Sorry if this is a repost.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/354266.asp

-SNIP Power grid is stressing out, U.S. says Federal report finds competition has degraded reliability By Miguel Llanos MSNBC Jan. 7  Next time you turn on the lights, think about this: A new federal study of power outages last summer has concluded that the reliability of the U.S. power grid has been considerably eroded. A big factor, it found, is that utilities that used to cooperate are now fiercely competitive. -END SNIP

-- murdonstaf (stafford@1st.net), January 09, 2000

Answers

This sounds like a Y2K problem to me.

-- (mestrel@kortan.net), January 09, 2000.

snip- Federal reports are "UNBELIEVABLE" -end snip

end around?

bait and switch?

wag the dog?

lied, laid, lain?

fade to black? Uh oh.

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), January 09, 2000.

I THINK its called deregulation of the power industry. You can go to Energyland, Rick Cowles page and read all about it. Its going to be the same hassle as its been since breaking up AT&T. You are going to have to choose your power company in the near future. You will not just use whomever is the local supplier. Don't ask me how it works, but you can bet it won't work for the consumer. It may bring the price of KH down, but there will be taxes, access charges, etc., just like our phone bills now, that will make the charges higher. And then you get into who maintanes the lines when 40 different power companies are using them?? Change is not always good!

Taz

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), January 09, 2000.

Do you really think that this would even be an issue currently if it weren't for the slinkiness of the Y2K problem? Possibly; or could it be another "beware of terrorists" type warning "in the event" of power problems. Little has been said about electricity since 1/1/00, but as Gary North had stated, if the electricity goes out, it's all over. There's already been many postings of power outages, explosions, etc. in these EARLY stages -- some affecting entire cities. This seems to be just another classic example of "covering all the bases". It may not be, but does anyone have any current, firsthand information of the state of the power grids?

-- Patrick Lastella (Lastella1@aol.com), January 09, 2000.

1) THat article was a think piece done to look at the deregulation of the industry.

2)The industry is currently in a state of change. Running from a vertically integrated industry (where the producer is also the retail seller) to a horizontal market where there are going to be producers, and transmitters, and line-owners and consumers. Had an interesting talk with a person consulting with the resource council, which is trying to help the Fed lawmakers in sorting out the issues.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), January 09, 2000.

My power is already unreliable here. I don't get power outages per se, but daily blinks, enough to blank the clocks, etc.

We here in PA, have a so-called consumer's choice. What they don't tell you is that if no other companies want to supply you, you have no choice. I live a mere 5 miles outside town (farm/suburb area), and we are served by a rural coop. NO other company wants to supply us here, because it's more profitable to service the towns and industrial customers.

If we get a hot and droughty summer again, as we have for the last 2, it ought to be interesting.

-- Bill (billclo@msgbox.com), January 09, 2000.

---well, I'm picking my power company, and it's a combo of Four Winds Energy using Unisolar panels, and a Kohler genny, and hopefully within a few months be OFF reliance on local grid connected to the Southern company. Right now still connected, but run some stuff off of batt bank/controler rig I have, will be adding some more solar input. Like to get a small wind genny, too, if I can find one cheep enough! Backups for your backups and diversification is a smooth move for many-not all-but many folks. This isn't spam, it's an honest assessment of one of the good alternate energy companies out there. A lot of these companies struggled for years until last year, when y2k awareness hit bigtime, and they all got swamped with orders and work. So, for all of you still thinking about it, now's a good time to add a little juice insurance! Can't hurt whatsoever!

electrozog

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), January 09, 2000.

I read this on a fed page a couple days ago. Excuse to nationalize?

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 09, 2000.