Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Truly peed off with power company
Tonight there was a kind of zap sound in the distance and an instant blackout, accompanied by all the cockatoos screeching and dogs barking (some are still going).
I didn't need to wonder what had happened - as previously recorded here in January and April last year, animals and birds regularly fry the power-box that supplies our area. Sure enough, I hiked up to the power-box in the neighbouring street and found a dead cockatoo under the box, burned through to the skin on its front and leg (it's now in a box awaiting burial tomorrow).
So I rang this truly unimpressive power company and reported that the cause of the blackout was the same old thing - so business as usual (only this time at least it didn't cost me the price of a DVD player). I'm sick of it, so I got a number to ring someone tomorrow to complain. Truly, I figure he'll try to weasel out of it by saying how expensive and difficult it is (same as last time), but the cruelty to wildlife and considerable disruption to residents on a regular basis is getting ridiculous. Then there's the other blackouts that I don't mention here - last week we had another usual blackout (for some other reason).
Truly ludicrous!
P.S. I rang the power company today (12th Jan) - apparently the Complaints section was unattended this morning, so I spoke to a sensible-sounding staff member in Maintenance, not that it helped. Our area has had 6 blackouts in the past 12 months - bird, bird, animal, bird, broken flex, tree branch (not necessarily in that order). The cause is broken fuses or transformers, generally caused by bird or animal, and it is possible to limit the problem by animal-proofing with insulated wire (cost $5-6,000). Any transformer that has been active more than 3 times in 3 months gets moved up the list, and will get done when an upgrade is required, ie: 3 fried animals in 3 months might get a result.
As these power-cuts have already cost us a DVD player, and were probably responsible for destroying our hard-drive (replaced under Warranty) - not to mention the cost to wildlife and inconvenience - I do wish this company could get a bit more excited about electricity than this!
I didn't need to wonder what had happened - as previously recorded here in January and April last year, animals and birds regularly fry the power-box that supplies our area. Sure enough, I hiked up to the power-box in the neighbouring street and found a dead cockatoo under the box, burned through to the skin on its front and leg (it's now in a box awaiting burial tomorrow).
So I rang this truly unimpressive power company and reported that the cause of the blackout was the same old thing - so business as usual (only this time at least it didn't cost me the price of a DVD player). I'm sick of it, so I got a number to ring someone tomorrow to complain. Truly, I figure he'll try to weasel out of it by saying how expensive and difficult it is (same as last time), but the cruelty to wildlife and considerable disruption to residents on a regular basis is getting ridiculous. Then there's the other blackouts that I don't mention here - last week we had another usual blackout (for some other reason).
Truly ludicrous!
P.S. I rang the power company today (12th Jan) - apparently the Complaints section was unattended this morning, so I spoke to a sensible-sounding staff member in Maintenance, not that it helped. Our area has had 6 blackouts in the past 12 months - bird, bird, animal, bird, broken flex, tree branch (not necessarily in that order). The cause is broken fuses or transformers, generally caused by bird or animal, and it is possible to limit the problem by animal-proofing with insulated wire (cost $5-6,000). Any transformer that has been active more than 3 times in 3 months gets moved up the list, and will get done when an upgrade is required, ie: 3 fried animals in 3 months might get a result.
As these power-cuts have already cost us a DVD player, and were probably responsible for destroying our hard-drive (replaced under Warranty) - not to mention the cost to wildlife and inconvenience - I do wish this company could get a bit more excited about electricity than this!
Comments:
What a horrible situation, animals need to be cooked for them to do something.
Now I understand their ad showing a maintenance guy up a pole shooing away a dog peeing on the pole.
joe bloggs
Now I understand their ad showing a maintenance guy up a pole shooing away a dog peeing on the pole.
joe bloggs
I think I mentioned on another thread that I got a letter saying they're going to fix this - yippee! The odd thing is that both our local power companies are outsourced to the same maintenance people, apparently.
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