Great segment as always by Oliver, but one thing that was left out of this (at least not discussed in a direct manner) is how many of our “public utilities” are for profit publicly traded companies.
As noted in the piece, PG&E. I mean, let’s face it, their primary concern is going to be for their shareholders. Personally, I think the real answer is to literally have PUBLIC utilities, but that will likely never happen. In lieu of that, they need to be regulated far more aggressively than they are now so we don’t have failures in our grid.
Next, I believe that the investment in renewables should be phased in such a way that starts with an investment where people actually live.
If the utilities worked along side municipalities and property owners for say large scale solar arrays on large buildings (malls, office parks, etc) and parking structures, we could produce a ton of electricity during the day above and beyond that which is necessary for the properties on which the panels are installed.
Parallel to that should be electrical storage for after hours.
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