04-26-2024, 07:45 PM
"well the work order says you don't use enough electricity - so we are replacing your meter with a different one."
When we lived in Alaska the water company had a "flat rate" billing regardless of how much water one used. Upon request, they would install a meter and a household could pay by the gallon instead. Most people didn't request this out of fear their bill could go up. They could also install a meter anytime they wanted to, if they SUSPECTED one was using more than their "fair share" of the water.
One day the water police came and knocked on the door with the dreaded meter of suspicion and installed their water tracking device.
It cut our bill in half! Of course nobody gets something for nothing, or even half price, so I added an additional layer of foil to my hat just in case.
Segueing this post back to rolling blackouts- we never had those in Alaska but the electric company did offer an option for a $5 monthly statement credit to anybody willing to let them install a device on the electric water heater that let them turn it off remotely. The number of volunteers was high enough they had to end the program. The kill would only be for 10-20 minutes so nobody ever noticed the "rolling hot water brownout" even happened because there was still hot water in the tanks.
When we lived in Alaska the water company had a "flat rate" billing regardless of how much water one used. Upon request, they would install a meter and a household could pay by the gallon instead. Most people didn't request this out of fear their bill could go up. They could also install a meter anytime they wanted to, if they SUSPECTED one was using more than their "fair share" of the water.
One day the water police came and knocked on the door with the dreaded meter of suspicion and installed their water tracking device.
It cut our bill in half! Of course nobody gets something for nothing, or even half price, so I added an additional layer of foil to my hat just in case.
Segueing this post back to rolling blackouts- we never had those in Alaska but the electric company did offer an option for a $5 monthly statement credit to anybody willing to let them install a device on the electric water heater that let them turn it off remotely. The number of volunteers was high enough they had to end the program. The kill would only be for 10-20 minutes so nobody ever noticed the "rolling hot water brownout" even happened because there was still hot water in the tanks.