CeliaNeavel, MD, FSAHM, FAAFP

Houston Lighting and Power (HL&P) was the "public power utility company" for Houston. As such, they were required to invest ALL profit back into infrastructure. In a moment of genius (sarcasm) the Houston power utility was privatized by “more efficient” (sarcasm) corporations like Enron, Reliant, Centerpoint. These businesses have a "fiduciary responsibility" to their shareholders. They report to their shareholders. They DO NOT report to YOU and I. NO public service commitment, rather, shareholder value commitment. Centerpoint posted $6 BILLION in Profit for 2023. It's shareholders loved that...but, it was a temporal earning with huge costs that you and I are feeling right now. NOT maintaining power line right of ways (cutting the damn trees FAR away from power lines) is one way they CUT EXPENSES and show a PROFIT. I refer to it as a planned disaster. Underground power transmission is expensive for many reasons. ONE is the simple physics of electric power transmission. Nikola Tesla proved this over and over. When you transmit electricity underground, you must use a conductor that is 4-5 times the size. This is a simple fact of physics. Also, underground must be incased in watertight conduit and encased in a concrete water tight vault. If not, it will simply explode due to water/steam evaporative expansion. I've seen it happen when done wrongly. So, conversion to underground power must be done correctly and is expensive. But, done correctly, it lasts for decades. A conversion program to underground power provisioning would largely be unaffected by weather events and following Hurricane Ike this was highly recommended with 11-14 days for service restoration and longer after that Cat 4 storm blew through Houston. The people, you and I, are NOT in charge of one of our essentials. They are fresh water/sewer, transportation and roadways and Electrical Power. If these private companies are going to be unstable and fail us, the public will simply move to personal "point of presence" power generation. There are many types and they are becoming more affordable. For half a century, I've been involved in the massive power grid buildup. It was my family's business. All the while, I could see the unsustainable nature of it. There is massive loss in long haul transmission and constant uneducable maintenance on equipment, right of ways and peaking power. Local point of presence power generation is MUCH more efficient and there are many forms. The best systems are blended service delivery. Plasmoidial, hydrogen, some miniature nuclear, advanced solar, induction combined with stored energy cells are coming into the market and will break the stranglehold of big energy monopolies eventually. But, for now, you and I, the public, must work with our legislative bodies to regulate and force service and price point metrics.