PG&E is worth pennies on the dollar and it's infrastructure is worth more than the going price. Greg Palast says the public should launch a hostile takeover. But Paul Elliott Singer, known as the Vulture, is closing in on it.
Power companies have two jobs: Keep the lights on and don’t kill your customers. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. of Northern California flunks on both counts.
So how can California put an end to PG&E’s reign of error?
The answer: Make this so-called “public utility” into a true public system—a customer-owned power cooperative, a plan proposed by the city of San Jose. Currently, the only things “public” about PG&E are the bills the public pays and the charred homes and bodies this bankrupt beast leaves behind.
But how can the public take ownership without busting government coffers?
The way Gordon Gekko did it in “Wall Street”: through a hostile takeover bid for PG&E’s stock—now bouncing on the floor at about $4 per share.
It’s been done before, in New York.
TruthDig
Greg Palast - End PG&E’s Reign of Error With a Hostile Takeover
8 comments:
Just regulate them. Force them to do proper maintenance. California could even regulate the amount of profit that PG&E are allowed to take.
They ARE regulated... all electric utility companies in the US are regulated...
They would have to go in to their regulators and request a rate increase in order to increase maintenance and this is never politically popular for the party in office at the time...
Also there are reports that much maintenance of the existing system has been deferred in order to fund renewable source projects...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Public_Utilities_Commission
“The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or PUC) is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power”
They're not doing their job. It's a similar situation in Nova Scotia, except that people complained, and Emera was forced to up their maintenance.
The difference in electricity rates = private utilities' profit - running it at cost.
"They're not doing their job."
Oh they're doing their job they're just not doing it very well...
Deferred maintenance is paying for new renewables... created some risk...
Just like the Oroville Dam acouple of years ago they didnt maintain the joints in the spillway and it eroded when the draught ended... had to evacuate 200k people...
The whole state is a platonist utopia all material systems all f-ed up...
There's no excuse for deferred maintenance, or allowing a utility to shut off power in the vain hope it would prevent a fire. Corrupt California is a laughing stock.
Reminds me of a hockey game years ago, where there was a huge brawl, and those in charge of the stadium turned off the lights. The players kept fighting.
Post a Comment