Frustration mounts as Comcast outages leave more than 100,000 California homes without Internet

Close to 100,000 homes and 6,000 businesses are without Comcast services due to Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s power shut-offs, the company told The Chronicle Monday.

Comcast didn’t immediately clarify cities and towns in the Bay Area that are impacted but said, “the locations would align with where PG&E power shutoffs are taking place.” Services affected include internet, landline and mobile phone services.

PG&E shut off power to 361,000 customers in 36 counties, including eight of nine Bay Area counties, beginning Sunday morning to brace for the strongest winds of the year. The utility sometimes shuts down power lines as a wildfire-prevention measure during highly dangerous wind conditions.

The shut-offs are expected to continue into Monday evening, PG&E said. Once fast, gusty winds subside, the utility will inspect its power lines and restore power in stages, with different geographic areas getting different restoration times.

Customers are frustrated, especially those that still have power but have internet outages because of the location of Comcast’s equipment.

“I couldn’t work (at home) today,” said Ruby Ballance, an accountant who lives in Oakland Hills and can turn her lights on but cannot use Comcast. “We don’t have phone or internet service, it’s a bad situation.”

Comcast said it can only restore service after PG&E restores power. Comcast initially relies on short term batteries to provide backup power to its network, spokeswoman Joan Hammel said via email. After the batteries run out of power, Comcast deploys generators for backup power where it can safely do so, she said.

“Certain vital infrastructure, including Comcast locations that serve cell towers, use permanent backup generators when commercial power is out. However, in a wide scale (utility fire-prevention) outage, it is not feasible for Comcast to deploy generators safely to every point in its network necessary to ensure that no customer loses service,” Hammel added.

Ballance ended up using her husband’s WeWork space to get work done. She said they don’t have any other option besides Comcast on her street, so they’re stuck with the service, or the lack thereof.

The coronavirus pandemic further complicates things.

“Before COVID, I was just able to go into the office or work at a Starbucks, but now we can’t do that,” she said. “At least I have WeWork. I can’t imagine what’s it like for folks who don’t or can’t have that.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Comcast-outages-leave-more-than-100-000-Bay-Area-15676574.php

Billionaire Mike Bloomberg drops $2.6 million in Texas Railroad Commission race

Former New York City Mayor and one-time presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg is spending $2.6 million to help a Democrat capture a seat on the state board overseeing the oil and gas industry.

The billionaire contributed about $2.63 million to help elect Chrysta Castañeda, a Dallas engineer and lawyer hoping to win a seat on the three-member Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and natural gas extraction, pipeline safety and surface coal and uranium mining.

The commission also has some say in the way Texas approaches climate change and clean energy — a campaign issue central to Castañeda’s bid to become the first Democrat to sit on the board in more than 25 years.

Bloomberg’s donation, first reported by the Texas Tribune, is a tenfold increase in her campaign contributions.

“I’m glad to support Chrysta in her campaign to be the next railroad commissioner because she has the vision and experience needed to build a safer, healthier and more environmentally prosperous future for the state of Texas,” Bloomberg said in a Monday release from Castañeda’s campaign.

The campaign said Bloomberg’s donation was part of a total of $3.7 million raised during the most recent campaign finance reporting period, which ran from Sept. 25 to Oct. 24. Candidates were required to submit their reports to the Texas Ethics Commission by the end of the day Monday.

“This campaign has been called the most important environmental race in the country, so I am grateful to be receiving such an unprecedented level of support,” Castañeda said in the release, which also touted a $500,000 donation from environmental philanthropists Richard and Dee Lawrence and $215,000 in combined contributions from the Sierra Club’s political committee and Texas PAC.

Before those big-money contributions, Castañeda had raised about $230,000 in monetary donations, with an additional $81,000 in in-kind contributions. Her opponent, Republican Jim Wright, had raised about $244,000 during the same period. His most recent filing indicates $341,000 in monetary contributions and $349,000 in in-kind donations

“Texas is not for sale to radical environmentalists and billionaires from New York and California who want to endanger our country’s economy and move energy production overseas,” Wright said in a statement Monday. “Make no mistake: We are in a war for the future of Texas, and the battleground is the Texas Railroad Commission. Texans know the value of having a strong oil and gas economy that helps provide millions of jobs for Texas citizens.”

At the end of September, he led Castañeda in cash on hand, $170,000 to $104,000, and had outspent her by nearly $300,000. Wright, who owns an oil field services company, snagged the Republican nomination from incumbent Commissioner Ryan Sitton in the March primary.

Democrats hope that upset will hand them a seat on the board for the first time since 1994.

The commission’s three members serve staggered six-year terms.

Libertarian Matt Sterett and Green Party candidate Kat Gruene are also on the ballot in the race.

https://www.expressnews.com/news/politics/texas_legislature/article/Billionaire-Mike-Bloomberg-drops-2-6-million-in-15675656.php