George Rebane

I’m sure we here on Cement Hill aren’t the only ones in Nevada County who think they live on Hind Tit Road.  But we think of it often enough that we might as well grab the name while it’s still available.  After another freezing night without power, our thoughts turn to Pacific Gas & Electric and our beloved California Public Utilities Commission.  Whenever the wind blows, or the rain’s a bit too hard, or, heavens, some snow falls, it’s Martha man the kerosene lamps, haul in the firewood, and crank up the generator (if you have one).

Those in the mood for dark humor during the blackout can call 800/273-5002, PG&E’s emergency repair status line.  There a robo-maid will lead you through a menu of choices that always makes you wish you could choose another utility to supply your power.  The ‘information’ they dispense comes from some of the most faulty automated customer service algorithms you can access today.  The story is always the same.  No matter what they say, you get the message that they don’t know what’s going on or what they are doing.

This time they’re telling us here on Hind Tit that, as of this morning (26feb11), they have no idea when they will know when they can get a grip on the problem, and then tell us how long it will take to fix.  Got that?  That’s like two layers removed from telling us when the power will be restored.  And the snow already stopped yesterday, and today the sun is shining.

When I first reported the outage last Thursday night, they put out the word on the status line that power would be restored today, Saturday.  When I called yesterday morning, the story changed to ‘It’s an equipment failure, and we’ll be able to tell you Sunday (tomorrow) when we’ll know about when power will be back on.  When I called last night, the confusion at PG&E had grown, and they reported ‘It’s an equipment failure, and we’ll be able to tell you Monday (28feb11) when we’ll be able to tell you when the power will be restored.’  This morning someone up there in the mother temple threw up their hands and admitted that they had no idea what they were doing.  When I called, they said that ‘It’s an equipment failure, and be prepared for an extended power outage.’  Period.

You have to understand that PG&E reports two kinds of distribution problem – power lines down, and equipment failure – which means that the wires are down or a transformer has blown.  Everybody understands trees falling on power lines, but explaining a blown distribution transformer gets a little too technical and is reduced to “equipment failure”.

Theoretically, you want hear about ‘equipment failures’ because getting to a fallen tree across power lines on a steep snowy slope is a bit dicey, especially in blowing snow at night.  And let me say right now, that in no way do I want to denigrate the field crews with my bitching and moaning here – those guys do a tremendous job with the direction and equipment they get.  No, my gripe is with PG&E’s middle management on up.  And I mean on up all the way to the PUC.

The reason equipment failures are preferable is that the distribution equipment is always sited at accessible locations.  And switching out a transformer located in a distribution cage, for example, is something those guys can do in their sleep.  That is only if the right talent is there, and the spare ‘equipment’ is available.   That’s where the PG&E desk jockeys who earn the big bucks come in.  It is these people who plan and implement everything from field logistical support to the robo-maid telling us stories on the phone.

So you don’t lose perspective, we here on Hind Tit Rd are a bit more than a stone’s throw from the county’s administrative center, that nexus of nerves that keeps everything hereabouts humming on key.  But in their wisdom, it appears that PG&E gets power to us from some small utility near Kellogg, Idaho, and those folks up there have problems of their own.  So who knows where this failed equipment really resides.  Maybe the distribution transformer feeding us from up there is a little long of tooth and they’ve been meaning to replace it any year now, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.  Anyway, you get the drift.

So down here in California we have PG&E – a monopoly utility, doing the minimum that all monopolies do in the marketplace.  And this outfit is under the watchful eye of California’s PUC, a klatch of political appointees intensely intent on keeping the peace while they collect their stipends.   The whole set-up is not designed for any kind of transparency.   What do you think the chances are of ever finding out the background to the ‘equipment failure’ that is so profoundly daunting that PG&E can’t even estimate when they can estimate when they can have the damn thing replaced?  My estimate is that we have only two chances of getting such information – slim and none.

So here on Hind Tit on a cold morning we sit thinking about all kinds of things that may get us more bang for our utility buck.  Things like the new small community size nuclear power plants that have been developed by Hyperion Inc and several other companies around the world.  These things will supply power to around 20,000 homes and be completely serviced by the supplying firm.  It’s all a part of the move to provide more efficient, cleaner energy to small communities and remove their dependence on the grid.

