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My son was asking me about all the power outages here (I hadn't noticed much, but he's a computer guy - I work online, but hey I don't mind the excuse to take time off lo), and I found this statement on HECO's site.
HECO (on Oahu, while our company, HELCO is a subsidiary) has this statement.
"HECO’s objective is to deliver electricity where and when it is needed more than 99.95 percent of the time. At 99.95 percent, electricity would be available for all of the year except for 4.4 hours. This measure of service quality is called reliability."
http://tiny.cc/kgDB1
I don't think Puna's anywhere near that. I mean I think we're off a lot more hours than this. Probably time for upgrading the UPS.HELCO doesn't have any such statement, so maybe being a subsidiary they don't have the same objectives, or any they care to share on their site. They do have a page about compensating for fried equipment when the fault is theirs.
Really nice getting some rain though although sun's good too :-) My neighbor did the "Buy a tank of water" raindance the day before the rains returned.
Cindy
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Don't know about Hawaii, but the other 49 States have a State agency that regulates public utilities. They may have a mandated service delivery level, with sanctions for failure to meet those levels. I would find out who they are and call them to find out what it is. I would keep a journal of outages and sent it to the regulators if it exceeds their maximums. Bet they don't know the extent of outages until a citizen decides not to keep grumble but take the steps to notify the regulators, especially if it's localized.
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"Really nice getting some rain though although sun's good too :-) My neighbor did the "Buy a tank of water" raindance the day before the rains returned."
Cindy, thank your neighbor for me! My grass was dyin' here and is now finally coming back....! I love the sun too! As a matter of fact, I skipped out on a couple of days work last week just to go to Kapoho and do some snorkeling. I bumped into some coral (first time ever!) and scraped my knee, but no infection or secondary effects. I was lucky I guess. And the water was very clear. And there were lots of fish. More than I've ever seen there. But getting back to the outage subject....I work on the phone ALL DAY LONG and use a digital phone, of course, plugged in to electricity. I learned the hard way that I needed a 'regular' phone for the times of electric outage. So today I was lucky I prepared for this day. I pulled out my old reel phone cord and plugged it in to my regular phone. I was able to continue working without missing a beat. And yes we do have more that 4.??? hours of outage per year, or maybe they mean per month LOL....
Aloha,
Maritza
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It sounds like a situation I'm all too familiar with. The poor power line infrastructure has been mentioned in previous threads. The frequent outages are representative of that. The power company is waiting for a serious hurricane to mostly destroy the infrastructure so that it can be rebuilt with minimal cost to them. They will get Goverment subsidies and they will be able to pass on a storm repair surcharge to all of their customers.
Here in FL the agency to complain to is the PSC or Public Service Commission. The power company doesn't like it when you call, and you do get a response from the power company, but if fixing your complaint involves the expenditure of millions of dollars, it just isn't going to happen. You will get to talk to a power company employee who will sound very sympathetic to your cause and assure you that they are working hard to fix your problem. Maybe that will make it better for you.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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Considering the cost of electricity these days, perhaps putting in a back up system that you can use to offset some of the electric costs of grid electricity might be an answer to the blackouts as well.
The side benefit is that it is also fun to turn all your lights on when the neighbors power is down. There are two of us in the village now that can do that. Hopefully our whole village will one day be able to be in charge of their own power or lack thereof.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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quote:
A gas powered generator is a good thing to own
But remember to run it frequently.
I have two. A big one to run most everything and a little one for just lights and window shaker.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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Also, if you are going to run a back-up generator, make sure either that you have a automatic transfer switch or manually disconect from HELCO during an outage. Most codes require both a automatic disconect as well as a manual disconect to protec utility workers from power being back fed into the grid. You don't want to be responsible for frying a utility wotker.
dick wilson
dick wilson
"Nothing is idiot proof,because idiots are so ingenious!"
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Don't want to jinx myself but so far in 2008 I've had more power outages on Oahu than in HPP. My wife is in HPP and I fly back and forth so this is my scientific basis for this statement. I am moving over full time soon so I hope that our HPP luck continues. I am also going to have a PV (Photo Voltaic) system installed and asked them about a disconnect switch in case the power goes out. I am going to run a grid system and no batteries. They are still checking to see if they can install with that feature. But I agree that a back-generator is a good idea.
dean
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