I wrote: As you see from the outages listed here, outages are caused by things like > cars whacking into electric power poles, or trees falling on wires. There > would not be fewer cars whacking into polls just because people use less > electricity: > > http://outagemap.georgiapower.com/external/default.html > > You may not realize that is what this map shows. When you zoom in on the incidents, you see the details. For example, the one at the top of the map near Jasper, GA at this moment says:
*Customers Affected:* 6 *Estimated Restoration:* Mar 5, 5:30 PM A tree has caused a power outage in your area. We apologize for any inconvenience and we are working to restore power. We will provide updates as details become available. They have dispatched a crew with a truck to fix the power for 6 houses in the middle of nowhere, several miles north of Jasper. Because a tree fell on the line. Jasper is a town of 3,684 people. I suppose there are ~2,000 houses and businesses within 10 miles of the place. There are lots more trees out there than there are power company customers. If everyone in that area consumed little or no power there is no way they could afford to fix the outage. Suppose every house out in Jasper contributed 3,000 kWh per year to the grid the way Bob Cook does. The power company could not stay in business selling that electricity to other people. Even if the good people of Jasper gave that electricity to the power company for free, that's 3,000 kWh * 2,000 customers = 6 million kilowatt hours. If they sold it for 10 cents a kilowatt hour free and clear, that would bring in $600,000 per year to the power company. Or ~$1 per house per day. You can't run a power company and dispatch trucks or maintain a grid with that kind of money. You can't even deliver a printed newspaper to each house for that kind of money, which is why they will not be delivering newspapers much longer. - Jed
