancelled. The call center finally figured out that all "routine calls" had been cancelled because of "on going weather related emergencies". Mind you, the storms didn't start until late last night in the north bay, still haven't hit here, so there were no storm related emergencies, but the t-man was cancelled.

Because of "weather related emergencies", they could not schedule it today, but it is scheduled for sometime between 8am and 5pm tomorrow, which will mean the customer has been without power for 72+ hours. Unless of course, there are in fact "weather related emergencies", which will mean they'll get cancelled again.

Everyone I have spoken to has been great, very sympathetic and have tried hard to get it repaired. It is the Corporation, the "powers that be" that have created this situation. And they really don't care.

That is the problem with laws, rules and ladder logic. You are stuck with them until changed and they usually just get more complex.

 

[K8MHZ]

Just an update:

It's now almost 48 hours for the customer with no power. I thought I'd made some progress yesterday about 12pm, got through to a sympathetic senior person. Call the emergency number last night, wait on hold 4 different times, total of 1.5 hrs, to be told that it had been scheduled for 2pm, but had notes said "customer cancelled". Obviously no one had cancelled. The call center finally figured out that all "routine calls" had been cancelled because of "on going weather related emergencies". Mind you, the storms didn't start until late last night in the north bay, still haven't hit here, so there were no storm related emergencies, but the t-man was cancelled.

Because of "weather related emergencies", they could not schedule it today, but it is scheduled for sometime between 8am and 5pm tomorrow, which will mean the customer has been without power for 72+ hours. Unless of course, there are in fact "weather related emergencies", which will mean they'll get cancelled again.

Everyone I have spoken to has been great, very sympathetic and have tried hard to get it repaired. It is the Corporation, the "powers that be" that have created this situation. And they really don't care.

Does your state have a public service commission? Ours does and the POCO answers to them. Complaints to the PSC usually get taken care of pronto.

 

[ggunn]

:blink::blink:

Wow, you guys have my sympathy! That sucks!

Especially since from the customer's POV it's your fault.

 

[kwired]

Does your state have a public service commission? Ours does and the POCO answers to them. Complaints to the PSC usually get taken care of pronto.

My guess is the PSC in that state is probably corrupted as well. They may take the call because they are supposed to, after leaving you on hold for 45 minutes, but may not do much with it.

 

[electricguy61]

My guess is the PSC in that state is probably corrupted as well. They may take the call because they are supposed to, after leaving you on hold for 45 minutes, but may not do much with it.

Here it's called the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). It has been in bed with PG&E so long they have grandchildren. This has been well documented.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranc...federal-grand-jury-email-san-bruno-blast.html