I won’t need any electricity this month, thanks.
At one time or another, all of us have experienced a problem with our electrical power company. Some of us have had these unfortunate experiences on more than one occasion. If you live on the East Coast, for example, you know you’re going to have at least one problem pretty much every year.
Usually, the issue is a power outage due to the weakness of the electrical grid. When the grid is taxed by high winds, storms, high air conditioning usage during a drought or any of a variety of things, its vulnerability becomes painfully apparent. Of course, there’s also the problem of ridiculously high rates, and some homeowners have become tired enough of these costs that they’ve started generating their own power with solar panels and wind turbines.
But of all the things I’ve heard of regarding problems with utility companies, I think this one takes the cake. Some families in Queens, New York, who had their homes completely destroyed by Hurricane Sandy were still being billed by the power company for seven months after their home was gone.
Queens resident Kiernan Burke was charged $1,600 for gas and electricity usage over a seven-month period – AFTER his home burned to the ground. Some are saying that the homes in Burke’s neighborhood burned to the ground because the utility company failed to turn off the power before the storm struck. Even if that’s not true, how could a power company continue to bill residents when their houses did not even exist?
In this AOL News article “$1,600 Utility Bill for Home Leveled During Hurricane Sandy.” this is exactly what happened. The company eventually told Burke he wasn’t responsible for the bill, but now he’s concerned about how this experience has negatively affected his credit rating.
How often have you experienced a power outage in your current home? How long does it usually last? What other experiences have you had with your power company – good or bad? Do you have faith in your power company, or has it proved to be unreliable? I hope to hear from you about this.
I feel sorry for those people, my town has a back-up system so if the power is dropped it goes to an other supplier. My house was out of electric for less then one minute all I need to do was resent clocks. Yes, the town taxes are very high, I think it is worth it.
Minneapolis has a rule that forces the power company to compensate home owners if they experience an upper limit of either power outage events or power outage hours within a given year. The “compensation “is nominal. I have a MG set. It has saved my food and kept my phone service working three times since I bought it. It also saved the food of my neighbors.
I also had high-voltage problems. My UPS includes software that allows me to chart a full day of line voltage. The power company ignored me (and lied about their responsibilities). Big mistake. The Local power commissioners received a complaint that included printouts of the graphs. The power company fixed their problem. Sometimes, it takes a ball bat between the eyes to get their attention.
I’ve rarely had power problems in Miami
In the last 40 years I’ve spent in Boise, ID, Seattle WA, Crescent City CA, Brookings OR, and Bend OR only once or twice there was a power failure lasting more than a day. There were no significant losses and power failures are the least of my concerns.
everybody wants same life style after electricity goes out for a time you can have fuel. Wind doesn’t blow. we have had several days in the part of country where I live. no sun Need to learn to live with out electricity In the end
everybody wants to have same life style after electricity goes out. in the end you need to live with out it. wind doesn’t blow, you have no fuel or the sun doesn’t shine, as it has been in my part of the country where I live for several days
A few weeks ago we had a power outage due to a very windy storm (mid-December in northern California). In my area the power was out for a day and a half. I had just purchased some inflatable solar lanterns, and put them to good use. They charge up during daylight hours, and provide really good light after dark, while taking up little space, and no batteries to worry about,
I have been building , repairing, and installing generators for over 40 years. I have many solar electric installations that I have built and maintain (including my own) . I have made alternative energy my life’s work. A few tips that I might offer is for every dollar you spend in conservation efforts you will save about 10 dollars in equipment needed to make the energy you just conserved. Lighting is about a third of most household loads. I have changed every light source in my home and business to LED. It can be a big expense to do it all at once, so change them as you can afford to. The most often used first. Install timer switches in seldom used places so the load does not stay on when it is not needed.
Those are a couple of places to start. I have always maintained that it is better in some cases to ask forgiveness instead of permission.
A real good source of do it your self info is “Home Power Magazine”. They will help you stay safe and (if so inclined) legal.
Solar Users Beware! (The price of freedom – – – citizen activism essential to prevent government tyranny.)
