Electricity bill - transportation charges? (home, office, best)

[abnfdc]

Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012

OP, you will likely get lots of mail from various energy suppliers in New Hampshire trying to get you to switch to them.

I have Eversource (the main supplier, I think) and have thought a few times about switching ... then I read the fine print and I see that the low rate the new company offers is good for all of 3 months (or whatever), then it can jump HIGHER than Eversource. So I might save literally $8 total for the first 3 months, then who knows?

Maybe some have made out well after switching, but it hasn't seemed worth it to me.

Probably like car insurance quotes--hey here is a great rate lower than your current one. One year later it adjusts to higher than the current company.

[Nonesuch]

Originally Posted by KCZ

I wouldn't switch providers just to save a few bucks until you check out their outage rates and time to complete repairs. Eversource always seems to lag behind in restoring service. Caveat emptor.

In New Hampshire, you don't get the opportunity to switch delivery providers, only "supplier", your local monopoly still handles the outages, wires, etc. So if your town is serviced by Eversource, changing won't make your power any more or less reliable.

When you buy from a competitive supplier, they agree to feed a certain amount of power into the general grid, but that doesn't mean you're actually getting energy from them, it is fungible.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Originally Posted by KCZ

I wouldn't switch providers just to save a few bucks until you check out their outage rates and time to complete repairs. Eversource always seems to lag behind in restoring service. Caveat emptor.

Um, that doesn't make sense ...

Originally Posted by Nonesuch

In New Hampshire, you don't get the opportunity to switch delivery providers, only "supplier", your local monopoly still handles the outages, wires, etc. So if your town is serviced by Eversource, changing won't make your power any more or less reliable.

When you buy from a competitive supplier, they agree to feed a certain amount of power into the general grid, but that doesn't mean you're actually getting energy from them, it is fungible.

Nonesuch beat me to it.

In other words, if I think about my neighborhood (I live just outside of Keene) ... say I have Eversource but my neighbors to the west decide to go with Cheap Company A while my neighbors to the south go with Cheap Company B. When it comes to power outages and getting power restored, it doesn't MATTER that our 3 households have different electricity providers ... one household is NOT going to get power restored before the others just because of the provider. It doesn't work that way.

I'm not a big fan of Eversource, mostly because they never explain things. For example, a few weeks ago I was working in my home office and we lost power for literally 2 seconds -- but of course that was JUST enough to shut everything like computers down, so I had to reboot everything once power was restored. And, of course, there is NEVER an explanation for those "tiny" outages.

I must say that we VERY RARELY lose power where I live, and when we do, it's more likely to be in the summer than in the middle of winter -- and I am thankful for that, although I now have some gas heaters that will still work in a power outage. But the tiny outages happen a few times a year and they are REALLY frustrating because they come out of nowhere -- no problematic weather, no car accident in which a power line went down, just nothing you can pinpoint. But everything has to be re-started, and Eversource NEVER explains what happened.

[Nonesuch]

Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012

I'm not a big fan of Eversource, mostly because they never explain things. For example, a few weeks ago I was working in my home office and we lost power for literally 2 seconds -- but of course that was JUST enough to shut everything like computers down, so I had to reboot everything once power was restored. And, of course, there is NEVER an explanation for those "tiny" outages.

To be fair, I've had a half dozen different power companies in nearly as many states, and none would ever explain brief power outages.

Eversource, in my experience, has been getting much better about explaining longer outages and giving an ETA to restore power. Text messages, the outage website, etc.

Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012

I must say that we VERY RARELY lose power where I live, and when we do, it's more likely to be in the summer than in the middle of winter -- and I am thankful for that, although I now have some gas heaters that will still work in a power outage. But the tiny outages happen a few times a year and they are REALLY frustrating because they come out of nowhere -- no problematic weather, no car accident in which a power line went down, just nothing you can pinpoint. But everything has to be re-started, and Eversource NEVER explains what happened.

