The PG&E Blackouts: California’s Regulated Crisis

PG&E, Pacific Gas & Electric, the largest utility in California, is cutting electricity to hundreds of thousands of customers to stave off the possibility of sparking another Camp Fire. The blackouts are the correct response by PG&E. The potential cost in lives lost and billions of dollars in devastation are too great when weighed against relatively little lost revenue. 

The path to this predicament has been straightforward for PG&E and serves as a lesson to other states and utilities. Continue reading