NationStates Jolt Archive

As someone whose power was out for over an hour not long ago, I have to wonder: how reliable is your power company?

no complaints

Pretty reliable, I can't remember the last time there was a power outage.

Its pretty reliable, it usually only goes out when there is a major storm, like a Hurricane or one capable of producing Tornadoes...

No real complaints here, service wise...Always could use a Lower bill though >.> lol

surprisingly good for living in the middle of nowhere hooked up to a system that covers.....5000ish square miles for maybe 5000 customers.

With the exception of lightning hitting a substation, I've never had a power cut with either of my two suppliers. (past and current)

British Gas and erm, E-gen I think.

It's fine, I guess. The power never goes out except during severe ice storms or excessive winds that knock trees onto the lines. Does anyone in the developed world really have problems with their power companies?

I chose the first poll option -- but I've only been here since September of this year, so...yeah. Avista: power on for four months straight, woo!

It's fine, I guess. The power never goes out except during severe ice storms or excessive winds that knock trees onto the lines. Does anyone in the developed world really have problems with their power companies?

LILCO was so bad that the govcernment actually took over and renamed it to LIPA. Unfortunately, LIPA's not much better.

SCE&G, South Carolina Energy and Gas. They suck, just like everything else in SC.

My power company is so good that, while its own problems caused a massive blackout spanning parts of the US and Canada, I only lost power for about an hour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003

LILCO was so bad that the govcernment actually took over and renamed it to LIPA. Unfortunately, LIPA's not much better.

What was so bad about them?

I get my electricity from Consumer's Energy and my gas from MichCon. I've never had any sort of problem with them, other than not wanting to pay my bills.

Frequent outages, frequent overly long outages, and the shoreham nuclear power plant (which cost $6 billion and was pummeled by protests due to the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents. It never opened, and many of the costs were passed onto long islanders.). It also didn't help that it took eleven days for them to fully restore power after Hurricane Gloria hit Long Island.

Uh, good... I guess. I back, living at home for the moment so I honestly don't care.

Uh, good... I guess. I back, living at home for the moment so I honestly don't care.
You're family is ugly enough that you'd rather the lights were off and you didn't have to see them?

Last time I had a blackout it was in semptember, lasted quite a lot, more than 30 minutes. The local power transformers had blown and it took some times to substitute them.

Anyway, my company, A2A (formerly AEM) is quite evil.

I think I've experienced a power cut maybe once or twice in my life. I have some vague childhood memory of having to use candles because the lights were broken. Other than that I think I catch the lights flickering every once in a while.

With the exception of lightning hitting a substation, I've never had a power cut with either of my two suppliers. (past and current)

British Gas and erm, E-gen I think.I'm pretty sure retail has absolutely nothing to do with wholesale with regards to utilities. ie. It's not the retailer's fault if you suffer a power cut, but the people who maintain the infrastructure -- the wholesalers.

You're family is ugly enough that you'd rather the lights were off and you didn't have to see them?

It's winter in Canada, there's no daylight anyways.

I think I've experienced a power cut maybe once or twice in my life. I have some vague childhood memory of having to use candles because the lights were broken. Other than that I think I catch the lights flickering every once in a while.

I'm pretty sure retail has absolutely nothing to do with wholesale with regards to utilities. ie. It's not the retailer's fault if you suffer a power cut, but the people who maintain the infrastructure -- the wholesalers.

No idea about E-Gen
But British Gas maintain their own lines.

can't remember the power ever going out without a good reason (like a tree fell on the lines or something)

No idea about E-Gen
But British Gas maintain their own lines.Eheh, it's more complicated than I thought. There seem to be about four main parts to the network - they are: the generators, the national grid; the regional distributors; and the suppliers/retailers. The flow of electricity is power plant -> national grid -> regional distributor (substation to your home) -> your home. Each regional distributor and the national grid operate as monopolies. Electricity is sold by the generators to the retailers. The retailers are charged a fee by the national grid and regional distributor for carrying the electricity -- the retailer then bills you for your energy usage.

A company may operate a power plant, regional distributor or supplier or any mix of the three, but each part is distinct business usually only related in that they are owned by the same holding company.

So it doesn't really matter who your supplier is as they don't have any effect on distribution of power and therefore any blackouts that may occur. The source of the problem was either local power plants, the national grid or your regional distributor.

Ah, if only we had the luxury of reasons for a blackout...

It wasn't raining or snowing here... I don't think it wasn't even raining or snowing near here.

And for the record, LIPA is pretty much a monopoly.

Power co in my area is very reliable. Can't remember the last time it was out.

It's holding since longer than I can remember. Not from the sources I'd approve of however. Since they voted no for nuclear energy in my city, the city council started investing in a coal power plant in Germany, from where the extra electricity need should be covered in the future. I wish environmentalists would think for a minute (hydro plants are bad because they fuck up the ecosystem, nuclear plants are bad because they send the waste to Kenya, soooooooo... whatever).

As someone whose power was out for over an hour not long ago, I have to wonder: how reliable is your power company?

If we ever have even the slightest of outages, it gets turned back on as soon as possible.

In fact, usually the most we ever have is one of those real quick second "Everything off, everything back on" things.

The one for my house needs......




To construct more pylons!!!

Excellent service; no complaints, really.

Pretty decent. We get a fair number of power outages during storm season, but they rarely last longer than a couple of hours, and often much less. We did have one time when it went out for, like, 20 hours or something ridiculous, but apparently a whole bunch of lines got knocked down that day, and so they just didn't have enough people to fix them all quickly.

can't remember the power ever going out without a good reason (like a tree fell on the lines or something)

Unacceptable! You pay for a service, and the company are bound by a contract! The power should NEVER go out! If you were a big business the power companies would be licking your feet and route their main station right into your living room!

TAKE THE POWER BACK!

Unacceptable! You pay for a service, and the company are bound by a contract! The power should NEVER go out! If you were a big business the power companies would be licking your feet and route their main station right into your living room!

TAKE THE POWER BACK!

What the hell? :confused:

in last year power was out 3 times.

2 times because a because a drunk driver hit a power pole. power was out for about an hour both times.

3rd time power was out for a week for the entire town due to a hurricane.
it was funny actually got to know my neighbors. as we sat outside drinking all week.

in last year power was out 3 times.

2 times because a because a drunk driver hit a power pole. power was out for about an hour both times.

3rd time power was out for a week for the entire town due to a hurricane.
it was got to know my neighbors.

Sounds like it should be a lolcat.

And for the record, LIPA is pretty much a monopoly.

As far as I know utilities almost always are. Sometimes they get apportioned, like one for electricity and one for gas like where I live, but I don't get to choose which company I buy what from.

i think this is one instance where "good" and "reliable" are two separate questions.

and of course this also has a lot to do with where you live. if you live in a low population density, remote, rural area, its simply not possible, unless you independently, or at least supplementally, generate your own, for the power to not go out some of the time. there are these things called storms, which can and do, knock out power lines. (which is why its insane to rely totally on electric heat if you live in such places).

now what i mean by good not equating completely with reliable, is of course i'm talking about sustainable, which to me means non-combustion, non-fuel-consuming, means of generating it. the percentage your local power deliverer gets its power from such sources and encourages their development and implementation.

Very good, I haven't had any outages.