Introduction from Electric Power Reliability Evangelist in Ohio

What's that got to do with tree branches falling on power lines?

https://www.foxnews.com/us/oficials-getty-fire-sparked-by-falling-tree-branch-on-power-lines

..."Paradise Mayor Jody Jones said she saw her community’s anger at the utility manifest itself when locals threw rocks at the workers in town to make repairs.

“I want to make a distinction between those workers who gave up their beds and family life to try and put our town back together, and the corporate structure with the maintenance of our lines,” Jones said. “Sometimes people can’t see the difference between the two. But if to provide benefits to shareholders, they were deferring maintenance, they have to be held accountable for that.”

Another suit, filed in December, said a damaged metal hook or ring on a transmission tower was at least partly to blame for the fire. When it failed, the suit said, it allowed an uninsulated cable to touch the steel tower.

“Blazing hot molten materials dropped into the fine dead fuels below … igniting the devastating Camp Fire,” the suit claims. “Strong winds, low humidity, and dry vegetation fueled the fire. The intensity of the heat generated by the fire and the terrifying speed at which it spread are unimaginable.”"...

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-pge-paradise-fire-20190228-story.html

They seem to be blaming PG&E and Global Warming at the same time....

..."Already PG&E has accepted responsibility for the deadliest fire in state history, the Butte County Camp Fire. And a Los Angeles Times report citing the California Public Utilities Commission found that of more than 2,000 wildfires between June 2014 and December 2017 traced to utilities, more than 1,500 were caused by PG&E equipment."...

But they are by far the largest power company, so...

..."Under state law, utilities face strict liability for damages from any fire traced to its equipment, even if they were not negligent. This is known as inverse condemnation. Though the legal doctrine has been around for decades, it has become problematic for utilities as the state experiences longer bouts of drought and hot weather. Seven of the 10 most destructive wildfires in state history have happened in the last five years.

At the same time, state regulators have seemingly made it harder to pass liability costs to customers. In 2017, the five-member California Public Utilities Commission, the state agency that oversees investor-owned utilities, blocked San Diego Gas & Electric from passing on $379 million in liability costs on the premise that the utility’s management of its facilities is unreasonable."...

Yeah, this makes no sense at all...

https://calmatters.org/politics/2019/02/next-california-wildfire-pge-victims-bankruptcy-law/

Well, the reality is that the ratepayers will be financially liable for the damages.

But they won't even know that they are dying of billions and billions of microscopic paper cuts. (summoning my best Carl Sagan).