utilities News

Everyone Has a Home Office Now. So Who’s Paying For It?

NEW YORK — In the past, home offices were often an afterthought: Ill-equipped, cramped, and a little dusty from only occasional use. Now in 2020, many home offices are looking more like the command center at NORAD: Multiple screens, high-tech …

California Wildfires: Utility Lacked Basic Training Before Blackouts

SAN FRANCISCO — When Pacific Gas & Electric cut power to large swaths of wildfire-prone Northern California last fall, few of the emergency personnel managing the blackouts for the nation’s largest utility had learned the fundamentals of managing an emergency …

Slew of Outages Lingers in Tri-State Area Four Days After Storm

NEW YORK — More than 695,000 homes and businesses in the New York tri-state area were still without electricity at midday Saturday as utilities continued trying to get the lights on four days after Tropical Storm Isaias. Tuesday’s storm dealt …

Trump’s Grid Order Baffles Utilities Over What They Can Buy

U.S. utilities are scrutinizing their suppliers of transformers and other power-grid equipment for ties to China as they await details on President Donald Trump’s order to crack down on imports from overseas adversaries. Electric companies are trying to preemptively identify …

New Rules for Nuclear Plant Workers: 12-Hour Days for Two Weeks Straight

Nuclear power plants can now implement longer shifts for workers and delay some inspections, raising concerns that as the coronavirus pandemic upends basic operations the industry may be bending the rules too far. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is already allowing …

As Climate Fight Intensifies, U.S. States Seek to Block Local Natural-Gas Bans

March 5 — Lawmakers in at least five U.S. states have proposed bills since mid-February to prevent cities from banning natural gas as an energy source in new buildings, marking an escalation in the national battle over the fuel’s role …

Traditional Ways of Paying for Fires and Floods Aren’t Cutting It

Fires and floods are sending some of the nation’s largest utilities to the bond market to cover huge, unexpected bills. California’s PG&E Corp., which was forced into bankruptcy a year ago after its equipment sparked the deadliest wildfire in state …

PG&E Vows to Reduce Scope of Deliberate Blackouts to Stop Fires

PG&E Corp. said it aims to shrink the breadth and duration of intentional blackouts during California’s wildfire season as part of a $2.6 billion plan aimed at improving safety. The bankrupt utility giant wants to reduce the average geographic reach …

The U.S. May Soon Have the World’s Oldest Nuclear Power Plants

Bonnie Rippingille looked out at the wisps of steam curling from the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant across Biscayne Bay with a sense of dread. In December federal regulators approved Florida Power & Light Co.’s request to let the facility’s …

Rich Californians Shell Out $30,000 to Avoid Blackout Pain

Ebony Lopez’s electric company in Napa wine country used to get a handful of inquiries a week from people asking about generators. After PG&E Corp. shut power to millions of Californians last month, it’s more like 10 to 15 calls …