okay, maybe i am a stupid kid who is blinded by the words of his professors.....

[338Shooter]

Didnt California deregulate in the last couple years? Didn't electric prices soar after this? Dont they have rolling blackouts? Same questions ERCOT in Texas?

Plus, I never said it was exactly capitalism. Basically, it is perhaps necessarily not capitalism. *See Above*

Some or all companies may forgo periodic maintenance because of load demands or even the bottom line. This can lead to generation units down during critical periods when demand is highest. And believe me, the power companies want your lights on as much or possibly even more than you do. It is their job to make sure you have lights.

 

[LightningCrash]

If you're unhappy with the power supply then just get another power source.

 

[HMFIC]

Yeah, Well, You Know, That's Just, Like, Your Opinion, Man...

I don't know about the water co, but your understanding of the power system is, well, a hair off.

I think it is funny you mentioned capitalism. Electric utilities in most of the country are very big organizations. This is very beneficial to the customer. Power systems are very costly to build and maintain. If we had a bunch of little guys running little power companies for the competition you long for so much, we'd all be broke paying extremely high electric bills. The larger the scale in a power company the more cost effective it is. But, with these large companies with basically a necessary monopoly the people rely on the government to oversee and regulate them so they don't hold that power over your head. Now, with any government arm, comes the heavy grease on the cogs of industry. Everything slows down, and has more friction. It is just the nature of the beast (you elect these people).

If a power company needs or wants to build new infrastructure AND pass the costs onto the rate payers (like any other company does that is capitalism) they first must get it approved by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (In OK anyway, and again, you elect these people). This is a long drawn out process because as we all know, the government in any shape or form is trash and makes things suck, big time. If the commission doesn't think the rate increase is justified, it doesn't happen. Then the companies can't get recovery for infrastructure investment so it is pretty clear that they don't make the investments (yay capitalism!).

Now we get to the summer from hell and the demand goes through the roof. Looks like capacity is going to be eclipsed by demand and the commission (whom you elected) didn't let us increase rates to build more capacity. If the system is overloaded, the voltage sags and frequency will drop below 60Hz. If the power company drops voltage and frequency, they will be disconnected PDQ from the grid, and along with damage to sensitive equipment stuff starts tripping off and soon you have lots of people without power (lots of capacity available then right?). To combat this, power companies will start asking large customers to not use power. Once all of those avenues are exhausted they have to do something. They start shedding load via rolling blackouts. Turn people off for a little bit, then turn 'em back on and someone else off for a little bit, etc... This really sucks I know. But, it is either sit in the dark for a little while while your neighbor (figurative, not your actual neighbor) has lights, or have everyone in an large region of the country sit in the dark while they sort out the problems. *LINK*

Rolling blackouts suck for everyone, but they are better than the alternative.

Now, here is a good chance for you to become more active in the power system dance. Read your power companies website. They will probably be talking about their needs and cases they have before the commission. If you see something you want to support contact the OCC and let them know. Go to public commission meetings. And most importantly, if you see one or more of the commissioner meetings not meeting what you think are the needs of the area you live in, vote their butts out!

Your power company is not trying to ramrod you as much as your professors would like you to believe the evil giant corporation man is out to get you.

 

[BadgeBunny]

dustin ... you never cease to amaze me, young man!!

 

[Glocktogo]

Ever plug too many appliances into one power strip and trip a breaker? Did you ***** at the breaker for not being able to keep up with demand? Or did you unplug some items and spread them out over more outlets?

Neither capitalism nor government regulations are to blame here. It's a matter of more demand than supply. This is a temporary imbalance that will correct itself in the near future. It would be foolish for them to waste money trying to cover an infrequent and random peak demand.

Quite frankly, everyone is hot, tired and cranky due to the weather. But it still makes us look like whiny and selfish when we complain about having to share the bad along with the good. JMO, YMMV

 

[LightningCrash]

First world problems!

 

[inactive]

First world problems!

I'd upvote this if I could...