This looks pretty serious. Sorry for any duplication, but I though all
should see::
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 11:16:34 -0800 (PST)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (local list)
From: Kenoli Oleari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (by way of [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tom
Atlee)) Subject: Power Grid
I am doing electrical work for a commercial cabinet shop in San
Francisco that has had to go to a lot of expense buying transformers to
drive 480 volt equipment because PG&E has said it can only provide 240
volts in that area. I had an interesting conversation with a PG&E
engineer in the process of finding out why the higher voltage was not
available.
He told me that since de-regulation in California, PG&E has done a
significant amount of downsizing which included laying off their entire
engineering department. This is the department that works with users to
set up new services or make changes in service. He was the last one
working there and he was not supposed to provide any technical
information to customers. In the past, this department has been
available to let customers know what kinds of power was available to
them and to solve technical problems. In addition, he told me that
management had come into his office and physically removed all of his
technical journals and reference material to make sure that he didn't
cost them money by providing information to customers. Also, he no
longer was able to access information about what kind of power was
available in different parts of the city. If a customer neded that
information they have to fill out a form and submit it and they will
get a response in from 2-6 weeks.
Apparently, there are 4, 8 and 12 Kvolt lines to different parts of the
city and PG&E used to stock transformers to reduce that voltage to the
needs of customers. They have decided to only stock equipment for 12
KVolt areas and have gotten rid of the equipment they used to use foor
the other voltages. This means that if commercial customers need
anything more than 240 volts in those areas, they are out of luck.
As far as I can tell, if power goes down, PG&E is very shorthanded in
terms of engineers, knowledge of its own network and replacement
equipment for a large part of its system.
How is an agency like this going to deal with a number of bugs at once?
Kenoli Oleari, LEAP (Long Range Education, Empowerment and Action
Project) 1840 Woolsey Street, Berkeley, CA 94703 Voice Phone:
510-601-8217, fax: 510-595-8369
