Several fires have abruptly started and the associated power companies initially take the blame. This is resulting in millions in lawsuits. The power company in the panhandle is Xcel Energy. They are already facing massive lawsuits over the Marshall fire which destroyed 1000's of homes in a suburban area. (ie: not a forest fire.) PG&E faced 84 counts of manslaughter in the paradise fire in California. They filed bankruptcy and will shutoff power in and high winds. Hawaii electric was initially blamed for the Maui fire. Are these DEWs? Economic warfare? an attempt to bankrupt and consolidate large energy companies?

Most power companies are cash strapped in order to make dividends each year. Xcel laid off 150 officially (250 actually plus 500 early retirements)at the end of 2023. Duke Energy laid off folks starting in 2024. Exelon laid off folks in 2023 as part of restructuring. These 4 companies represent the #1, 2, 5 and 15 power providers in the US. Some of these layoffs can be attributed to higher interest rates and shift of investment to higher yield "safe" investments. Others in the attempt to keep dividends up to attract further investors.

All energy companies are in this mad dash to to turn to "green energy" and shutdown old coal fire units. Even in Wyoming, a red state, with lots of coal reserves. The problem is they are not building new units. A 600mw 2x1 HRSG (aka gas unit) costs around 1.5 billion to build. The first new nuke plant in GA, bankrupted Westinghouse and damn near bankrupted Southern Company.

I can't speak much for other companies, only what I have heard from transfers, but this capital intensive industry is falling apart. Most preventive maintenance is deferred or has simply been removed in order to do corrective maintenance. 1/3 of our budget goes into environmental and our manpower is 25% of what it was 10 years ago. Yes, these damn companies focus on DIE and ESG.

Energy usage tapered in the early 2010's, but is now skyrocketing due to EV's and places like Denver demanded all new builds use electric heat. The Colorado market saw condition orange last year 36 times. That means one more lost unit and there would have been rolling outages. I think they are coming this year. There simply isn't the power on the grid when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. Many units are down often for repairs.

I think all this can result in several things happening. A push to nationalize the energy industry after bankruptcies, power outages etc. More likely a consolidation of power companies to a few large players owned by folks like blackrock or berkshire hathaway. Control the power, control the populace.

I strongly recommend looking into battery backup for your home that can last 2-3 days during an outage. A 15kw battery system can be purchased for 8-20k. They seem to be focusing on your average retail buyer this tear. Not a bad item for normal weather emergencies, but useful as this industry is falling apart. Look into the issues across the pond in Germany or in Venezuela or down in South Africa. Its coming to America soon. Any thoughts from what others are seeing?

Ive been lurking for awhile. The mandates and my companies caving (eagerly using OSHA as a cover) has led me to post.

How many fellow power industry workers do we have on here? (lineman, operators, gas supply, call centers etc) What are you seeing?

At my work place in blue city of a blue state only 17 of 45 employees are vaccinated. Half of those are management or work in the office. We provide nearly 1000 megawatts of power. More rural plants of equal size have less than 10% vaccinated.
We are thinly staffed as it is. I do not see how we can run the plant if half the folks are fired.

IBEW has caved, but the actual union workers have not. Only 20% of lineman and plant workers are vaccinated. Take rumors with a grain of salt, but the lineman are pissed and are not going to cooperate. My fellow plant workers do not intend on cooperating.

Another issue, should we lose any gas flow, we have minutes of operation before the units shut down on low pressure. Its not like the coal days where we had 90 days on the pile. There are no reserves for gas. What have folks heard out in the gas fields?

Bit of a ramble, but are you prepared for rolling brown outs? My company use to never have condition yellow. We have seen condition orange and red these last two years. Essentially, one more unit down and we have brownouts.