Another step forward!

[ThomasPowers]

Well, I called the Electrical CoOp again as it's been another couple of weeks what with me being out of state and having so much medical fun:

"It's being sent out for redesign".  This will be the third time it's been completely "designed"!  I'm waiting for them to tell me it will be more expensive now that they have sat on it for months while piece parts have gone up in price.  Since they didn't start until I had paid the original estimate into their coffers I'm going to point out they should have bought everything then and it just be stored till used...

My poor electrician is still waiting on the final inspection and sign off to get the final payment----I tend to go for contracts like that as it seems to help projects to get finished...

Still having a "wet" summer; the mountains are even turning "green" from the weeds growing on their slopes.  We even have mosquitos!  Not usual where we are at; as standing water evporates in a day or two and the river and irrigation canals only hold water when they are actively irrigating---or in this case lots of thunderstorms filling them on their own.  It's a bit odd that when we have a lot of flash flooding and arroyos crosing over the roads you can get to my house safely by going down next to the river and taking the "back route".  Turns out that their is a bunch of irrigation canals/ditches paralleling the river that "sop up" any water/mud flowing leaving the road close to the river untouched.

The county is good about clearing the mud and rocks off the roads after a storm; but large puddles can cause problems; especially for people who seem to think that plowing through a puddle at high speed will get them through it.  I've helped push a few vehicles out of puddles who tried it that way.  Creeping through at idle will get my vehicle across puddles that want to come in the bottom of the doors!

[arkie]

Thomas, sounds like your electric co-op is run by folks who have climbed to the apex of the Peter Principle pyramid....

[Frosty]

I'd have a story or two about people driving through puddles at the speed limit but I had to deal with so many I wouldn't know where to start.

Do those desert "mosquitos" buzz or rattle?

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

We're a small community: "Socorro Electric serves 13,105 consumers living in Catron, Cibola, Sierra, Socorro, and Valencia counties."---and that's a LOT of ground. (probably around 10000 sq miles...)  My smithy is about 6 miles from their headquarters and we know folks that work for them; so I was hoping not to have so many blank periods in thei project.  At least I wasn't asking for something rough like wanting to add solar power and still be connected to the grid...

Frosty, they "whine".

[Frosty]

Awww, the little mosquitos, how cute.

Maybe if you "accidentally" come by a couple few detour signs and traffic cones you could direct them to your place. Maybe have a couple of your students in traffic vests with stop slow paddles and barricades in front of your power pole. 

It may be some time waiting for the final redesign. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

My contact at the SEC is getting tired of my weekly calls; He can barely look me in the eye at church anymore!   He's promissed to go over the new design in detail with me as soon as he gets it.

Part of the problem is that my house doesn't have a power pole; we're one of the few places in the neighborhood that has underground service.  One of the issues has been them not agreeing where the underground service runs----we've had 3 or 4 visits with them trying to identify where they will be hooking into it; slowly incrementing up the management levels.  My next door neighbor has underground service too and when he had some work done; they cut off our power "thinking that it was hooked up on my side of things" when it actually ran the other way.

Gives you a warm feeling when the Electric Company doesn't know which way their wires run...Being rural and agricultural out here I like having the mains buried 4' down.  Much safer when Ag implements go down the road or DUI's or horse trailers... I plan to armor the transformer with 500 pound rocks to discourage folks from inspecting it with their bumpers.

[George N. M.]

Thomas:  I would be a bit skeptical about the redesign excuse.  It sounds like a standard excuse to be handed out irregardless of the actual truth of the matter.  I would want more of a specific explanation of why the first or second designs were inadequate.  And, I would want the explanation from an engineer or someone else qualified to give a coherent explanation.  If I wasn't satisfied I would go up the chain of command until I got to someone who could give me a definite date of completion barring acts of God such as severe weather damage to the system that needed to be repaired.

You have been waiting for this for way too long.

Also, if it is a publicly owned utility I would be calling the directors directly.  If it is privately owned I would be complaining to the NM Public Utilities Commission.  If you are a squeaky wheel you often get attention.  If you are "nice" you will keep getting pushed to the back of the queue.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ThomasPowers]

I was thinking of showing up to the next CoOp meeting in early September if it isn't resolved by then.

