Axios has reported that PG&E who supplies 16 million people in California with electricity has stated intentional blackouts like the one that occurred this month could be needed for 10 years:
October 18, 2019
PG&E's CEO Bill Johnson said Friday that it could be a decade before the company has made enough improvements to its electric infrastructure to prevent widespread pre-emptive blackouts, the Wall Street Journal reports.
What's happening: The California Public Utilities Commission grilled Johnson and other PG&E executives on Friday over a four-day power shutoff that affected roughly 2 million people in an attempt to prevent wildfires.
- Marybel Batjer, president of the commission, said the executives "failed on so many levels on pretty simple stuff," AP reports.
- "Making the right decision on safety is not the same as executing that decision well," Johnson said on Friday. "PG&E has to be better prepared than it was this time."