The company is trying to blackmail California into not making them pay for the fires their faulty equipment caused. Sounds like an excellent time to go to wind and solar power. If people can’t rely on your utility then they need to change the model.

It's all about control

They seem to want to go back to living off the land...that is one way to do it!

Happens when private companies have monopolies on utilities and legislature cowtows to them

Sounds like something the GOP would say in an attempt to attack us.... News flash dumbass it was PG&E who shut off the power because they hadn't been bothering to maintain the lines for years. All in the holy name of corporate profiteering....

Bill Maher's comment on this last week was hilarious"...California power was afraid that downed power lines in certain areas would start fires...so they decided that millions of homes should light candles for a few days" (tongue in cheek, of course...that's Bill)

On a serious note...The FFC (the fossil fuel consortium) has pressured most states to have the lowest fuel taxes of any developed nation...except, of course...Russia....

See chart.