Power outages. Power company incompetence

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The power finally came back on after days. It happens over and over again.

Other products have improved. Out tires used to last 25,000 miles and now they last far longer. Same with cars etc. etc.

Its about time and overtime that the power companies improved thier performance.

Lets identify the problem and solve it.

Here on our street a tree fell on the wires. I see that as a primary problem.
 
Look on the bright side, you didn't have to pay for their product while it was out.

IMO sack up and get a generator. This problem is not going to get any better in MA... if the PUC let Unitil get away with murder like it did with the ice storm, nothing will happen to these utilities. The only incentive they have to fix the problem is you paying your bill.

-Mike
 
Until you have managed a casualty recovery operation of any magnitude, you don't have a clue about what can or can't be done better or faster and sound like a fool complaining.
 
I see you Jose, as part of the problem.

Its about time we, as customers, got reasonable performance like we do from other services.
 
I heard on the radio this AM that one of the GOP house reps in MA is proposing a bill that would penalize the utility companies 2 days of rebates to consumers for every day of outage that exceeds 8 hrs. The "logic" was that the electric company would look at this as a financial incentive, figuring that it is cheaper to pay more workers time-and-a-half vs. the much larger penalties if they delay.

Personallly, I'm disappointed that republican would even think to submit this bill, but then again, we're in MA, where even the repubs are moonbat libtards. WAAF even called the rep. Can't remember his name- Bristol Co? Anyone else hear it today?
 
I see you Jose, as part of the problem.

Its about time we, as customers, got reasonable performance like we do from other services.

Dude WTF are you talking about? What other service compares to electricity, which is delivered to almost every house in existence?

And I swear to god if you even mention wireless power or Tesla coils I'll hunt you down myself. Stop being so unappreciative of people working 16-20hrs a day to restore your soap operas. If you don't like power companies, go off grid or start your own and let me know how it works out.
 
Dude WTF are you talking about? What other service compares to electricity, which is delivered to almost every house in existence?

And I swear to god if you even mention wireless power or Tesla coils I'll hunt you down myself. Stop being so unappreciative of people working 16-20hrs a day to restore your soap operas. If you don't like power companies, go off grid or start your own and let me know how it works out.

Well, I was going to say something about cutting the guys working on it a break, and the magnitude of repairing all the damage from such a storm and getting every single customer back online - but that beat anything I could have come up with.
 
All I hear on the local radio shows are people calling in and complaining about the power company's taking to long to restore power.
Why can't people learn from this and not blame anyone but them self for not having a back up plan like 1 or 2 generators and fuel ready to go for next time?
 
The power finally came back on after days. It happens over and over again.

Other products have improved. Out tires used to last 25,000 miles and now they last far longer. Same with cars etc. etc.

Its about time and overtime that the power companies improved thier performance.

Lets identify the problem and solve it.

Here on our street a tree fell on the wires. I see that as a primary problem.

Ban trees.[rolleyes]

seriously? you're upset because a tree fell on your lines and it took 5 days to get your power back? Electricty isn't a garaunteed right. Maybe you would like to pay to have all electrical lines buried underground so trees won't damage them. just stop your whining and go back to your soap operas now that the power is back!
 
Until you have managed a casualty recovery operation of any magnitude, you don't have a clue about what can or can't be done better or faster and sound like a fool complaining.

Jose a lot of the utilities up here are just a bunch of skinflints, that's all there is to it, particularly Unitil. Remember these ARE government regulated monopolies, to some degree- and the government does a poor job of regulating them, on top of the obvious problem of not having a free market.

The only way for the consumer to insulate themselves against this crap is to take the matter into their own hands and do their own contingency planning. (generator, alternative energy, etc. )

ETA: I do have to say that 5 days isn't really big deal... not in comparison to what happened with the Ice storm we had. Many people hit from that storm lost power for over a month.

-Mike
 
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I don't ever fault the folks working 22 hours a day fruit to get service back at times like this. The failure falls on the executives in the utility companies. However, they're motivated only by the bottom line, as they should be. The trick is, in this system, their bottom line equation doesn't include customer loyalty since we're stuck with them.
I guarantee you that if three electric companies were competing to be my supplier I'd see a different reaction from at least one of them in a situation like this (although after a storm like this one you're still likely to lose power for days). Until they're forced to openly compete, suck it up and get a genrerator.
 
Dude WTF are you talking about? What other service compares to electricity, which is delivered to almost every house in existence?

And I swear to god if you even mention wireless power or Tesla coils I'll hunt you down myself. Stop being so unappreciative of people working 16-20hrs a day to restore your soap operas. If you don't like power companies, go off grid or start your own and let me know how it works out.

You wrote: "And I swear to god if you even mention wireless power or Tesla coils I'll hunt you down myself. "

Are you crazy? To be frank you have me concerned. I appreciate how hard some work however I am asking that the PROBLEM be solved.

For the sake of brevity lets say that the primary problem is too many branches falling on wires. Lets cut back more branches.

Thank you.
 
Lots of folks whining about how all the food they bought is spoiling since they don't have power. One of the national Grid guys called in and made the observation that if you go out and buy $300 worth of food just before a hurricane, one that you've known about for a week, then you're the idiot for buying the food. I tend to agree with him. You are responsible to yourself. Plan accordingly. Don't sit and whine because something you expected didn't happen.

Some folks think electricity is some sort of enumerated right- I would say the MA entitlement attitude is starting to sink in.

I'm sure there are situations where the utilities are either caught flat-footed or are just plain dogging it (ice storm comes to mind) but for the most part I see a lot of folks putting in a lot of hours to get things back online. It's easy to play victim when you're upset over missing Wheel of Fortune at 7 every night....
 
