We got a call about 8 AM from the electric company. The female idiot on the other end said that the guys had been out to install the meter and that we had to fix the "hub the meter sits on" before they could come back out, because the hub was broken. Now, I was under the impression that THAT would be their problem, but apparently not. So our day started out with an early rush to the property to see what the heck they were talking about. The hub looked fine. So we called them back. I got the same female idiot, who then claimed it hadn't been HER who called us. (Same name, same voice ... and we direct dialed back by using the call list on hubby's cell ... uh huh.) We tell her that the hub looks fine, what did they mean it was broken. She says she'll have to contact the technician and call us back. When she calls back, she says the tech meant the bit of conduit sticking up out of the box covering the wire on the pole. Why this is OUR problem and not theirs is beyond me, but I'm used to power companies who figure until the wire actually LEAVES THE BOX that it's their problem and not yours.
A trip to Home Depot (gag, their service around here stinks) ensued, to get the 71 cent piece of electrical conduit fitting that was required to fix this along with two 4/0 clamps to fix the 100-amp breaker on the other half of the box, where the wires weren't cut correctly to begin with. We notice that the clamps are going to have to be separated by something because the idiot who cut them where they come up INTO the box cut them the same length. Mind, they worked fine before, with the prior tenant, but with the electric company having a hissy fit over a 71 cent piece of conduit, we figured it was going to be a pain to get it to pass "inspection" as the clamps for the splice on the 100-amp breaker weren't in good shape. Right now, at 3 AM on Saturday, I have no clue how we're going to get that fixed the way it needs to be to pass "inspection on reconnect." I told hubby to get 4/0 clamps ... his comment? "No, we'll get these, those 4/0 clamps look too big." You can guess what happened.
We get back to the property, take apart the meter box, fix the stupid conduit, put the box back together, and he attempts to install his "right-sized" clamps which aren't, and we have to make ANOTHER trip to Home Depot to get the correct ones. The electric company shuts down for the week at 4:30 on Fridays, and you guessed it, we couldn't get it fixed in time to call them back for a return trip by the technician to install the meter. I have a bad feeling that they'll have kittens over the clamps on the breaker anyhow, and come up with another excuse not to install the meter, at which point I'll be about ready to demand our deposit back and go get a small solar system from Harbor Freight (there's a store about 1 1/2 hrs away from the trailer, in S-dale), and a battery and use that to run the fridge so we have food. Call it done on everything else till we install more solar systems as we go week to week and just deal with it as best we can with no electric to cook with, which means getting a camp stove at around $80 plus a bunch of the little propane things to go with it for another $25 or $30 and say the heck with it.
We never did get the clamps fixed because they wouldn't tighten down and hubby got aggravated. We'd been at this all day and hadn't gotten anywhere with it to speak of, and now I don't know WHAT we're going to do, other than try again today to get it fixed. That'll make around $100 in gas and parts this weekend just to get juice to the place so we can move. I'm so frustrated by this, that if I were a lesser person, I'd quit now. But like I told Quentin on the way back here late yesterday. We've put too much time and effort into it, and we've both shed blood for the place, and I refuse to quit now. If I have to live without electric for a bit, so be it. I just want out of this stupid apartment and onto the property so bad I can taste it.
As for whoever (sorry, forget your name!) suggested not letting them put a Smart Meter on, you don't get an option here. They come and put the meter on and leave, you don't even have to be there when they install the thing, so you gets what they gives ya. Bugger. Least they do net metering, so if we want to shell out the bucks for an electrician to hook up things THAT was, we can. Personallly, I'm all for hooking up a few solar panels and such at a time and running more and more of the house off new outlets and switches and calling it quits with the electric company. So far, they've been the best at taking out money and the worst at providing anything in exchange other than frustration.
I really wonder about these so called smart meters.We are going to have to go with a generator for the time being. Do you and Q have one? My cousin is going to do our electric.He's certified.I would love to go with solar but not right now maybe down the road.
ReplyDeleteWe have no idea whether the electric company is putting a smart meter on or not. The goal is to keep on-grid electric for now while we slowly but surely install solar panels and take the house off-grid a tiny bit at a time. We plan on doing this by taking the new outlets and switches we're installing now out of their boxes (capping the wires and eventually shutting off the breakers for each room or partial room), wiring them up to new wiring running through industrial conduit out to the inverter and building the system piece by piece.
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