Power Outages
Posted May 5th, 2006 @ 01:52pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Earlier this week when I returned from the airport in Buffalo, the power was out. Today, when Carey and I woke up, the power was out (and it didn't come back on until about 11am).
Can we sue? What the heck? This happens all the time. Last year, the power went out four or five times. These aren't hiccups, either, but six-hour-long power outages.
Unlike most folks, wee have no choice of electric supplier. We can have any electric supplier so long as it's Penelec.
Donate Life
Posted 05 May 2006 at 3:01pm #
Try going 12 days without power, like we did after Hurricane Wilma last year.
Posted 05 May 2006 at 3:23pm #
I've done that, too. You're missing the point: we had perfectly good weather today. Not even many clouds. There was no reason to have no power for six+ hours.
Posted 05 May 2006 at 5:06pm #
We don't have a choice either, but the only problems we've had is during storms.
Are there actually cities where you have a choice of power provider? I've never heard of that before.
Posted 05 May 2006 at 11:32pm #
You might be able to pick who generates your power through Electric Choice, but it probably won't make a difference in your quality of service. Here in VA, we have a similar program. The choice is more if you want to support "green" energy or different kinds of power plants, not how reliable they are getting you that power.
Since they are public utilities, all the companies around most likely share the same power lines to your house, so when someone wrecks into a pole or the genius doing construction cuts up a line, everyone's power on that grid goes out. When things like that happen, they are generally more worried about getting telecommunications back up and running than they are about power. If you're worried about power outages, I suggest you pick up a generator, especially with the amount of snow and ice up in Erie.
Posted 06 May 2006 at 7:52am #
David, you're misunderstanding something: these power outages don't occur when something tragic happens. They just happen - no cars hitting poles, no lines being cut. It's as if they didn't budget enough power for this neighborhood and so, every week or two (and typically in the late spring through early fall), the power goes out for hours at a time.
Posted 06 May 2006 at 3:36pm #
Try calling your state public utility commission. Despite being career bureaucrats, they are generally very helpful when a citizen calls with a legitimate complaint, and they do have the power to smack down your electric company. Good luck.
Posted 02 May 2007 at 12:30pm #
[...] power outages that I wrote about before have really been far fewer and shorter this year, thankfully, though we seem to get a few more dips [...]