Great conversation and made me order a copy of the book for myself! I know you wrote an article years ago on performance-based rates, and I'd be curious to hear a conversation on the status of those and what the latest progress and innovations are on that topic, especially as it relates to both cleaning the grid and making it more resilient.
Good conversation on an important book. But I was disappointed at the end that you both seemed resigned to saving PG&E as the only path forward. That conclusion misses a crucial point that was never mentioned in the podcast, the fact that customers now have alternatives to getting electricity from the grid. This is in contrast to the mainstream industry view that electricity must come from the grid and be provided through some kind of regulated monopoly. With DER this is simply not true anymore. The grid is contestable, and DER continue to get more capable and cost-effective while the grid gets more expensive without any improvement to quality of service. The conclusion that the state should authorize $20-30B for PG&E to underground lines, before any serious effort to promote clean local and locally-owned energy resources, is simply a giveaway to sustain an obsolete industry structure and mindset.
The details in this story were very interesting, but not surprising. Corporations were invented to make money for individuals while exempting those individuals from personal responsibility for screw-ups or even bad intent. Combine that with our over-built and complex "civilized" infrastructure and we have design for disaster. The unsinkable ship has hit the iceberg. There are two questions in my mind: 1. How fast will the ship go down? And 2: Can I get my grandson on a lifeboat?
Excellent podcast today, it was enlightening. Just a thought on the systematic maintenance issues that that you and Katherine talked about today is that it seems that many businesses, not just utilities, work off a lowest first cost denominator, and not necessarily a total life cycle cost. My gut tells me that this happens because our financial systems including tax regulations are geared that way as well, and do not reward or encourage building for the long term. When these utility systems were built, I'm sure that first cost was the absolute driving force for what was installed. Like you said, it's amazing that they've lasted this long.
Just flagging one small typo in your introduction:
I couldn't put the book down, so I am eager to talk to Blunt about how the utility’s travails began, why is has struggled so mightily to take control of its fate, and what might come next for the electricity sector’s favorite punching bag.
'is' should be 'it'........................., why IT has struggled so mightily.............
Great conversation and made me order a copy of the book for myself! I know you wrote an article years ago on performance-based rates, and I'd be curious to hear a conversation on the status of those and what the latest progress and innovations are on that topic, especially as it relates to both cleaning the grid and making it more resilient.
Good conversation on an important book. But I was disappointed at the end that you both seemed resigned to saving PG&E as the only path forward. That conclusion misses a crucial point that was never mentioned in the podcast, the fact that customers now have alternatives to getting electricity from the grid. This is in contrast to the mainstream industry view that electricity must come from the grid and be provided through some kind of regulated monopoly. With DER this is simply not true anymore. The grid is contestable, and DER continue to get more capable and cost-effective while the grid gets more expensive without any improvement to quality of service. The conclusion that the state should authorize $20-30B for PG&E to underground lines, before any serious effort to promote clean local and locally-owned energy resources, is simply a giveaway to sustain an obsolete industry structure and mindset.
The details in this story were very interesting, but not surprising. Corporations were invented to make money for individuals while exempting those individuals from personal responsibility for screw-ups or even bad intent. Combine that with our over-built and complex "civilized" infrastructure and we have design for disaster. The unsinkable ship has hit the iceberg. There are two questions in my mind: 1. How fast will the ship go down? And 2: Can I get my grandson on a lifeboat?
Excellent podcast today, it was enlightening. Just a thought on the systematic maintenance issues that that you and Katherine talked about today is that it seems that many businesses, not just utilities, work off a lowest first cost denominator, and not necessarily a total life cycle cost. My gut tells me that this happens because our financial systems including tax regulations are geared that way as well, and do not reward or encourage building for the long term. When these utility systems were built, I'm sure that first cost was the absolute driving force for what was installed. Like you said, it's amazing that they've lasted this long.
"Trees are, quite legendarily, growing."
Amazing. David, thank you for being awesome.
Hi David,
Just flagging one small typo in your introduction:
I couldn't put the book down, so I am eager to talk to Blunt about how the utility’s travails began, why is has struggled so mightily to take control of its fate, and what might come next for the electricity sector’s favorite punching bag.
'is' should be 'it'........................., why IT has struggled so mightily.............
Best,
Ron