Many places, (Coral Gables, Fl, for example) are now making it illegal to “live off the grid” – (litigation sill in progress there, last I knew). My work-around: My solar panels are on my RV. (A wind turbine is in the works). The RV is parked “snug against the wall” and an extension cord can be used for the refrigerator (biggest power hog) and the entertainment center (we have natural gas heat, with a kerosine backup.) A word of waring about collecting rain water – that, too, is now becoming illegal in may areas – Salt Lake City, Utah told me it’s too much bother to prosecute every violator, but Larry Miller Ford fought a nasty legal battle when they advertised that they used rain water off their roof to wash their cars! The city claimed the runoff form the roof belongs to the city water department! Many governments are making the same claim – so if you collect rain and snow melt, either get a permit or do it on the QT, and in a way that your neighbors and the city “drive by snoops” can’t tell.
Years ago before there was cell phones for the masses; they had the telephone wars. It was soon discovered that MCI was charging its customers a surcharge every month of $1.00. After a year or so of charging its customers it was discovered that this surcharge was MCI’s way of getting an extra dollar from its customers. Needless to say, the government and State of California fine MCI and the people never got a refund of the surcharge that they had to pay.
Not to long ago the cell phone companies were caught doing the same thing. Once more they were fine by the government and the state. Once more the people never were reimbursed their unauthorized surcharge.
This experience has taught me that no matter how large or small a utility company may be, it is up to you to maintain your due diligence and question every charge that comes across your desk to be paid. These utilities are here to make a profit. If they can scam you out of $1.00, one dollar that you will not miss, then they will go to the bank with a great big smile on their face. Why? Because the one dollar that they took from you plus the other million of other customers would make anybody have a great big smile pasted on their puss.
So what makes you thing that the power company is any different? Their hands are tied with every increase they ask for. Just as they get one increase they already have three more in the works for more. You can’t fault them from trying to figure out a way to increase their profits, or can you. After all its your money that they want. Your house doesn’t move around nor do you plug in electronic devices that just suck the electricity as if there was no tomorrow. You use your air-condition the same way you did years ago. It is that the rate just keep going up and up and up.
Your left with the big question; what can I do about my electric bills. I need to use electricity. I can’t create my own; after all I’m not a power plant. or are you??? You can do something about it. You can get the hands of the power company out of your pockets once and for all.
By putting solar panel on your roof you can cut your electric bill, if not eliminate them completely. If you shop around, you can come across a solar power generators that can run your house appliances. You no longer have to be plugged into the grid. You can generate your own power. You can become your own power plant. I did it with Frank Bates’ help.
Just yesterday Napa, California was hit with an Earthquake. Thousands of people are without power, no water, their food will be going bad, and I bet that a lot of them were not prepared. I bet that they wish that the had solar panels to keep their appliances going. So, do you want to be in the same situation as the folks in Napa or get off the grid and become independent of the power company? it is time to start to think outside the box. It is time to take your independence back. Stop paying for something when you can do it yourself.
Preach!
The Arizona power company (APS) has been trying for several years to get the legislature to place an exorbitant tax on solar panels because they are cutting into APS’s profits. It’s been voted down a couple of times, but looks like it will go through this year because APS is dumping a ton of money into political races that will benefit only them.
I have no central heat and no A/C, but do have a 1000 L LP tank for cooking and hot water here at 6600 ft.
Our outages are mostly minor, but did have a full day outage in early Spring when the power station went down.
retired expatriate (11 years)
We are still paying for hurricane Katrina and Rita even though they didn’t affect our area we didn’t even get rain from these storms and they charge us 15.00 a mont
Here in Sikes La the power company shuts our lights off when ever they feel like it.I have a son on oxygen and they don’t care.This past winter it got down to14 degrees that was the night they choose to leave the lights off for 12 hrs.Not only did my son get sick but I also lost $4,000 worth of plants.i’m trying to find a solar company in this area that won’t rip me off I have little faith in people
We lose power EVERY Sunday morning for 30-60 seconds. Just enough to have to reset clocks, etc. Also, we lose power several other times during the month, sometimes for 30-45 minutes. Occasionally we lose power for several hours. It is not just our house, but the whole area. We have given up on the electric company fixing it. As long as it is only a few minutes, they say don’t worry about it. The old wires and equipment are just worn out.
