The gas explosion in San Bruno two weeks ago is a little cause for concern. It isn't so much that the city of Bakersfield sits atop a spiderweb of oil company pipeline as it is that we're served by the same incompetent, evil utility, Pacific Gas & Electric.
We had never had the pleasure of PG&E service until we moved here. In LA we had a different gas provider, one which didn't cause things to blowup. When we moved here there was already an all out war going on between the fine folk of Bako and PG&E. It started months prior to our arrival when PG&E rolled out some new technology, using Bako as corporate guinea pigs. I've written before about Bako being corporate America's go-to test market. They would tell you it's because statistically or demographically Bakersfield represents some magical cross section of America that makes it ideally suited for testing new things. I still believe it's because they consider Bako expendable in case things go horribly awry.
At any rate, PG&E had unveiled it's hot new thing... "Smart Meters".
I suppose we could debate the wisdom of marketing anything labeled "smart" in this town, but the truth of the matter is it was a moot point. PG&E is a utility and a monopoly and it's not like anyone here had any say in the matter. The "smart" meters were state-of-the-art, or so they said, and broadcast their data on a radio low frequency. PG&E goons slowly cruising the streets could collect all the data without dealing with locked gates and snarling dogs. It would be fast! It would be easy!
They installed the "smart" meters on half of the town, and when that hapless slice of the population received their next gas bill they discovered it had doubled.
All hell broke out, as you could imagine. It was summer and the old bills routinely ran around $500. Very quickly PG&E held a press conference to explain the situation. It was all very simple, they said...
People were simply using twice as much gas as the previous month.
That was too stupid to fly, even for here. Pretty soon the local lawmakers were calling for inquiries and congressional hearings. PG&E quickly came up with explanation 2.0...
The old meters were wildly inaccurate and the new meters were spot on. The people of Bakersfield had actually been getting "free" gas for the past 50 years, without so much as a thank you to PG&E. They wouldn't go so far as to accuse people of "theft", but they were willing to overlook it all because that's just the type of benign, thoughtful utility they were.
Now shut the fuck up about the meters and pay your bill.
So watching PG&E try and spin away their responsability in leveling a neighborhood up north isn't all that surprising.
I particularly like their helpful hint to "Call PG&E if you smell gas".
In Bakersfield?
How could you tell?