And therein, I suspect, lies the problem of how long it will be when/whether we will get one of these little marvels.  No matter how much the greenies preach local this and local that, when it comes down to it, their message doesn’t go much beyond raising turnips in your backyard and building a community worm farm.  In America, these small reactors have a long trail of tears ahead of them through an unbelievable maze of government bureaucracies.

The bottom line that will determine the speed and direction of such a permitting process is the reluctance of higher levels of government to give up their control of lower jurisdictions.  Such control functions require acres of cubicles filled with know-nothings shuffling reports on their workstations.  But all that staff signifies budget and power, assets that no department, commission, bureau, agency, … will relinquish without a fight.  And when these turkeys are joined into a public service employees union that buys politicians, well, you can just about kiss goodbye any chances for progress here.  Just some thoughts on a morning when I can’t even get my Jeep out of the garage.  Time to go do something practical like shovel snow.

[27feb2011 update]  This bizarre little saga here just gets curioser and curioser.  After getting a late afternoon call from the PG&E robo-lady who told us that our power would be restored “in one to three days”, we looked at each other hopefully since it seemed that at least they had some kind of handle on the problem.  After supper we hunkered down in front of the fireplace with our books, and suddenly at 1930 the power comes on.  Joy of joys.  What the hell, they don’t have to know what they’re doing as long as they err on our side, right?

I turned off the generator, we danced a little jig, and started putting some stuff back into standard operating mode.  And we decided to hit the sack early since now our bedroom would be warm, the music on, and we could finally get a good night’s sleep.  With smiles on our faces, lights out at 2200.  Power out at 2230.

Oh well, at least we got all of the house warm.  I phoned PG&E to tell them that their fix didn’t stick.  The robo-lady one upped me, she didn’t even acknowledge that the power had been on for three hours.  Instead she told me that the outage had been reported last Thursday night (no s#%t Red Ryder!), everybody was out there working their butts off, and to expect “an extended power outage”.  Then what the hell had just happened?  Did Tinkerbell bring down a few glow worms from Neverland for three hours without telling PG&E?

So we lit the kerosene night lamps once more and turned in.  I got up at 0400 to turn on the generator so we could run some water through the pipes and bring the other end of the house to something above 60 deg.  (Our house has two complete electrical panels and only the one at the kitchen end gets power from the generator, but that also powers the well pump.  Long story, not worth telling.)  Anyway, we finally climbed out of bed this morning, strapped on our snuggies, and cranked the thermostat on the warm end up to 68.

For giggles I called the robo-lady again.  Today PG&E again does not have a clue about when they will get a clue about when they could estimate when power might be restored.  Meanwhile word reached us that even Banner Lava Cap at a higher elevation with more snow got their power back on last night at 1800.  Sissies!  You gotta have grit to live on Hind Tit Road.

[0855 27feb11]  The fun just continues.  I just called the robo-lady again for a status, and in the process she told me that I was the first one to report the power outage up here – yes, after three days I was the first one! – and she had no idea about no idea, etc.  But they did give out another number (888/743-4743) to call for folks without power for over 48 hours.  The lady who answered this time was a real human who knew exactly what the robo-lady knows – NOTHING.  Correction – she said there were 44 of us up here on Hind Tit without power, and frankly there being so few of us … . At this point she hesitated to find words;  then finally, in the nicest way possible, told me that we were probably 86th on their list of 50 most important things to do.

[28feb2011 update]  Our little adventure ended last night after some more amusing exchanges with PG&E’s customer service robo-lady.  I won’t bore you any more details except that in the end, they fessed up that the “equipment failure” that they had been talking about for three days was actually a plain old tree that had fallen down on power lines.  So power came on last night about 1800, and we started immediately crossed all fingers and toes to do our bit in keeping it on this time.  Thank you PG&E.

But now there’s word about continuing outages from North San Juan that may involve those new Smartmeters.  We may have to extend Hind Tit Rd all the way from Cement Hill to NSJ.

In the meanwhile, interest in small and new nuclear reactors for power generation is growing.  There’s even a new technology in reactors being developed that can use spent fuel rods from conventional reactors and keep operating for up to a 100 years.  Bill Gates is even involved with his money and talent in an outfit called TerraPower LLC – more here.