If it is an important item, like a PC or cablemodem, put it on a small UPS. Doesn't need much battery storage if it is mostly just handling tiny outages. Even an inkjet printer can be on a UPS (larger laser printers still cannot).

Only devices I have left which need to be "restarted" after a power outage are the ovens (microwave and regular). Unless power hit happens while actually cooking, that just means the clock is wrong.

[abnfdc]

Huge +1 to the UPS if you're working from home. Or just in general. It will at least give you time to save your work. I kind of went around the UPS problem and switched to laptops about 20 years ago. Not a perfect solution for all home offices, but it works for me.

NHEC has treated me OK as far as the communication of outage statuses, but it does help to know the exact route your power comes in so you can interpret whether or not the estimated fix time is halfway accurate. I've only spent about 6 or 7 days on a generator in the last 6 months, so that isn't horrible. 4 1/2 of those days were during the two March windstorms. Renting down a private road, I don't think we're a high priority fix.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by KCZ

I wouldn't switch providers just to save a few bucks until you check out their outage rates and time to complete repairs. Eversource always seems to lag behind in restoring service. Caveat emptor.

It doesn't matter who the supplier is. Eversource is still the company that distributes that power and whose wires have to be repaired.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Originally Posted by robr2

It doesn't matter who the supplier is. Eversource is still the company that distributes that power and whose wires have to be repaired.

Um, yes, two of us already said that just a few posts ago.

Originally Posted by Nonesuch

To be fair, I've had a half dozen different power companies in nearly as many states, and none would ever explain brief power outages.

I know you're right ... but I still get annoyed at Eversource, probably because for those "tiny" outages, I just picture some workperson mistakenly hitting the wrong switch, then saying "Oops!" and flicking it back on.

Originally Posted by Nonesuch

Eversource, in my experience, has been getting much better about explaining longer outages and giving an ETA to restore power. Text messages, the outage website, etc.

That's true, although some of their time estimates have been way off in the wrong direction (to be fair, many are off in the BETTER direction, i.e. they say power will be restored by 9 p.m. and it ends up being 8 p.m.).

Originally Posted by Nonesuch

If it is an important item, like a PC or cablemodem, put it on a small UPS. Doesn't need much battery storage if it is mostly just handling tiny outages. Even an inkjet printer can be on a UPS (larger laser printers still cannot).

Only devices I have left which need to be "restarted" after a power outage are the ovens (microwave and regular). Unless power hit happens while actually cooking, that just means the clock is wrong.

Originally Posted by abnfdc

Huge +1 to the UPS if you're working from home. Or just in general. It will at least give you time to save your work. I kind of went around the UPS problem and switched to laptops about 20 years ago. Not a perfect solution for all home offices, but it works for me.

Thanks to both of you for the UPS suggestion. That will be a rather easy solution for my 2 main computers.

[Apapermaker]

Originally Posted by Nonesuch

What you don't want to do is turn the water heater down to the lowest temperature setting, that's how you end up breeding stuff in the tank.

Nonesuch, you're a blessing to this forum. Besides whatever one is seeking or wondering, it befits that wisdom and safety guide us in responding. Your comment is totally what a good citizen should respond with, when dealing with the foolishness of a fellow poster. Thank you! Be assured that I will follow this policy, which I "knew about" but had forgotten.

[Apapermaker]

Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012

I know you're right ... but I still get annoyed at Eversource, probably because for those "tiny" outages, I just picture some workperson mistakenly hitting the wrong switch, then saying "Oops!" and flicking it back on.

<bad joke alert> or perhaps the fat electrons are getting flushed at that moment. Most companies do it at 2 am or something like that, to avoid annoying the public. www.catb.org/jargon/html/F/fat-electrons.html

[unit731]

Originally Posted by Apapermaker

N
OK fine, the water heater is still on, even if set low, and a couple lights on timers.

How much electricity does your microwave clock use ?

What else was left "on" ?