The Observation Deck

Grace O'Malley wrote:What kind of business ignores its oldest customers? What kind of business has no plan to gradually replace and upgrade old equipment so that there is less of a chance of failure?

An under or un-regulated monopoly. That's the type of business that does that.

I feel like giving some good will to the Illuminating Company folks.

Called them on a Sunday to report a "future outage" outside my house.

Before...



Next day. Problem Solved!



Thanks Guys / Gals!

Our problem has been inadequate power whenever its hot and muggy, to a point where the AC and the dryer cant run at the same time, even though they are on different circuits. I paid $225.00 for an electrician to give me a dedicated circuit for my window A/C and it didn't help a bit! The A/C runs so weakly it doesn't cool at all. At times the power entering the house is so weak even the fish tank filter runs at half speed.

We have talked to 2 other neighbors around the intersection of Lincoln and Garfield that have the same problem. I had CEI come out and the tech told me people all over Lakewood have the same issue. His suggestion was "Don't call CEI, call PUCO. Good Luck with that helping.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

We were on vacation last week and I was concerned much of the time about the heat and power situation as we could not turn off our AC (left on for pets.) My side of the street maintained power the 10 days we were gone, but people across the street were out Saturday night 8/6 for two hours.

The technician who came to work on the transformer behind a neighbor's house said he was replacing a fuse with a bigger fuse, but that the transformer was over 10 years old. I suppose the implication is that the transformer needs replacement, but neighbors said the tech did not respond when asked why the entire transformer isn't replaced.

I learned yesterday that residents on my street lost the following appliances/electrically powered items during the outages two weeks ago: central air system (resident was on vacation and couldn't turn it off), basement freezer full of meat, computer. . .

People's irritation and frustration is certainly understandable. Maybe the PUCO is part of the answer.

Christina McCallum wrote:I learned yesterday that residents on my street lost the following appliances/electrically powered items during the outages two weeks ago: central air system (resident was on vacation and couldn't turn it off), basement freezer full of meat, computer. . .

People's irritation and frustration is certainly understandable. Maybe the PUCO is part of the answer.

Christina

I feel your pain. In this new world of Fire Wire and USB hard drives, any interruption has the potential to
scramble a hard drive forever. I now keep all my work backed up to two different hard drives, and have placed
my decades of images onto DVDs, which are not really that stable either. It is frustrating.

Last week, I called a friend who is a spokesperson for First Energy. I ran the Mayor's letter past him and he
said that it was factual, and everything is being looked at. However, he does not see any massive upgrade in
the grid, nor the wiring here in Lakewood. It will continue to be a fix and repair mode of operation for them.
As First Energy like all companies right now are in survival mode. (my term not his)

Part of Lakewood's future, will have to be taking this "Little Havana" power, into account. How much more do
we push Lakewood's power grid, and at what cost to all others? It seems this heat will be with us for another
4-9 weeks, and I see more rolling brown outs in our future. If that is true, it would be nice to be able to plan for these occurrences without power, so... Can we get a schedule?

FWIW


.

I did loose a computer the a couple of weeks back due to a "brown out". I do not know what the cause was and it was not an important computer but still a loss non the less.

I think this all ties back to a debate about where or national priorities. Do we want to invest (either money or regulation) into our failing grid. Either first energy does not have the funds to make major investments in the grid, or they are unwilling to do so without a kick in the ass from regulators. I do not know. But I do not see it getting better any time soon. Until then, backups, backups, backups!

Currently experiencing a 90-100V brownout here on the West side of Richland Ave, South of Madison. Hopefully CEI will have it resolved soon.

From First Energy on Sunday regarding replacement of primary wires in the Lincoln/Olivewood Area:
wanted to inform you that CEI crews are expected to begin a capital improvement job tomorrow (weather permitting). They will be replacing and upgrading all three phases for 12 pole to pole spans, approximately 1/3 of a mile, in this area. At this time I do not have the exact locations, but should have that information soon. There may be some brief interruptions in power as the crews transfer the residents to the new wire. The crews will inform them (knocking on doors) prior to this happening. In some cases, there may be planned outages, that will have advance notice, but that is not certain at this point. The work is expected to take approximately 3-4 weeks to complete. Your residents cooperation and patience as we work to greatly improve their reliability is appreciated. Any assistance you can provide is sharing this information with residents is also welcome. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Summers in working directly with the parties involved to resolve this issue.

I don't think we can call the problems resolved until there is another test of the grid.

We lost power frequently during the hottest times of the year and I did wonder why it seemed that third world electric service follows me wherever I move in Lakewood. Losing power every day for nearly a week is unacceptable.

If I'm still alive and living in my present location next summer, we'll see if kudos are warranted, but I'm not holding my breath.

But perhaps I'll move to another area of Lakewood and order rounds of Cuba Libres for all my friends.

Are you ready?? This past summer was the tip of an iceberg...

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/greenhouse-gas-regulations-target-ohio-coal-power-1057133.html

Lacking an energy bill from Congress, the Obama administration plans to attack climate change and boost the emerging renewable energy industry with stepped-up regulations. Ohio, with 90 percent of its power from coal combustion, is on the hot seat. In total, 4,936 megawatts of coal generation in Ohio are at risk to be retired, but the state is committed to generating by 2025 at least 25 percent of all electricity sold in the state from renewable or advanced sources, such as nuclear.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2028414/EPA-plans-wave-coal-plant-shutdowns-lawmakers-say-send-energy-costs-soaring.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

EEI, the National Mining Association, produced a report that said EPA regulations would cause the retirement of between 17GW and 59GW of coal-fired generation capacity by 2015, which could cost utilities up to $129billion and force them to eliminate one-fifth of coal capacity, which generates 45 per cent of power in the U.S.

Roy, your post is eerily timed.

Right wing anti-Obama conservatives must have gotten this talking point in an email today because on "the other site" the resident right-winger, the "wailing woman," just posted the exact same thing!!!

Too funny! Do you guys ever think for yourselves or do you eagerly wait for the daily missive?

Grace O'Malley wrote:Too funny! Do you guys ever think for yourselves or do you eagerly wait for the daily missive?

I am slightly offended by the suggestion that I can't think for myself and act simply as an extension of some more powerful or more intelligent entity.
Considering it is the current administration who seems interested in telling everyone what they can or can't do for "the collective good," its seems more likely that those who agree with it (the administration) are getting the talking points from their "missives."

Shawn Juris wrote:From First Energy on Sunday regarding replacement of primary wires in the Lincoln/Olivewood Area:
wanted to inform you that CEI crews are expected to begin a capital improvement job tomorrow (weather permitting). They will be replacing and upgrading all three phases for 12 pole to pole spans, approximately 1/3 of a mile, in this area. At this time I do not have the exact locations, but should have that information soon. There may be some brief interruptions in power as the crews transfer the residents to the new wire. The crews will inform them (knocking on doors) prior to this happening. In some cases, there may be planned outages, that will have advance notice, but that is not certain at this point. The work is expected to take approximately 3-4 weeks to complete. Your residents cooperation and patience as we work to greatly improve their reliability is appreciated. Any assistance you can provide is sharing this information with residents is also welcome. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Summers in working directly with the parties involved to resolve this issue.

I know we couldn't have been the only area that lost power for two hours yesterday. We have BP and Fire Station #1 on our little part of the grid.

Two hours isn't much - the wind was bad - unless you need electricity.

Anyone else out of electricity yesterday?

DL,

Our power flickered off and then on in the afternoon. That was the only time, which surprised me as the wind was so strong. What time did yours go off?