Originally posted by normhead 
The Ontario Hydro trucks that came down and helped restore power in the US came from a Public utility, publicly owned and operated. Maybe instead fo whining about an American utility that obviously lacks sufficient oversight, you should be thanking the the Public utility that came you your rescue. I found it interesting that all the US utilities packed it in when the snow storm hit and only the Canadians were out there during the storm restoring power. I guess learning to work in snow isn't a priority for US companies. So you have to ask. Why can't Americans run a public utility. (Or if it snows, even a private one.) Canadians and many other countries can.
I consider all of the utilities as part of the american infrastructure - or perhaps more appropriately worded - lack of infrastructure.
Considering all of the taxes from all of the sources - america does not even have one of the top twenty best infrastructes in the world. Most of the cities have water and sewer piper in excess of one hundred years old, sewers that overflow into rivers nearly every time it rains (the same rivers that supply water ironically). The roads and power structure are about the same. Getting a bit worse, the rail sytem in america, and also public transportation.
Going back as far as Tesla and the beginnings of companies such as Westinghouse... america should seriuosly re-weigh their existing power system. It could easily be made both more efficient and also more fail safe reliable. Moost non long distance lines should also be made for in ground use - something that would have
weathered the storms much better - even in flooding areas
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