---
title: "The CA Blackouts Are Oh-so-Coincidentally Not Affecting Big Tech"
description: "Big tech companies have by and large avoided the blackouts in California, as they're powered by more robust transmission lines."
date: "2019-10-10"
modified: "2019-10-10"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ca-blackouts-not-affecting-big-tech"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "energy"
  - "silicon valley"
  - "the digest"
---

# The CA Blackouts Are Oh-so-Coincidentally Not Affecting Big Tech

![Big tech companies have by and large avoided the blackouts in California, as they're powered by more robust transmission lines.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ca-blackouts-not-affecting-big-tech.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Dan Nguyen/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Keep On Truckin'

Right now, hundreds of thousands of Californians are living without electricity — utility company Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) [hit the kill switch](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/california-without-power>) to prevent its own decaying infrastructure from sparking another wildfire.

But suspiciously absent from the [blackout map](<https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1WJ1QGZOIUP_lj6zas-C-OehPJ6tP84tN&ll=37.43119232743655%2C-122.12584801212859&z=10>): the campuses of major tech companies, *[Wired ](<https://www.wired.com/story/why-the-pgande-blackouts-spared-californias-big-tech-hqs/>)*[reports](<https://www.wired.com/story/why-the-pgande-blackouts-spared-californias-big-tech-hqs/>), including Google, Tesla, Facebook, and Netflix. There are infrastructural reasons why the tech giants get to keep the lights on while locals are left praying their food doesn't spoil — but it's still a frustrating illustration of how the extremely wealthy get priority treatment when things start to fall apart.

## Separate Grid

There are two reasons big tech is being spared. First, tech companies operating on large campuses generally don't have vegetation surrounding them, *Wired* reports. Power lines are less likely to spark wildfires without any dried-up plants nearby.

Second, tech headquarters tend to use far more electricity than family homes, so the former is served by bulkier and more resilient transmission lines that pose less of a risk to their surroundings.

## Second Class

It's frustrating that everyday people are left bearing the brunt of the deliberate shutoffs, but the fact is that PG&E hasn't set up the same infrastructure for them as it has for major customers.

"What PG&E is doing is blacking out the kind of low-voltage wires that deliver power to homes," Stanford University energy expert Michael Wara told *Wired*. He explained that tech headquarters "tend to be located closer to the bulk transmission system \[and\] the high-voltage lines, which are much less impacted by this outage."

**READ MORE:** [Why the PG&E Blackouts Spared California's Big Tech HQs](<https://www.wired.com/story/why-the-pgande-blackouts-spared-californias-big-tech-hqs/>) \[*Wired*\]

**More on the California blackouts:** *[Tesla Screens Flash Warning: Charge Your Cars Before CA Blackout](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-psa-california-charge-cars-blackout>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)