Just saying it here, I will probably be absent here for a few days. Most likely until Thursday or Friday, January 21 or 22. This is because I’m in a power shutoff area in Southern CA. I will not have internet and need to conserve battery power, so therefore I won’t be here. Topic will be deleted by the end of the week!

That sucks! Another reason why im glad i don't live there anymore, PG&E seems to have nothing together with the state regulations and it sounds like a paperwork hell. Hopefully you cna make it through the week, i don't understand how cutting powers and online classes can work together?

(please don't try to spark politics out of this, all I'm gonna say. I'm already on Ronnie's bad side this week! )

That sucks! Another reason why im glad i don't live there anymore, PG&E seems to have nothing together with the state regulations and it sounds like a paperwork hell. Hopefully you cna make it through the week, i don't understand how cutting powers and online classes can work together?

(please don't try to spark politics out of this, all I'm gonna say. I'm already on Ronnie's bad side this week! )

Yes it does! Thanks, everything is still OK and power is on now. It won’t be shut off until about 9 PM PST. I might miss some online classes, but hopefully I will be able to find somewhere with working internet for that. I do have a charged iPad and a couple of extra USB batteries.

Not good, hope your power comes back soon! Is it to reduce fire risk?

Not good, hope your power comes back soon! Is it to reduce fire risk?

Still on right now, but we’re set to lose it in 3-4 hours. It is to reduce fire risk, because we’re getting 30-65 MPH winds!

Still on right now, but we’re set to lose it in 3-4 hours. It is to reduce fire risk, because we’re getting 30-65 MPH winds!

Same here lots of gusts from the NW.

Power is surprisingly still on here!

Power is surprisingly still on here!

You done jinxed yourself! Glad it is still on, sucks you have to miss schoolwork and make it up due to bad regulation and incontinence.

You know , I constantly hear about rolling power outages due to fire risk . If the state is so worried about wild fires caused by downed power lines , wouldn't it make sense to simply run the line UNDERGROUND  

You know , I constantly hear about rolling power outages due to fire risk . If the state is so worried about wild fires caused by downed power lines , wouldn't it make sense to simply run the line UNDERGROUND  

A novel concept! Its to expensive to do initially, but the dividins over time results in more reliable power and less public outlash, but it will take a hard amount of effort to convince them, considering they when bankrupt due to California's new laws and with the whole other whirlpool of bad events, its just going to be a never ending problem that the populious has no other choise of energy provider and are stuck with this back and forth arguing.

Still , they don't have to do it all at once , a little here a little there. I saw some video on the news of one of the towns that was wiped out by fire being rebuilt and they were running new overhead lines ! Unbelievable !

Hmm the last time my area had a rolling blackout advisory was way back in the late summer of 2003 shortly after the great northeastern blackout when the power grid was still unstable. Over here we have a lot of overhead lines, some of which are absolutely ancient and look to have been erected in the 1930s.

With the amount of power outages here attributed from high winds and ice toppling the lines, we should have buried them imo. 

A novel concept! Its to expensive to do initially, but the dividins over time results in more reliable power

Not over here, when underground wiring fails for light poles, SCE just strings overhead wires from pole to pole and attaches insulators on the arms of the poles. I've never seen it on the 1950s concrete poles though.

I live in a neighborhood with underground wiring and the power has gone out a good amount of times in my life. Though most of the times the power has gone out, it was only small blips (power goes out for a second or two). But there are a few times where the power has gone out for a few minutes, and sometimes several hours.

Not over here, when underground wiring fails for light poles, SCE just strings overhead wires from pole to pole and attaches insulators on the arms of the poles. I've never seen it on the 1950s concrete poles though.

I live in a neighborhood with underground wiring and the power has gone out a good amount of times in my life. Though most of the times the power has gone out, it was only small blips (power goes out for a second or two). But there are a few times where the power has gone out for a few minutes, and sometimes several hours.

The power issue may be one higher up the powerline foodchain, as i had undergorund power and when abad storm hit we lost power probably due to issues up the line. I  have disinct memorise of me reading Steven king's insomnia for the whole day hiding away in my brothers room after a storm until power was restored.

Don't overrate the underground cable reliability. Where it was moved underground, it may seem more reliable, but it is to the biggest extend mainly because it is completely new installation and not that much because underground. Don't forget any work on underground cables are extremely more difficult and expensive and detailed inspections virtually impossible. All that means a complete collapse after the wear accumulates and defects start to show up.
With classic wiring you may quite easily inspect the state and fix defects, relatively easily.
Plus as far as I know, Calif is quite seismically very active region, what means a lot of earth movement. That mean the underground cables could be easily damaged as well, a small earth movement and you are done.

What is missing there is not moving it underground, but redundant alternative lines, able to take the load over when some line goes out of service.
The problem is not because the wiring is overhead, but because it is not maintained and long overdue overhauls.
And underdeveloped. The thing is, existing network has no backup lines, so shutting many sections down for deep service or overhaul, so it is left to deteriorate way more.
The blackouts are then the only way to shut a line down for the work really needed to be done.