PSE’s poor maintenance practices result from their attempts to cut costs, so they can squeeze more profits out of the community. With public power, maintaining the electrical system is a public service rather than a business cost.
From “Q&A: Why was the power out for so long during recent storm“, John Gillie, The Olympian, February 04, 2012
Final figures show that during the weeklong period, the utilities in the region saw more than 500,000 homes and businesses without power. Puget Sound Energy, the region’s largest utility with 1.1 million electric customers from the Canadian border to Lewis County, was the hardest hit, both in raw numbers and the proportion of its customers whose power was interrupted.
Read the full article here.