First design: was to run the primary to 5' from the shop and site a transformer there and run a short secondary to the panel/meter. Requires a 4' deep trench.

Second design: was to put the transformer near the street and the main run and run a secondary to the shop and meter panel. Required a 3' deep trench, which was dug, conduited, Inspected, back filled and is waiting.

Third Design: ????

[Frosty]

Get their response in writing with specifics and the signature of the person rejecting the earlier designs. If there's actually a good reason then . . . 

How can they NOT be able to find a power line, is it a non-conductor? If power is actually flowing, say the lights are on, the field will charge the ground around it, a compass will find a high tension line. Bent coat hangers nearly instantly, from a distance.

I think you're just too easy going and getting the back burner treatment for lack of repercussions. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

I agree with Frosty that you need a clear and specific explanation why designs 1 and 2 were inadequate or defective.

Also, I don't know if NM has a "Call Before You Dig" program but if they do the utility is required to give you an accurate locate for underground utilities.  I am skeptical of the utility not knowing where their own lines, above or below ground, are located and which way the current is flowing.  If you are at the end of the underground line there is only one way it can be flowing.

If they truly don't know it is up to them, on their dime, to do an excavation to locate their own line.

You could put in a location request to dig in front of your property and see what kind of response you get.

If they are not providing appropriate service within a reasonable time frame they are not meeting the requirements of their Certificate of Public Convenience/Necessity.  That is why a complaint to the NM Public Regulation Commission may be appropriate.

You are in District 5 and your Commissioner is Stephen Fischmann (505) 216-8569.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ThomasPowers]

I'd really rather they be safe than fast; I've already owned one house where the previous owner had electrocuted himself working on it leaving a wife and two young kids.   

Everybody is in overload right now and a "hobby shop" should be lower on the priority list than folks needing power for their house.  Also we are in the Monsoon season and having a LOT of electrical storms taking out power. (Look at the "Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research"   there is a reason it was sited out here! ) I've been following things as they get argued out and I expect to get a properly done job---I may take off work to watch it!  I have an advocate inside the SEC and would rather not get in any more of an adversarial relationship in what is a "small town" type of issue.

Just being able to blow off steam on IFI helps a lot in the land of mañana!  (And I am not surprised at all that someone may have misfiled or not filed information on what was done a couple of decades ago.  As I understand it the problem is not that they can't locate the primary; but that there seems to be more than 1 of them in the same general area!  They don't want to dig into the unknown!)

These things seem to be common with electrical utilities.  When I lived in Columbus Ohio I had a choice of using the standard Electric company or since the wires went by my property in the old part of town; I could go onto the City electric grid.  As the city was about 1/3 cheaper I went with them.  A storm came through an knocked down a tree onto my neighbors electric line, they were gone so I tried to call it in to the power company they were using and was told that since I didn't have an account with them I couldn't call in a downed line...I suggested they talk with their legal department about liability if someone got hurt or a house burned down  because of a downed line that was reported but they refused to take the report.  I don't know if they did; but there was a crew fixing the line in under an hour!

[Frosty]

That power company didn't need to call anybody, they knew who was liable. We had something similar happen here. Deb was doing barn chores and I was in the house making dinner and I hear Buran the Great Pyrenees Mountain dog barking high alert leaning towards genuine threat display. Isaac the house/porch dog was in full threat display and hitting the end of his tie out hard.

I go to the front door and crack it to see what's up. I picked up my AK in case, we have bears as well as punks and thieves in Alaska. I'm triangulating on the dog's gaze to know where to look when Deb sticks her head out of the barn and yells over Buran, "And Who in heck are YOU!?" 

At that I see the dark clad stranger turn his head and catch the flash of a badge and reflective shoulder patch. He steps into the light from the barn and sure enough it's a State Trooper with gun drawn and a partner with assault rifle behind him. He spoke with Deb for a minute and she tells him she's busy go talk to me in the house.

As the Troopers walk up to the house a third one steps out of the trees on the side of the driveway and follows at a distance. I put the rifle back in it's corner out of sight and step out on the porch to quiet Isaac down and see what the officers want.

Mat Com got a 911 hang up from our number and we got a full response, the 3 officers in view were only the "doorbell ringers," the swat team had slipped up and had us surrounded. The fire dept. and ems were waiting on the road for the all clear.

