Grid Security Now!

Grid Security Now!

Michael Mabee – Author of The Civil Defense Book

Menu
  • Home
  • Library
    • Grid Security Library
      • Government Documents on Grid Security
      • OE-417 Electric Disturbance Events Database
      • CIP Violation Database
      • Database of Chinese Transformers and Equipment in the U.S. Electric Grid
      • Why Haven’t We Secured the Grid?
      • What is the Electric Grid and How is it Regulated?
      • Grid Protection Posts
      • Video (EMP and Grid Security)
    • Civil Defense Library
      • The cavalry is not coming
      • Civil Defense Posts
      • Video (Preparedness)
      • Civil Defense Checklists
  • In the Press
  • Take Action!
  • Fund The Fight!
  • About Me
    • About Michael
    • Interviews – Michael Mabee
    • Subscribe to Mike’s Blog
    • Contact Me
  • My Book
Menu
Wired for Greed

“Wired for Greed: The Shocking Truth About America’s Electric Utilities”

Posted on January 18, 2020January 20, 2020 by Michael Mabee

Book Review: “Wired for Greed: The Shocking Truth About America’s Electric Utilities” by Joe Seeber

Click to buy on Amazon

As you can imagine, I have read a lot about the electric utility industry. So when a Secure the Grid Coalition colleague of mine, Doug Ellsworth, recommended that we read Joe Seeber’s “Wired for Greed” I immediately bought a copy. The paperback was $13.95 from Amazon. It seems like a slim volume (124 pages) but don’t let that fool you: It is worth every penny.

French novelist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr famously said: “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” or, “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” This sums up the shenanigan’s of the electric utility industry and “Wired for Greed” punctuates this point.

Joe Seeber wrote “Wired for Greed” in 2005 and a lot has changed since then, in particular, the regulatory scheme.  The Energy Policy Act of 2005 added Section 215 to the Federal Power Act. This gave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the authority to certify an organization as an “Electric Reliability Organization” (ERO) which would develop reliability standards for the industry, subject to FERC’s approval. (Yes, you read that right—the industry writes its own reliability standards.) On July 20, 2006, FERC certified the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) as the ERO. The Electric industry lobbied heavily for this self-regulatory scheme. Now, 15 years later, we see why. The industry has been up to even worse behavior and regulators  continue to fail to rein in the abuses. To abuse a cliché, by allowing the electric utilities to largely regulate themselves, we have allowed the fox to guard the hen house.

So, although a lot has changed, little has changed.

Seeber recounts instance after instance of electric utilities not only ripping off their customers, but overwhelming (and/or “buying”) the regulators in order to get their way. This is exactly the same playbook that we are seeing today on the issues of grid security. The book discusses the misbehavior of major companies such as Enron, Duke Energy, PG&E, Entergy and the list goes on. It also discusses historical examples such as the misdeeds of Samuel Insull – whose massive utility empire spectacularly failed in 1932. Insull was indicted for fraud and fled the country. What emerges in “Wired for Greed” is a well documented story of an industry gone amuck for the last century. The book is riveting and appalling.

“Wired for Greed” should be required reading for every member of the House and Senate Energy Committees, as well as state Public Utility Commissions and federal regulators. Alas, I doubt they have time as they are too busy being lobbied by the electric utility industry. Anybody who pays an electric bill needs to read this book.

I assure you, I am seeing the same electric industry misbehavior in my grid security efforts as Mr. Seeber describes in terms of the industry’s long running financial misbehavior.

Mr. Seeber: If you are reading this I beg you – America needs you to write volume 2!

###

Title: “Wired for Greed: The Shocking Truth About America’s Electric Utilities”
Author: Joe Seeber with Jim Moore
Paperback: 124 pages
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (October 17, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 059535744X
ISBN-13: 978-0595357444
Back Cover Description:

Most Americans still do not understand electric utilities, and many consumers have only a vague grasp of the intricacies of regulation and deregulation. This is a paradox of sorts; regulation, in particular, seems easy enough to grasp. The real difficulty lies in understanding how power companies have manipulated the regulators. If you think utility deregulation has done away with electric utility monopolies, think again! Deregulation is a myth-it’s business as usual for the power companies.

