the power guy's power play

[knucklehead]

Re: the power guy\'s power play

Yeah, Rick, it's like that. I guess there's something deeply psychological about having one wire come to the house - you can pick which car, tractor, dentist, etc. you go to, even though prices and quality are all about equal no matter where you shop. It's such a big deal that even the the Feds (well, under Pinocchio Bill anyway) imposed the Free Market design on the nation, which basically resulted in vast, ongoing consolidation of companies into even larger conglomerates (har har har).

Our Public Utilities Commission and adversarial, liberal legislature have taken the Dreaded Monopoly Phobia one step further, forcing us to divest our generation, which was promptly snapped up by Florida Light & Power! Gee, nice going, Chicken Little. Now problems take longer to solve and we have no control over local issues. I like the line by actor Michael Gross as Bert Gummer (sp?) in Tremors III, spoken to gov't agents: "Why don't you guys do what you do best - find something that's working well and complicate the hell out of it?".

Rant, rant, rant......ya gotta keep a sense of humor.

 

[Slamfire]

Re: the power guy\'s power play

Fortunately the CA act exempted municipalities. The City of Los Angeles is making a pile of money selling energy to SCE and PG&E. The really strange part was if you want to sell power at $35/mWH and somebody else wants $50, you have to accept the higher price. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Knute]

Re: the power guy\'s power play

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It was freezing so I start worrying about frozen pipes, no heat, no water, no phone (all we had were cordless) I go out to Walmart and get about 20 gallons of water, 3 flashlights, a zillion batteries, 2 kerosene heaters, kerosene container, 5 gallons of kerosene, emergency candles, food, standard wall phone, etc.

Now we're all ready...... I spent about $300 but I saved the day.....SO the hero gets home and as I cross the threshold the lights pop on!
)</font>

Sounds like when the power went out at our place last winter. The first year we lived out there the power went off for at least an hour or two every other week during the winter, second year it was much better. Last year the power went off a couple times, the last time was during a pretty good storm and they said it would be a day or two until the power came back on!! So, I'm thinking now's the time to get a generator. If I don't go get one the power will be off for 3 days, if I do it will be back on right away. So I go to get a small 6 hp generator...and the power was on when I got home.

At least I'm ready for the next time! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Trev]

Re: the power guy\'s power play

I bought a killer PTO generator a while back.. and figured we'd never need it and I'd feel like a jerk. But, the ice storm hit, and we were without power for over a week. That generator saved us. Not only did I run our entire house 24x7, but also ran power to a neighbor's house to keep their food from spoiling and give them a few lights, etc. We really need to make up a bigger cable to run over there for next time.. too much voltage drop in 300 ft. of extension cords! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

But yeah, get the generator if you can. It's one less thing to lose sleep over in the meantime.

Bob