Another deregulation disaster: the Blackout of '08

The storms are bad in Texas. That's indisputable.

But in Kentucky and Ohio, they're no cakewalk either, thanks to the spoiled, greed-driven free market cult that governs utilities. The media consensus tries to absolve Big Business of any role, but that's bullshit.

When the deregulation craze picked up height in the '90s, the media cooed that that it would open up competition in the utility business. That was a lie. I knew it was a lie. There's even less competition now than before - and almost no regulations to ensure more reliable service. Make no mistake: That's made the latest story all the worse.

This entry isn't about Cincinnati's 50 MPH sustained winds (which prove climate change is real). It's about the region being plagued by widespread power outages that would have never been dreamed of 30 years ago unless the weather was much worse. The area has had major wind events in my lifetime before this (though probably none over 50 MPH), but because those were before deregulation, they seldom caused much power loss. Now the industry is so ill-prepared because of deregulation that the whole city of Cincinnati was knocked to its knees.

Long and short of it is: But for dereg, all the power probably would've been restored quickly.

The weather was tinderbox dry when the power was lost. My electricity went out 4 times - the fourth time for 29 hours and counting. (I'm blogging from elsewhere.)

I called the electric company (not 'The Electric Company', but the electric company). I was met with a recording saying there were 500,000 residences and businesses in the area with no power, and that it would be 3 to 4 days to completely restore power. The 500,000 figure later became 1,000,000, and the estimate of 3 to 4 days later became a week.

What??? A week??? This is already the worst blackout ever in this area. This denial of service is also the worst wind-only outage in the nation's history.

I don't expect this outage to receive as much media attention as it should (the CBS evening news today ignored it), because the right-wing media has a pro-dereg agenda to push.

I also had difficulty reporting my power being out. When I called the electric company, a recording told me to enter my 10-digit phone number. I did so, and was told it wasn't a real number. The recording then told me to enter my 10-digit account number - which I don't have, because electric is included in my rent. So I called back and entered a family member's phone number. All this did was elicit a recording telling me that it would be reported that the power was out at that address. There was no way to contact a customer service person. Later, a family member called me and told me dialing 0 during these recordings is a secret method to get through to customer service. I didn't try it because by then the power company had to have known the electric was out in the whole neighborhood.

This family member also told me the phone company (which I once worked for) is as unprepared as the power company is. The phone company was called about a downed line that blocked the driveway (which is dangerous). The phone company played a recording saying it would be over an hour before the call would even be taken. Later they said they would not fix the downed line for 3 days.

Results of the deregulation-fueled Blackout of '08: Businesses were forced to close. Because stores closed, folks couldn't buy food to replace food that spoiled because of the power being out too long. People got stranded in buildings with elevators (especially if they're unable to use stairs). I lost business. Traffic lights and rail crossing signals didn't work (which caused accidents).

Spoiled Freepers who live nowhere near Cincinnati or Texas think they have it rough. They'll WWWHHHIIIIIIIIIINNNE because a poor family somewhere "robs" them by getting $10 a week in government benefits. But these Freepers weren't near the storm, so they never lost power. So they should shut their damn mouths.

After something like this, the government ought to require the power company to waive all of this month's electric bills. Nationwide, there's enough laws to fill a set of books the size of the Encyclopaedia Britannica that protect utilities and even grant them special powers (like the power to abuse eminent domain). But there's hardly any laws to protect consumers - especially from denial of service attacks like this.

I'm inclined to bill the power company for lost business, food going stale, and not getting the power I paid for (I'm on the flat rate plan). In modern America, where everything is computerized or runs on electricity, and where so many people depend on it for their livelihoods, a metropolitan area of 2,000,000 can't go for days on end without power. It wouldn't be such a hardship if electricity wasn't one of the building blocks of the local economy.

If the Republicans win greater Cincinnati in the election after this blackout, it'll be a once-in-a-lifetime miracle. Opponents have grounds to run ads on Cincinnati TV to raise the issue of deregulation and the outage.

I don't even want to hear what the excuses are form the market ideologues this time. I and thousands of others aren't in the mood. If a dry wind wreaks this much havoc on our power system, think what a tornado would do.

A postscript: The blackout got worse today, after the work to fix it reportedly began. From radio reports, the number of customers with no power increased through most of the day.