For most of America, utility deregulation has yet to become a reality. Even if it does, electric companies will still swindle those they serve. Why? One reason: deregulation allows the utility giants to retain control of the transmission and distribution of electricity.

Utility cheating has gone unchecked for more than a century. Author Joe Seeber has caught the electric companies red-handed, from fudged financials and courtroom trickery to meter manipulation and outright fraud. He paints a compelling portrait of an industry wired for greed-and argues that it’s time someone pulled the plug.

 


Other Recommended Reading on the Electric Utility Industry:

Wired for Greed
Insull: The Rise and Fall of a Billionaire Utility Tycoon. By Forrest McDonald
Wired for Greed
24 Days: How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies that Destroyed Faith in Corporate America. By Rebecca Smith
Wired for Greed
The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. By Bethany McLean
Wired for Greed
Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story. By Kurt Eichenwald

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



News

  • How to Fix Electric Grid Security
  • U.S. Continues to Import Large Transformers from China
  • 60 Minutes – How secure is America’s electric grid?
  • COVERUP UPDATE: CIP Violation Database and FOIA Lawsuit
  • Q: How Did We Become So Vulnerable?
  • Rate Recovery: How Electric Customers Fund Industry Lobbying
  • Energy Sector Supply Chain Review – U.S. Department of Energy
  • Criminally Negligent Homicide in February 2021 Texas Blackout Deaths?
  • Chinese Transformer Threat Now Confirmed by Two Administrations
  • Secretary of Energy Advisory Board: Comments of Michael Mabee
  • Electricity Advisory Committee: Comments of Michael Mabee
  • How the electric utility industry torpedoed grid security
  • Chinese Transformer Complaint Filed with U.S. Government
  • U.S. Electric Grid Imports More Chinese Transformers in 2020 and 2021
  • Recent Grid Threats: Frank Gaffney and Michael Mabee Break It Down
  • Secret Penalties: The Electric Grid Is Making You Pay Their Fines
  • Government Misses the Boat on Grid Security – Again
  • Critical Electric Infrastructure – The Government Must Step Up
  • FERC Dismisses Texas Grid Collapse Complaint
  • FERC Office of Public Participation: End the Electric Industry Coverup
  • Testimony of Michael Mabee on SB 1606 – All Hazards Grid Security
  • Federal Complaint Filed on Texas Grid Collapse
  • We Are Plugged In To Life Support
  • Texas Blackout: The Unacceptable Outcome of a Foreseeable Event
  • Chinese Transformers in the Electric Grid: Lights Out For NYC?
  • Message to Governor Jennifer Granholm and the Department of Energy
  • Chinese Transformers in the Electric Grid
  • The U.S. Has 300 Chinese Large Power Transformers
  • Senator Murkowski Questions Cybersecurity Order Suspension
  • Grid Supply Chain Cybersecurity Order “Suspended”

Fund The Fight!


Subjects

Search Website

Subscribe for Updates!

Follow me on Twitter

Tweets by CivilDefenseBK

Click To Get Prepared!

The Civil Defense Book: Emergency Preparedness for a Rural or Suburban Community
The Civil Defense Book Get it now!

Subscribe for updates

Follow Me On Facebook

The Civil Defense Book

9 months ago

The Civil Defense Book
Bradford Clark Freeman, the last surviving member of Easy Company's Band of Brothers, dies at 97apple.news/AkFt2MfXqTCWTe4KGOFDOPg ... See MoreSee Less

Bradford Clark Freeman, the last surviving member of Easy Company's Band of Brothers, dies at 97 — CNN

apple.news

Bradford Clark Freeman, believed to be the last surviving original member of the historic World War II parachute infantry regiment of the US Army known as Easy Company, died Sunday in Columbus, Missis...
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

The Civil Defense Book

9 months ago

The Civil Defense Book
Here Comes the Sun—to End Civilizationwww.wired.com/story/sun-storm-end-civilization/ ... See MoreSee Less

Here Comes the Sun—to End Civilization

www.wired.com

Every so often, our star fires off a plasma bomb in a random direction. Our best hope the next time Earth is in the crosshairs? Capacitors.
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Fund The fight!


©2023 Grid Security Now! | Theme by SuperbThemes