You know what I'd like from my electricity and gas provider? A steady stream of electricity and gas. Most of you probably get that from your provider. However, since I live in Northern California, my provider, Pacific Gas & Electric, has a different priority:
KILLING US ALL.
Last night PG&E fucked up and it just happened to be during a nationally televised broadcast of "Monday Night Football," between the 49ers and Steelers.
WHOOPS. Maybe PG&E didn't realize that everyone could see. Anyway, no one was killed, apparently, so TOUGH SHIT PG&E.
Just within the past year and a half or so, PG&E killed eight people in a gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno. They just admitted liability for that, after exploring the option of possibly blaming the victims. It's like they have a secret lab where they sit around and try to think of ways they could be more evil or at least appear that way.
Then you have the manhole explosions, which are, at this point, so routine that they barely make the news any more.
Not content to confine their murderous ways to simple explosions, which do seem kind of dated and 19th-century, PG&E then moved on to Smart Meters, which, we are told, will kill us all with radiation. Irradiating us all seems like a much more efficient way for PG&E to eliminate us, plus it's not as noisy and steam-punky as exploding manholes.
(J/K abt Smart Meters, I'm sure they're totally safe and whatever.)
And when they're not busy trying to kill us, PG&E also has constant problems with delivering power. I mean, every time it rains, the power goes out somewhere. Is it that way everywhere, or just here?
ANYWAY, PG&E, if you really want to make an impact, step up your electrocution game. Seems like you've got unlimited electricity, so why not use it? You could take out 100, 150 people a day, probably. And those nuclear plants! They're not gonna melt down on their own, PG&E. Blow one of those up and we could start talking Fresno-sized victim counts.
I went to college in upstate New York - the only place I've ever lived outside of the Bay Area. The power company there (National Grid) was absolutely terrible, could not keep the lights on for the life of them. They were far worse than I've experienced PG&E to be, and the problem was compounded by the brutal winters in that area. One February we lost power for an entire week. Five days. In February. Maybe all power companies suck. However, to my knowledge National Grid never killed anyone ... at least not directly.
ReplyDeleteI was in France during the time of the rolling blackouts and brownouts (ew) a bunch of years ago and CA was the subject of great ridicule. I tried to explain to them, but alas... I think was was Enron's fault, though?
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