Hackers and the US Power grid

[Dave Skolnick]

> From: Chip Fetrow <tacos@******.org>

> We are seeing both with PEPCO right now.  Mostly it is them cleaning
> up their act.

I grew up with VA Power before they became Dominion Power.

I remember watching the news as a kid wondering why Maryland had so
many more outages for so much longer than Virginia. Now I know. BGE is
a nightmare.

Of course the reality is that no power utility has much room to
maneuver. Power is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the
US. It is the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) that decides how much
can be built into the rates for infrastructure recapitalization.

It boggles my mind that Dominion, PEPCO, and BGE don't stand up at the
government hearings that follow major events and say "You guys set the
rates and decide what we can invest in. We'll do whatever you tell us
to."

> As an aside; I believe PEPCO "engineered" their problems.  They got so
> much flack about tree trimming they just stopped.  They waited until
> the public was sick of power failures that resulted from falling limbs
> and trees, and it made it easier for them to trim the trees.  The
> problem is, there are still people who don't want their trees trimmed.

The same thing happens here in BGE-land. PUC doesn't want to take the
political flack for allowing tree trimming so BGE doesn't get funded.
We get a storm, trees fall on wires, FEMA provides funds to repair,
trucks roll from across the Eastern seaboard, PUC looks like heros,
and BGE looks like they are sitting on their thumbs.

73 es sail fast de dave KO4MI
S/V Auspicious