They Shut Grandma's Power Off... For Your Safety.
The now very popular Wildfire Public Safety Power Shutoff Program.
When it’s a slow day on the fireline, all sorts of questions get asked just to fill the time. One that gets tossed around a lot is, “What would you do if you were president and could make any order?” I always said I would shut the power off for two weeks. It always got a great reaction, and I was told every time that type of move was cruel. What about all the people who rely on power, like Grandma?
The interesting thing is that as the years go by, more people want to shut off the power, and I’m actually pulling back from it. I mean, modern day people without power gets ugly really quick. Much of the population is not prepared for that kind of shock to the system.
If the power went out tonight for 4.5 days, how do you think you and your neighbors would do? By about hour 72, my neighbors would likely already be peering into my windows as I have garlic and chicken cooking in cast iron.
What about day 5?
It is clear and obvious that we have a major problem surrounding power distribution companies, wildfires, customers, shareholders, and lawyers. A tree hits a powerline, a wildfire starts, property is lost, lawyers come in, rates go up, you lose insurance, and now… your power goes off.
Don’t say no one told ya so…
After all of these devastating fires, the promise had been to bury the lines. But because of the inflated costs of undertaking such a task, power companies have fallen back on the easiest option: turning the power off on windy and hot days or if there are Red Flag Warnings.
This is known as the Public Safety Power Shutoff Program. It was developed in California, where everything wildfire policy originates, and is now used in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Florida, parts of Utah, Hawaii and others. Hawaii just announced its program this week, saying it will begin preemptively shutting off power on days where it’s hot, dry, and windy or Red Flag Days, starting July 1.
We’ve seen Red Flag Days last weeks in some areas before. It’s not that uncommon in late July, August, and Early September.
The power companies acknowledge this. All companies now use similar language to inform customers that the power could be off for days, and after the Fire Weather passes, all lines need to be inspected and fixed before the power comes back on. Hawaiian Electric says they plan to expand the program as the season goes on.
Just 10 years ago, I was the bad guy for joking about shutting the power off because “what about Grandma” and the people in the nursing homes? These multinational publically traded power companies care about them, right?
We saw this in action in Colorado not too long ago. This spring, Red Flag warnings were forecast for the area, and high winds were predicted for multiple days. Xcel Energy decided this would be the first time they would run the protocols for the Public Safety Power Shutoff Program. An important thing to remember, Xcel had just been sued for allegedly causing the 1M acre Smokehouse Creek Fire in Texas from a downed rotten power pole. They were not about to be blamed for another.
So they sent out a warning and flipped the switch.
In a great article by Kate Ruder, she explains that a large 20 acre nursing home facility only had a 75-minute warning before the power went out:
In Boulder, Frasier staff and residents heard about the planned outage from news reports. A Frasier official called the utility to confirm and was initially told the home’s power would not be affected. The utility then called back to say the home’s power would be cut, after all, said Tomas Mendez, Frasier’s vice president of operations. The home had just 75 minutes before Xcel Energy shut off the lights on April 6.
Staff rushed to prepare the 20-acre campus home to nearly 500 residents. Generators kept running the oxygen machines, most refrigerators and freezers, hallway lights, and Wi-Fi for phones and computers. But the heating system and some lights stayed off as the overnight temperature dipped into the 30s.
Power was restored to Frasier after 28 hours.
By law, these types of facilities must own some sort of backup system; Florida mandated it, saying these facilities need 92 hours of backup power. However, it seems the fairly new Public Safety Power Shutoff Programs have not been planned for, especially for extended periods of time during Red Flag Days.
275,000 customers in Colorado had their power shut off that week; some people I’ve spoken to said it was for 3+ days in some areas where lines needed to be checked before the power came back on. A large portion of these communities are very rural and lower-income areas.
After this inaugural run of the “shut everyone’s power off” policy in Colorado, the Xcel Energy Spokesperson said the “process can improve” and that they will work with partners to prepare for “extended power outages in the future.”
None of these companies want to end up like Pacificorp in Oregon. They currently have $30B in lawsuits facing them after their distribution infrastructure was to blame for devastating fires on Labor Day weekend in 2020. They didn’t shut their power off on a Red Flag day, which would have affected 600,000 people during the holiday. Since then, the communities have seen rates go up, lawyers sued for $30B, insurance companies pulled out, and now the Berkshire Hathaway owned power company announced their Public Safety Power Shutoff Program.
Warren Buffet cares about Grandma, though, right?
So what happens if someone dies because the power is out? Will the power companies be sued? Maybe the medical facilities will be sued instead? Probably both.
The other question is, how long is too long to have the power off? This new program, which is being quickly adopted, is likely to be used this year more than any other so far. When I said I wanted to shut the power off, I was told too many people would be unprepared, and even after 4 days, people would lose it… correct.
Hawaii Electric warned the following in their announcement of the program this week:
If weather conditions change suddenly, shutoff may occur with little or no notice.
During a PSPS activation, power will remain shut off so long as hazardous weather conditions persist. When the weather improves, power lines must be inspected and any damage must be repaired before service can be restored. This may involve ground crews and aerial inspections using helicopters and drones. This process may result in extended outages lasting several hours, possibly even days, depending on the location and extent of any damage.
So I guess what I’m getting at is what I’ve warned about on the podcast for a while now… the power companies are going to shut your power off more frequently for multiple days at a time (already saw 3+ in Colorado) because if they start a fire, they will likely get sued for billions of dollars. Do you think it would cost less than $30B for Pacificorp to bury all their lines?
Problems are going to arise from this. I mean, they already have.
I also find it interesting that most of Maui’s high-risk shutoff area is the already devastated Lahaina, where locals are still struggling to rebuild. It might be a little harder to get back on your feet and rebuild if the power keeps going out and you can’t afford a generator. If the new program has power out for days at a time, maybe the locals will just have to sell their property… something many have warned they will be forced to do.
I wonder if Oprah and Jeff Bezos have generators on their Maui properties?
My suggestion: If you live in a rural area prone to wildfires in the western United States… have a week’s worth of supplies, they might shut your power off this Summer.
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I run an O2 concentrator and BiPAP every night. I've got a 1,000 watt Jackery and my husband has a 1200 watt EcoFlo. I know it won't be enough for a 5 day outage even right on Puget Sound far from forested areas. Full thrust 9.0 earthquake? A grim outlook according to Emergency Management reports.
So much for a relaxing R&R if all the power is out!!😂