Unpleasant phone call from the Electric Company :D

Yes, I posted my reply before reading the others where she explained what she planed on doing.

 

I have changed out all my lights and appliances to the more energy efficient ones. They run much better than the older ones did. Even our gas furnace is new and rated at 95% efficient.

 

I won't know until I go up to the spring head with an altimeter to determine the actual elevation. Even then, the only measurement in the end that will mean anything is the pressure before I route it to the pump house, but I won't know that until I start that project in the spring once I make the necessary repairs, cleaning, modifying, and reactivating the spring box.

That's what I was thinking about, but couldn't come up with the name. It's the "backflow preventer," one from the spring feed and one from the well feed to be on the safe side. All I could think of was Check Valve even though I know there is a big difference between the two. I guess I was having another blonde moment.

First, I forgot to mention, my hot water heater is also electric! So add that to the list "That's running the well pump, lights and whatever (electric tools) in the garage, my security cameras w/DVR and monitor, 2 computers and printer, embroidery machine, sewing machine, iron on transfer machine, iron for cloths, electric washer and drier, 1100 watt microwave, electric stove, toaster, refrigerator, 12 cup coffee maker, crock pot and so on. 2 stereo's and my HAM Radio equipment. Then add to it I leave I leave 4 lights burning 24/7 and a 36" television on 24/7." By the way, all of my monitors including my television's are LCD. (I noticed your 2nd from last post)

I am with a regular utilities company. That's why I list the KWH I'm using rather than the cost because different companies and even different areas may charge differently. All of those erroneous charges and taxes included can make quite a difference. (I average 9 KWH a day) I would think that would be listed on your bill someplace. Otherwise divide the total KWH your being billed for by however many days are in the current billing cycle to get an idea of your usage per day.

I am hoping one day to totally disconnect from the utility company, but that may be a few years down the road. Nope, not solar, wind, or water! But it will be something that will produce more than enough electricity for my needs. I'll only say it has been something I have been experimenting with the last few years.

 

One of my main tvs is a 32"CRT tv

 

Hmmmmm

 

Long story short... Got another high bill this month. They replaced this meter 5 days into this billing cycle, so I paid actual usage from the meter (1400kw, which is almost nothing)... And for those other 5 days before I got this new meter... they added on the full month of December from last year. No, this isn't a typo. So it was 1400kw plus 3300kw.
I talked to them on the phone, they agree with me that the bill is not correct, and that there is now way I could have used 3300kw in those 5 days but maintain they can't do anything as the old meter is now gone.

I filed a formal case with the state (public utilities commission of Ohio). I will leave it at that, just giving you all a heads up on what a nightmare your electric company can be. I'll post more after my case is closed, and after I am paid in full from what I have been over billed.
I won't name names or go into any more detail... But I will tell you this. My patience has been pushed to the limit, and it is all I can do to remain professional with these folks on the phone. As most of you know, I'm pretty even tempered and happy go lucky... But I don't care much for "bullies", and I feel as though this is what I'm dealing with here. Hopefully I can maintain my composure and see this all the way through before getting too hot under the collar.

 

So they are saying they don't have proof of what you used; which means then they can not bill you for that usage and must eat it. The problem is the mentality; "We are the electric company, what are you going to do?" Keep up the good fight; don't let them get away with it. There are the courts if it comes to that and you can file for attorney fees when you file your brief.

 

I've often wondered about that. Right now I'm not quite using a minimum fill per year (200 gal for me) and could probably reduce that even more. My propane company seems to be a tad higher than others but the last two years after I called about a tank rental fee they waived it as long as I got a minimum fill. But I'd rather not deal with them at all if I had a choice, and in a future home I hope to use even less. Is it possible (legally) to use those 'portable' 100 lb tanks? They'd be a bear to move around but heck I could just take it in to TSC to get filled, last I was there TSC charged 30-40 cents less for propane than my propane company did! But I wasn't sure if it was possible to interface one of those screw on tanks to home plumbing... I've never messed with gas stuff before. But it sure would be nice not to have the 500 lb'er sitting right in the view from my bay window to the backyard fields like it is now.

 

We had a company owned propane tank (20 gallon/100 lbs) when we moved in.. Only gets used for the stove (not oven). Needless to say, it took about a year or so to use up the propane.. I didn't want to deal with the propane company so we stopped using the stove and bought a 1500w electric induction cooktop. Propane company stopped by asking about the tank and when we were going to get it filled.. I disconnected it and dropped it off at their office as it was light enough to move. For a short time, we used a 20 pounder til I bought a worthington 100 lbs tank from Lowes. Tried to get it filled at tractor supply but someone had walked off with the reverse threaded adapter. So had it filled at my local hardware store for about $55. The original gas fitting wasn't getting a tight seal so I was on the hunt for a new one. Found one at TSC similar to this Amazon.com: Mr. Heater Buddy Series Hose Assembly - 10-ft., Model# F273704: Home & Kitchen and it has worked perfectly ever since.. Will probably fill the tank once every 3 years or so and don't have to worry about harassment from the propane company..

