To answer Jay's initial post:
This is a failure of government.
PG&E has been offered (guaranteed) no competition, their customers have essentially no choice, and PG&E's profits and maintenance records have been explicitly approved by government regulators and politicians for decades.
And now California government (politicians) - many who receive generous campaign money - are assigning evil to this opportunistic firm. What do you expect? Do you blame a snake for eating mice? Of course not, that is what snakes do. The government has been tenderly nurturing this snake.
Capitalism is not on display here. Capitalism involves free choice, clear rules (regulation), and competition. None of these 3 existed, nor will exist, for PG&E.
When there is a single utility, this is a very similar situation as government-provided services.
Except one benefit for government: campaign cash. Public-owned utilities cannot directly provide campaign contributions. PG&E, however, provides millions of political dollars every year. This is why PG&E has existed all these years, despite historically poor customer service and significantly higher rates than adjacent government utilities like SMUD, and miserable maintenance records. The government loves the free money, even though they hate where it comes from.
If you think capitalism is the problem, buy a government-developed and marketed smart phone and car. Smart phones and cars have free markets, and 99% of us participate freely in these markets.
Tying this back to engineering and our profession:
I have worked for both private firms and public entities. Both have similar problems. However, getting rid of unmotivated and low quality employees in the public sector is nearly impossible. And these people are cancer to the moral of the department and the profession, but most government engineering departments keep these bottom feeders alive. The engineering community will excel when engineers have to compete; something that rarely happens in government.