When Hurricane Frances hit Central FL ten years ago, our power was out for less than 48 hours. We had a standby generator installed two years before with a 500 gal LP tank, so we were prepared for up to 8 days without power. My advice is to invest in a generator, LP, Natural Gas or Diesel, as it will keep you comfortable until the power companies make repairs. I did not mention Gas Generators because they don’t last more than 5 years and the investment in the Auto Switchover System can run $5,000 and up, but it’s worth it for the peace of mind and comfort factor. Our system starts if the power is out for more than 13 seconds and the power transfer happens in 30 seconds. Don’t get caught without one or some other way to generate power reliably.
Don, please look into a solar generator. It is free, reusable energy you can use at any time. Gas and Diesel cost money. These fuels can better serve you in a car or truck.
http://www.patriotpowergenerator.com
We haven’t lost power for very long here. But I wonder about the transformer on the pole across the street that serves five houses, including ours. Sometimes in the summer when it’s not too hot, we like to have our windows open. Several times I have noticed that when the neighbor’s air conditioner comes on, the lights in our living room dim momentarily. I’ve never mentioned it to the power company, but I wonder if I should.
YES! We had a similar problem in California and they came out and did some measurements and saidit was my ground connection. The next time it occurred I went out and looked and every house on the circuit was having the same problem. Found it was in time with neighbors AC and the sparks on the pole transformer ground connection. Called back and it was fixed next day (no charge).
The squeaky Wheeler gets greased. LOL
Something that you should see! http://www.nbcnews.com/business/power-play-utilities-want-solar-users-pay-2D11887782?ocid=msnhp&pos=1
The took down this web site.
In the last 13 years that I’ve lived here, the electricity has only been off a short time and a very few times.
I am very thankful.
Helen, even a light bulb goes out at sometime in life. So what are you going to do when all goes dark?
Out of the six years we have lived here only twice has it gone out but not for a long period. The price is reasonable. They use solar panels here where I live. However, where my daughter lives the company doesn’t have solar panels and her bill is very expensive.
We have been fortunate enough that we have only lost power in the summer time or early autumn. However when there was a huge windstorm and our neighbors large shade cover for their boat that was not staked down blew into my power lines and only took out my power I was told there would be a $100 fee for the power company to come out and see what I had done to cause my power to be out, I was livid. They refused to come out unless I agreed to pay the charge. It was the next day before I finally got them to agree that IF it was not MY fault I would not be charged. After I watched them work I made the lineman sign a statement that I was not at fault. I was surprised that when my bill came the $100 charge was not on it.
I lived in Texas City when Hurricane Like hit. Lost lights for 2 weeks solid and received a bill for a full month of electricity that month. I called and they said they didn’t have time to go and read all the meters so the did an average for that month, I was pissed off and told them hell no and they reduced it when I gave them the Reading’s I read off meter. Sorry people if you ask me. They don’t care about the small guy at all.
When you play the slots and the casino’s take the money that these slots have earned for them; do you think that the casino’s take the time to count every nickel, dime, and quarter? No. They take the bucket of coins weight it out and estimate the value. Then they turn the coins over to the armor car company that then counts the coins and puts them into rolls. If there is any discretion (plus or minus) an adjustment is made. The casino’s do an average cost estimate. The power company does the same thing. They just don’t have the manpower to walk the city, get the reading, and make the adjustments. When a mistake is made they are happy to make the adjustments. But there are times when they get lazy and fail to check things out. It is just one of those things in doing business with the power company. What are you going to do? after all you can live with out them or can you???
Do not give/sell/let go of my email to anyone. I am so sorry for those folks & their animals that live in that part of our great country. They should all move to CA and leave those that choose not to help them out and become Republicans and change this great State around. Pretty good weather never know about earthquakes but its over pretty fast.