Somethings to note and I'm no expert on this,

1. I don't believe you're supposed to transport the tanks lying down. If they were to leak while lying down, liquid propane (instead of just gas) would come out of a full tank. I think the 100 pounder is the largest you can transport. Pay attention to Hazmat restrictions such as no driving through tunnels and whatnot.
2. Tanks should be only filled to about 80% of capacity.
3. Pay attention to the valve (safety features, whether you can fill without disconnecting from the house and what kind of threads you need for connections). My Worthington only has one way for gas to go in and out so to refill, it has to be disconnected from the house. A line between the tank and the house with a quick disconnect and some kind of o'ring seal I think is the best.
4. Keep in mind that tank size/volume may limit propane available for use. If you get a 100 lbs tank and expect to just use it to heat your house for a couple of days at a time, you may find that on the coldest of days, the propane won't be able to evaporate (turning from liquid to gas inside the tank) fast enough to run your furnace/boiler to keep up with the heat demand. One can remedy this by keeping the tank from getting too low (more liquid to provide latent heat of vaporization) or can buy a second tank and plumb the two together in parallel to the house (again, keeping track of valves, threads and tubing/piping options. The second tank allows more surface area for the propane to absorb "heat" from a balmy -10° F outside environment. If the tank cools to -44° F, the flow of propane will stop.
5. I used my existing regulator that was already in place. If I wasn't able to do this, I'd have had to do more research on the appropriate regulator or just hired someone to set the tank up..

If you have any doubts about any of this, hire a licensed plumber to get you set up. The one time cost and ability to fill your own tank(s) will be well worth it in the long run...

Anyway, that's what I've learned from my limited dealings with propane.. Back to your regularly scheduled thread about the electric company..

 

You couldn't be more correct, and that is what bothers me so much about it.

 

I havent read all these posts on the electric company but Electric Companies do come across like a bully.
With all the weather changes and more ice storms they have taken on extreme stances on cutting
trees back around power lines. They tell you they own like so many feet each side of the power line,
I think its 15 feet here in Indiana. They draw a line straight up and anything that crosses that line they are hacking.
Dont matter if it kills the tree or unbalances the tree. This one old lady cried as the REMC guy told her they were
taking off just a little and they stripped one whole side a two beautiful 50 year old white pines in her front yard.
I was coming home and saw these two half trees standing there and was shocked my self. When it comes down to money
dont get in their way as if they can save a buck then greed wins every time. Somme one started a organization against
electric companies butchering trees in Indiana, I thought that was interesting. Plus the guy they hired to interface with the
public in my area he is nothing more than a thug, he talks like a thug looks like thug, treats people like a thug, I think
thats why they hired him as no decent human being would do the job.

Lastly when you unbalance a large tree you increase the chance of it falling over due to wind.
So not real smart of the electric company doing that.

 

If they had buried the electric lines decades ago then they would not have to worry about storms taking out the lines.

 

But we didn't and so we're stuck with what we have.

 

Sorry to hear about the struggle!
I've only read about people having issues like this, or being forced to be "hooked up".
I find it musing because my power co states/complains/guilts that we use this much more than my neighbors lol

It's too bad wind and solar weren't advanced enough to be a feasible option to just unhook.

 

To play devils advocate here, since I am somewhat familiar with the inner workings of at least one power utility, the right-of-ways are usually spelled out very clear and it's up to the homeowner to properly trim their trees prior to the utility having too. In many cases the landowner has ignored the violation for many years. Of course when it has been neglected for so long it leaves a tricky situation, becoming too risky for a homeowner to deal with, and neither do most tree trimming companies. So then it falls on the utility, who are not arborists in the least. They simply enforce the clearances to their lines removing tree parts and know little about proper tree care. In some cases utility companies hire out tree work to tree trimming professionals, and their work is usually more proper.

I think it seems worse now because enforcing right of ways had been more lax in the past, and now they are under more pressure to enforce them. There is much stricter enforcement in the last decade partly due to federal crackdown on the utilities and stiffer fines. Anyone in the northeast here that was part of the big blackout in '03? IIRC that was the biggest blackout in North America, and caused countless reports and analysis and new rules, stricter enforcement and heavier fines. Two of the primary causes were both faults to untrimmed trees under Hanna-Juniper 345kV lines as well as Chamberlin-Harding 345kv lines, which started the cascade of outages that spread over the northeast. We've had to go through training, usually 'lessons learned' type stuff on that incident multiple times since (not that it has anything to do with my job, I'm in generation not transmission or distribution).