There was a power outage in my area early this morning.
You think that I would be used to this and not get myself in such a panic when this kind of thing occurs - but I wasn't and I did!
The first thing about this outage was that it occurred so early in the morning and it was a Saturday - meaning weekend - morning at that. I wondered if anyone else in my area was having this problem - but it was so early in the morning that I thought "who would be up at this time of night?".
I went to check my circut breakers (thank GOD I had purchased a flashlight a few weeks ago and the batteries were still good!) and they all looked fine. Then I went into the kitchen to get something to drink and noticed that the light in the refridgerator was working! OK, I thought that THAT was weird but since it was a new refridgerator I thought maybe it was one of those new "fangled" refridgerators that didn't need electricity in order for the light to work. Then I noticed that the clock on the stove was working (it had the wrong time on it but that was because the knob had broken off and I never adjusted it to the right time) and so I thought that that was really weird!
The lamp by the front door wasn't working but the lamp in the livingroom was working? OK more weirdness!
I looked outside to see if one of my neighbors who always has a light on had any lights on and I didn't see any lights on. So I thought well it must be at least happening in my block!
So I called the utility company and their number to report outtages. Imagine my surprise when I was able to talk to a real live person! She asked if I had checked my circuit breakers and I had told her that I did. ("Checked" meaning I looked at them and they seemed alright - BUT I DIDN'T TOUCH THEM!. She then got a technician to call me and he asked about the situation and I told him about the electricity being out. Since it wasn't a life-threatening situation and I told him that, he said that a truck would be dispatched as soon as someone got there. About 2 hours later the truck arrived but then it left! 'OK' I thought, 'it must have to do with just my house if the truck drove away! While I was on the phone with the utility company again I found out that several other people had reported outages in the area - which I was relieved about because it meant that I wasn't the only one! But as I was talking on the phone I looked out the window and noticed the guy looking at my meter. I hung up the phone and went out to talk to him and he said that there was indeed a problem. It was then that I told him that I had partial electricity. He said that there was a problem with the electricity in the area and that some - not all - of the houses in the area were affected.
Of course the problem was fixed (as you can tell by my being able to post this blog entry) a few hours later and all the power is back on!
Before this I had visions of old electricity in my 100 year old plus house and of expensive electricians and expensive electricity repairs!
I was so jumpy after that I took a nap!
Payment In Progress Sighting!
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Oh Joy, there has been a "payment in progress" sighting!
Actually the first posts about the PIP's came in yesterday!
So I expect my "payment in progress"...
4 weeks ago
2 comments:
you know we had this too. my mom came home and the power was partially on. if you turned on a light though say in the dining room and then in the bathroom they were both dim but turn 1 off and the other brightened up. she went to ask a neighbor about his power since hes home all day and he was rude and said just pay your bill and shut the door in her face. we are sooo much better homeowners then him and our bill is always paid up.
so she called the power company. long story short, due to addition added our meters inside the house. so they came and looked. they said that there lines were good and it must be our connector so we needed to call an electrician. oh and when they cut all the power to our house to check, 1 lamp stayed on. everything else went off but that 1 lamp. it was spooky until they turned it back on. so we called the electriain. he was coming the next morning and we went to read in our respective rooms. the light pole for the neighborhood is in our backyard. i soon heard a noise. i looked out in the backyard and there was a different power company guy out on the pole (the guys sent to us only went on the roof) and the people behind us had called and were sent him. he had climbed over the fence. they were out until late after we got home and when they got home their power was the same. so he got it working was great and it was the power companys issue not ours. we had full power. we got to call and cancel the electrician.
sorry to ramble just your the first person besides us who had this issue.
You are right - your neighbor was rude! Makes me grateful for the neighbors that I do have.
I think that just everything is becoming more and more complicated! There used to be just one power company but now there are several for the same area.
In my case I was just glad that the problem had to do with my power company and not with me or my home - electricians are expensive! They are worth it but they are expensive!
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