The officers took a look around the house, apologized for bothering us and took their leave. 

Less than a week later Isaac woke us up, Buran was barking like crazy and someone was doing the cop knock on the front door. No swat team this time but the officers were armed and ready. Another 911 hang up and they left.

The 3rd time a single officer knocked to make sure we were okay. That was three in less than 2 weeks. This officer was the watch commander and was more than a little ticked off. Nice guy, professionally polite and nice to boot. They had reported the first 911 hang up to the phone utility who promised to straighten it out. Second call and they were going to be right on it.

This time the officer called the MTA director at home on his cell and told the director he WOULD have the problem corrected tonight. The Department would be billing the phone company for call outs starting with #2.

The officer smiled and said, "That should take care of the problem and we won't bother you again unless something is wrong." We wished each other a good evening and he left.

There was a phone company truck and bucket lift working in flood lights within 45 minutes. 

Our phone line had come un-stapled from the pole and wind would cause it to flap cracking the insulation where it went underground and it'd spark. The right combination got the police, fire, medical, everybody until they just disregarded 911 calls from OUR HOUSE!

I've never seen such prompt service from any utility except calling in a gas leak. Even then.

I'm with you Thomas, it's best to stay on the good side of the utilities and public services if possible. Still you just have to be a squeaky wheel now and then.

Frosty The Lucky.

[arkie]

The one thing that grinds on me is advertising.  In many cities, there is ONLY ONE (often called a monopoly) electric utility, gas company, phone company, cable company (if cable is offered), and/or internet provider.  WHY do they have to advertise a monopoly???  It only serves to add to the cost of utilities.  Why not have a monopoly divert their advertising costs toward a reduction in rates??  (off soapbox....)

[Frazer]

It's not a monopoly.. technically. But that's semantics.

Why do they advertise? So they can honestly say during their quarterly meetings, "Well, sorry ladies and gents, there just wasn't any room left in the budget to innovate! It looks like we will just have to keep doing what we have been doing!".

Also PR and such. Note that many of their commercials fall in the "We here at ACME inc. are dedicated to helping x, y and z causes" and "The customer comes first", "yadda yadda blah,  *insert corporate message*"

I dislike commercials in general..

[ThomasPowers]

Funny thing; back in Columbus Ohio hardly anyone knew that there might be a choice in electric companies because the city owned one didn't spend any money advertising; it was just a leftover from about 100 years ago where they started one to use for street lights and city facilities.  I wish I had heard about it years earlier!

Out in the boonies you are lucky to have a single company serving you---we run the kitchen range on propane as there isn't natural gas service out here.

[Frosty]

No natural gas service Mr. Powers? Let me tell you about the benefits of the methane reactor, it's ease of construction, constant pressure output and useful by products! 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Frazer]

No methane reactor around here, but I do have a methane generator I've grown attached to.

[Frosty]

That's the NEXT step unless you want to buy methane.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Frazer]

I haven't gotten that far yet. I did try to get into the distribution business, but I was not well received. 

[ThomasPowers]

Well since we use solar/wood for heating  the only gas appliance we wanted was the kitchen range and *finally* getting one that was not 50+ years old with pilot lights you could use for casting metal; it doesn't use much propane.   (My wife checks the tank every month and is amazed that it isn't noticeably lower compared to how the old stove used propane.  Using the new propane stove I had when living down near the border in the casita convinced her to give up the old one in our house.)

[Frosty]

I'd be worried about your acquaintances if it was well received, Frazer. The stewardesses I was acquainted with when I was flying weekly for work, distributed gas in flight by walking (putting) down the isle. They called it, "crop dusting."

I'm sure your gas company is Looking for ways to balance it's cash flow, Thomas!

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[ThomasPowers]

Well it was sold off to another company soon after we switched kitchen ranges... My wife gave me the 100# propane tank for my forge when she went to the 'Large Tank filled by a truck' that is "rented" from the gas company and it was mostly full so I was happy.

[Frosty]

Happy Wife, happy life. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Why I didn't complain about her buying a 50+ year old range they didn't make parts for anymore and using it for a dozen more years...and was so happy about her having to come down to the casita after I had surgery and using a new one.  I figured she would like it!

[Frosty]

You're a sly one Thomas, well done.

Frosty The Lucky.