More fun with electricity

PG&E is at it again, taking away our power for at least half the day on Monday, February 22.  We’ll keep things going from various home offices, but phone service and bugbase access will be limited.

Our testing efforts will continue despite these outages. We have always prepared ourselves to maintain the quality of our testing capabilities, regardless of power outages. Whereas this electricity outage can be a burden to our company and can sometimes slightly affect the clients we serve, it is not a new experience for PG&E consumers. In the past, multiple electricity outages have been recorded in California, which is the primary state served by PG&E.

With a total of 96 minutes of outages in 2015, consumers noticed no changes even though the outage duration was the lowest for the past 5 years. 

This year, we will likely experience more outages, and many consumers are worried about where to get their power source. Businesses that heavily rely on their appliances should now be prepared. If you are one of those consumers, there are alternatives you can try.

Nowadays, with the advent of other power sources, consumers are pivoting for their residences and businesses.  Options like solar energy have become among the most popular. Solar panels doubled their sales in 2015 compared to last year. A significant reliance of consumers on alternatives does not affect PG&E. This only entails their readiness if any outages might happen in the future. 

It is not only PG&E that has frequent electricity outages. 

In the United States, power outages are unfortunately all too common.  Electricity generation is still a pressing issue despite the fact that there are now multiple alternative sources. According to the US Energy Information Administration, the 3 major sources of electricity are coal, natural gas, and petroleum. There are also companies that use gas turbines, hydro turbines, and wind turbines.