When an electric utility suspends service for whatever reason, the local economy grinds to a halt. Schools close. Hospitals turn on the back-up generators. When this happens, people are suddenly and unwillingly thrust back into the pre-electricity era. No one would dispute that California electric utility customers face a crisis. But because of the immediacy and widespread nature of the crisis, there is a tendency to reach for quick, partial remedies to what looks like a long-festering, intractable problem. The blackouts in Pacific Gas & Electric’s service demonstrates that case in point. A utility’s aging transmission network causes wildfires in areas that have become drier, more fire-prone and more densely populated in recent decades. Operating in bankruptcy, due to wildfire liability exposure, the utility has chosen to minimize further wildfire risk from its transmission network by shutting off power to designated at-risk areas. The recent blackout affected 800,000 meters […]