SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
This afternoon the electric in the trailer went out. This was not a good thing as the thermometer was reading 88° outside.
Naturaly I checked the circuit breakers and found them to all be on. So out I go to see if everyone else has power. (There is a bank of Meters not far from the trailer.) Our meter is the only one not spinning happily along.
I called the local power company and get their automated response. It takes the needed information and I'm informed that someone should be out by 1900 tonight.
OKay I'm not happy about this but I can deal with it. I break out the generator, fire it up and hook it to the fridge and freezers while the wife opens windows.
About an hour later I get an automated call from the power company telling me I seem to be the only person in my area without power. The message recomends I check my breakers again as the problem most likely will be in the house.
I grumble a bit as I recheck the breakers. They're all good so I dig into the tool box and find my Volt Meter. I pull the cover panel off the breaker box and check to see if I have power coming in. I'm not.
I close everything up and look outside. Here's a truck from the local power company, the guy is at the meter so I wander out. He says hi as he pulls the meter and checks it. It tests out just fine so he puts it back. Still no power.
As I'm standing there talking with him I notice a series of large boxes on the back of the posts holding the meters. Each of these boxes is embossed with the power companies logo. Moving closer to them I look inside one and see a large switch. These are circuit breakers. When I open the box for my trailer I see the breaker is in the off position. I mention this to the guy and he tells me to reset it. When I do wonder of wonders the meter starts running again.
Now comes the fun part. The guy tells me he's going to have to charge me for the service call. I look at him and ask him why and he replies it's because the problem wasn't with power company equipment. (He also tells me the service charge is going to be $250.00.) I tell him he's nuts, it was the power companies equipment that had caused the power outage and showed him the boxes. He looked them over, pulled out his phone and made a call. A short time later he comes over to where I'm working and tells me the equipment is the power copanies and there will be no charge. I ask him if I should charge the power company as I was the one who actually threw the switch, not to mention the one who noticed the boxes. He laughed and told me I could try but I probably wont get far with it.
Cat
Naturaly I checked the circuit breakers and found them to all be on. So out I go to see if everyone else has power. (There is a bank of Meters not far from the trailer.) Our meter is the only one not spinning happily along.
I called the local power company and get their automated response. It takes the needed information and I'm informed that someone should be out by 1900 tonight.
OKay I'm not happy about this but I can deal with it. I break out the generator, fire it up and hook it to the fridge and freezers while the wife opens windows.
About an hour later I get an automated call from the power company telling me I seem to be the only person in my area without power. The message recomends I check my breakers again as the problem most likely will be in the house.
I grumble a bit as I recheck the breakers. They're all good so I dig into the tool box and find my Volt Meter. I pull the cover panel off the breaker box and check to see if I have power coming in. I'm not.
I close everything up and look outside. Here's a truck from the local power company, the guy is at the meter so I wander out. He says hi as he pulls the meter and checks it. It tests out just fine so he puts it back. Still no power.
As I'm standing there talking with him I notice a series of large boxes on the back of the posts holding the meters. Each of these boxes is embossed with the power companies logo. Moving closer to them I look inside one and see a large switch. These are circuit breakers. When I open the box for my trailer I see the breaker is in the off position. I mention this to the guy and he tells me to reset it. When I do wonder of wonders the meter starts running again.
Now comes the fun part. The guy tells me he's going to have to charge me for the service call. I look at him and ask him why and he replies it's because the problem wasn't with power company equipment. (He also tells me the service charge is going to be $250.00.) I tell him he's nuts, it was the power companies equipment that had caused the power outage and showed him the boxes. He looked them over, pulled out his phone and made a call. A short time later he comes over to where I'm working and tells me the equipment is the power copanies and there will be no charge. I ask him if I should charge the power company as I was the one who actually threw the switch, not to mention the one who noticed the boxes. He laughed and told me I could try but I probably wont get far with it.
Cat