Putting all the power lines underground would be a good start. Who's gonna pay for that, though??

Our power was out for 52 hours. I was very happy when it came back on. With all the trees and lines down, it was hard to fault them for taking two measly days to get it back.
 
[thinking][thinking] hmmm, ok I've got a splendid idea, Lets cut down every tree in the country thats within 100 feet of a power line and make the whole country look like central Texas. That ought to end the problem once and for all, except for the ice.[rolleyes]

On the other hand, how about you take a little initiative towards your own self preservation and buy a generator and transfer switch like a responsible person would do?

Those guys work wonders in the worst of weather conditions and usually get great results.

What kind of cheese would you like with your whine?
 
A lot of European countries buried their lines underground after WWII, and subsequently don't suffer the same kinds of issues we do. Of course, they were rebuilding from scratch considering they'd been firebombed into near oblivion. It made it a lot easier for them to do that given that they were starting from square one.

All in favor of carpet bombing MA raise your hands.

View attachment 20212 View attachment 20212 View attachment 20212[smile][smile][smile]
 
I am not a National Grid electric customer but from what I'm hearing in the media it seems as though they just didn't have a plan for emergencies like this. It looks as is Nstar will have all their customers restored well before National Grid. It's one thing to have to recover from a storm like this but not having a plan for making the best use of the assets you have is to say the least reprehensible. It will be interesting to see what the actual fall out is.

People need to make preparations for events like this. Most people haven't made any plans at all. That's why there is always a rush at grocery stores. I don't think that people actually do by a freezer full of food for a storm. I have a normal amount of food in my freezer and a way to cook it in power outages. But I'm sure at least some of it is going to be wasted without a way to keep it.

I've been a ham radio operator for over 25 years. On my way back from checking on some property off Cape Cod I heard a ham I've known for many years complaining about not having electricity for three days. Seems he has the money to buy thousands of dollars on ham equipment and a battery back up for that but no money for a generator for his well. I've never lived in a place with well water but you can bet that if I did I'd have a generator.

I understand the frustrations people have. But it seems there is plenty of blame to go around for people being unprepared. Both as individuals and utilities. Maybe the good thing that will happen from this is that people will take being prepared more seriously.
 
I heard on the radio this AM that one of the GOP house reps in MA is proposing a bill that would penalize the utility companies 2 days of rebates to consumers for every day of outage that exceeds 8 hrs. The "logic" was that the electric company would look at this as a financial incentive, figuring that it is cheaper to pay more workers time-and-a-half vs. the much larger penalties if they delay.

Personallly, I'm disappointed that republican would even think to submit this bill, but then again, we're in MA, where even the repubs are moonbat libtards. WAAF even called the rep. Can't remember his name- Bristol Co? Anyone else hear it today?

Dan Winslow from Norfolk. And I see nothing wrong with the idea at all!!!
 
I am not a National Grid electric customer but from what I'm hearing in the media it seems as though they just didn't have a plan for emergencies like this. It looks as is Nstar will have all their customers restored well before National Grid. It's one thing to have to recover from a storm like this but not having a plan for making the best use of the assets you have is to say the least reprehensible. It will be interesting to see what the actual fall out is.

People need to make preparations for events like this. Most people haven't made any plans at all. That's why there is always a rush at grocery stores. I don't think that people actually do by a freezer full of food for a storm. I have a normal amount of food in my freezer and a way to cook it in power outages. But I'm sure at least some of it is going to be wasted without a way to keep it.

I've been a ham radio operator for over 25 years. On my way back from checking on some property off Cape Cod I heard a ham I've known for many years complaining about not having electricity for three days. Seems he has the money to buy thousands of dollars on ham equipment and a battery back up for that but no money for a generator for his well. I've never lived in a place with well water but you can bet that if I did I'd have a generator.

I understand the frustrations people have. But it seems there is plenty of blame to go around for people being unprepared. Both as individuals and utilities. Maybe the good thing that will happen from this is that people will take being prepared more seriously.

Hahahaha, classic tale of screwed up priorities. A generator was the second thing I bought after I bought my house that was on a well, the first was a freezer.
 
Until you have managed a casualty recovery operation of any magnitude, you don't have a clue about what can or can't be done better or faster and sound like a fool complaining.

I can't agree more. I am willing to bet most of the trees that took down power lines were the homeowners trees. If a homeowners tree does take down a power line and knocks out a subdivision should the customer be billed for the damage that their tree caused?
 
Dan Winslow from Norfolk. And I see nothing wrong with the idea at all!!!

Look again.

1) He says they should rebate you 1 day because you aren't using electricity, so you shouldn't have to pay for it. Ahhh, you don't pay for electricity per day, you pay based on usage. If there is no power flowing into your house, you already aren't paying anything!

2) He says they should rebate you a second day because "it's only fair" that you are compensated for the inconvenience. He may have an R next to his name, but this screams libtard. Who's compensating them for the "inconvenience" of having to pay linemen to put up new wire that they have to buy because mother nature created a mess?

3) Where do you think they would get the $ for these "rebates"? Quite simply, by raising rates. So while you're bent over, they'll ram it in a bit further so that they can give some back to you.
 
You know the system is f**ed and in need of overhaul when National Grids Bay State chief decides to go on a vacation to Hawaii while canceling the vacations of

subordinates.

Not too worry though... she "felt bad about it".
 
They'll just creatively figure out a way to hike the rates up to take the money from the consumer. So much for that idea. I'm already paying way too much for electricity as it is, a bill like this would only increase the cost.

-Mike
 
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