An Odd Power Outage

[Perd Hapley]

The power's out here again, but why?  Successive ice storms were predicted for the whole weekend, but each one was milder than the last. 

We got some barely freezing rain on Friday night, but the ground was too warm for it to ice up the roads.  There was no wind to speak of, but the branches got weighed down with ice and messed with some transformers and power lines.  That much was understandable.  There's a transformer behind my neighbor's house literally hanging by wires (and above an aluminum fence that could electrify the back yards on the whole block, I might add) and the power company hasn't bothered to do anything about it yet.  (I'm writing this on Monday morning.)

We were supposed to get more freezing rain on Saturday evening, but we never got more than a mist.  When I went to bed on Saturday night, their website claimed about 100,000 customers were without power.

On Sunday morning, their phone recording said 150,000 without power.    Several people I know lost power on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and with no rain, wind, or any other apparent cause. 

We were supposed to get a much worse storm last night, but it gave up, and came down as rain.  This morning they're back to 100,000.  The snow that was expected today has been "cancelled."

We had two week-long outages last year.

[K Frame]

Not all tree branches come down at the same time.

A mist can freeze on ice coated branches and wires and bring them down, as well.

[Preacherman]

It could also be because incoming power lines, carrying the power from other states and/or counties, get taken down.  In the town where I lived previously, we could virtually guarantee that any severe windstorm, with or without ice, would leave a third of the town without power - the incoming line went through a wood, with inadequate clearance for falling trees and/or branches to miss the power lines.  We bitched and moaned about it, but the company owning the wood (a paper products firm) wouldn't allow a wider clear-cut for the power lines without significant compensation.  The electric folks told us that if we were willing to absorb a 20% rise in electricity costs, they'd do it:  but people voted with their wallets . . .

[Perd Hapley]

Thanks.  I think Mike is right about the mist.

Before this happened, I didn't expect many problems.  After all, the branches that broke had already survived two severe storms, why should they break now?  Oh well.

We're all blaming this on a failure to trim trees, or remove the trees growing under/into the power lines.  Of course, everyone wants to blame the power company for neglecting to do this - even though a lot of these trees are on private land anyway.  After the two earlier outages, it's no surprise everyone hates Ameren, so their request to the state to increase their rates was not well-received.  Having heard from various sources that our rates in this area are much lower than average, I figured they probably should raise the rates.  That way they can do more to maintain the grid.  Besides, they have to have lost a lot of cash with these extended outages, not to mention the out-of-town linemen they had to pay, round-the-clock shifts. 

Incredibly, it looks like they might be forced to LOWER their rates.    California, here we come. 

[Bogie]

Fistful, just be happy you don't live further west... Arne and III got to walk home the other night... Through the woods. With trees falling around 'em...
 
I just got to play with my generator...
 
mmmm.... coffee....

[Perd Hapley]

Further west?  I grew up near Gray Summit, actually, so I'd prefer to be further west.  My folks (still back at the old homestead near Gray Summit) have had much better luck with these black-outs than I have.  And, they heat with wood anyway. 

Where do you live? 

[Bogie]

I'm in Wentzville. My bud Arne's near Osage Beach...