Power outages can be very disruptive. They can be insidious during the daytime. They are clearly visible at night because the lights go out. YouSolar is located in Northern California, an area serviced by the electric utility Pacific Gas and Electric (“PG&E”).

PG&E has an increasingly difficult time keeping the lights on. More often, it needs to cut power to prevent its infrastructure from causing devastating wildfires.

PG&E’s transmission and distribution system was not designed for an increasingly drier and windier world, where wildlands dry as tinder and stronger, more frequent storms topple trees on power lines. Climate change may not be PG&E’s fault, but it is its problem, and its customers feel it.

In 2022, the number of customer interruptions increased by 44.3%, and the average time of outages rose 71.3% over the recent 5-year averages. And that was in a year when California’s wildfire season was unexpectedly quiet. 

In 2022 PG&E outages occurred significantly more often and lasted longer than the most recent 5-year average, even though that year had little wildfire risks. Source: The Reporter

The future of a power infrastructure that relies on a large, interconnected grid does not look promising. No matter whether you believe in man-made climate change or not, the local, regional, and global weather has become more erratic and damaging. Rising insurance premiums are evidence of greater weather risks – and money does not lie.

Terrible utility power is great news for YouSolar. PG&E is our best sales representative, we joke frequently. But there is a bigger truth. The YouSolar PowerBloc is not just a backup to a struggling grid; it is complementary to the grid, an enhancement, or even its full replacement.

With widespread distribution of independent power systems, the power infrastructure will be better for everyone: For those with a PowerBloc and those that rely solely on the grid. That would be true even absent of outages, as we have explained in previous updates.