Electric Company Unresponsive

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
What happened to utility customer service in the last 20 years? The last time there was a power outage, I called the power company to report it and they totally brushed be off saying if I had an outage, I would have to call a private electrician to look into it. Years ago, if I called, they'd be up to investigate within an hour. What's changed?
 

Here, it depends on whether it is inside your property; your problem; or general; their problem.
 

AZ Jim said:
If the power company has no outage in your area, it IS your responsibility to call an electrician. Nothing new about it.
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Not necessarily. When our meter konked out, the power company at first did say to call an electrician. There wasn't an outage.

I got the bright idea to check the meter, to see if it was still running. If it was, then yes, we'd have to call an electrician. Nope, it wasn't. The power company was out here in 20 minutes replacing the meter and we had power again.
 
Our local Rural power company is very responsive. The few times we have lost power, they have sent a crew out quickly to resolve the problem. They also send a tree crew through the area every two years looking for, and trimming back any trees that might be getting too close to all the above ground power lines. A few weeks ago, I had two big trees along the road that were dead, and I was a bit leery about cutting them down...in case they went down across the road, and hit the power lines. I called the power company, and 2 weeks later, they sent a tree crew out and topped them so I could finish the job without impacting the neighborhood....and the tree service was free.
 
Don M. said:
Our local Rural power company is very responsive. The few times we have lost power, they have sent a crew out quickly to resolve the problem. They also send a tree crew through the area every two years looking for, and trimming back any trees that might be getting too close to all the above ground power lines. A few weeks ago, I had two big trees along the road that were dead, and I was a bit leery about cutting them down...in case they went down across the road, and hit the power lines. I called the power company, and 2 weeks later, they sent a tree crew out and topped them so I could finish the job without impacting the neighborhood....and the tree service was free.
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1 ditto.gif..They encourage us to report trees and obstructions..
 
Since that happened to us, I've asked the power company to test our meter twice a year. They do, and unless there was an outage, we've had no problems since.

Also, the line going to the meter needs to be inspected for continuity. A break from the transformer to the meter in the line itself can be a culprit as well. When our meter was replaced, we asked them to replace the line to the house, and they did at no cost, since the line was 25 years old. Electric lines to homes can sometimes be at fault too. If a line is 20 years old or more, our power company will replace it because codes have changed and they are responsible for keeping the lines up to new codes here.
 
The power company here is very unresponsive. I've called the numerous times to report concerns over impinging tree branches on the lines. The only thing their rep would say was "Unless it's actually causing a problem, we don't cut trees."
 

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