Power companies... Is it just me, or everyone?

[chambezio]

Where we live is 18 miles from Tamworth, and 3 miles out of a village. It is a rural subdivsion, total population for the village area is 500. We have been here for 31 years. When we first moved here the power would drop out fairly regularly about tea time (6-7pm). As more new settlers moved out here over the years the service had to be upgraded to suit the demand and it did. Roll forward to the present and guess what....the power drops out anytime, worse when there is a storm about.
I blame the "organisation" we were told to "Live better electrically" for how long? Now they are telling us to use less!

Our power bills back in 1981 when we moved in had 3 separate charges that made up the bill-General rate, Off Peak rate, Standing Charge. What is Standing Charge? Its is to pay for the privilege of using "rura lpower". Then the supplier (County Council) had a number of name changes. Then went corporate now we are owned by big business. Our usage for the last quarter is only marginally higher than for the same period as last year but it is $200 dearer!!!

The government knew when to sell off the industry because the Power Generators had to be renewed due to the existing ones were to their use-by- date. So for the new owners to cover their costs of up grade we are now paying a whole lot more for our power than before.

The original County Council was a very well run efficient organisation which had a number of arms to generate cash They (along time ago) generated its own power using a plant that was a scaled down version of Bunnerong Power Station in Sydney. They had to suply and service the the power lines and poles. They even had a fleet of electricians who did domestic wiring of your house etc. They were a big employer and trained a heap of sparkys over the time. Then they had a retail sector that allowed you to buy your electrical appliances and put it on your account with your power. It was a great organisation!!

Now when we have a blackout we call the operator in Port Macquarie (300+km away) and they dispatch a local Country Energy serviceman to fix our problem.

[Bushmiller]

The government knew when to sell off the industry because the Power Generators had to be renewed due to the existing ones were to their use-by- date. So for the new owners to cover their costs of up grade we are now paying a whole lot more for our power than before.

Chambezio

I sympathise with what you are saying, but you do have to distinguish between the power generators and the power distributors. I think the people you are describing are the power distributors. The NSW Electricity Commission did go through all the preparatory work (corporatisation) with the intention of selling off the power stations, but it didn't happen, mainly because they changed their thinking. Now they do want to sell them again but nobody wants to buy because of future uncertainties.

If I said that the price paid to the power generators is, in round figures, 5c /kwh and you compare that to the cost you pay (probably around 25c) I think you will see that it is the distributors that are the culprits.

Regards
Paul

[Malibu]

You're right Paul,
Sometimes it's a little difficult to separate the supply companies and the power generation companies. I know who supplies my power (the retailer) but I have no idea who generates the stuff.
In reply to chambezio, I understand what he's saying too... As someone who was in the thick of the Black Saturday fires - in fact, the entire front that ripped through most of Victoria was started about 1km from my house, by a pole mounted tranny... the very same one (tranny) that started a fire a couple of years previously. Maybe lack of maintenance, maybe 'one of those things', who's to say? I know I've never had as many power dips as I do in recent years...
All I know is that when the old SECV was in existence, things seemed to be a bit different. They generated the power, they owned the power lines and serviced them, they read the meters, and they issued the bills.
So what's changed? I'm not sure, but more has changed than a mere 'name change'... Privatisation seems to be the way to go now - for all g'ment departments - , but is it the best way to go?
I don't recall having so many problems (either bill related, or supply related) when the State Government ran the show.

[Malibu]

Excuse me people, while I hijack my own thread... but it's along the same vein as the incompetence of the power companies and makes me think this sort of thing is rife in our world. This company I'm talking about, we'll call the fictional name of 'Orstrayliun Post' (because it'll be obvious who I'm talking about anyway!)

I was contacted by someone (no names) from Perth who was interested in some of my work, which I'm happy to say they accepted my quote, commissioned the job and payed promptly. One of those customers that makes you think "yeah, I like this one! I'll do my best for them!"
The job was done pronto, packaged up with extra care and I had quoted 'standard postage' to them, but I decided at the last minute to send by Express Post for two reasons - It gets there overnight and there is tracking details as well. Bewdy, I like the idea. I get to see where it is en-route via the tracking number, and the customer gets it quick smart and hopefully they'll be impressed with the service I give

So, I drop it into the Orstrayliun Post center last Thursday afternoon, well and truly before the mail gets picked up, it gets scanned in by the fine people that run the show down there and it's ready to rock'n roll... I check the tracking number and it's sitting at the Post center waiting for it's next leg of the journey, which is 35km away from here.

------------------------Fast forward to today (Sunday) --------------------

According to the Orstrayliun Post tracking number, it's STILL sitting at my local PO... 4 days?? It hasn't moved?
For what reason did I pay this 'fictional company' 3 or 4 times the postage rates of a standard letter, for extra service, when obviously it makes no difference?
In defence of the local people, it's no longer at the P-office... it's gone, because I asked them about it.

I can understand that maybe the mail shuts down over the weekend, but hang on, where's my customers parcel according to the tracking details?
I suspect they will get their order tomorrow, but why should they need to wait 5 days for it and why can't it be tracked?
I would be fuming if I'd paid for overnight delivery and 5 days later the goods arrive.

Tomorrow is a phone call to Orstrayliun Post, because I'd like them to explain why I paid 4 times the fee, for the same service.

Maybe I'm just becoming a cynic in my old age and expect too much? --- like - to get what I pay for, and maybe the service as promised?

[Bushmiller]

John

If you live outside of major centres "express post" is close to meaningless. They only guarantee next day delivery between cities and that may not be certain either.

Our local post office, which is privately owned, maintains that post is moved around during the weekend, but no deliveries of course.

Regards
Paul

[Malibu]

If you live outside of major centres "express post" is close to meaningless. They only guarantee next day delivery between cities and that may not be certain either.

G'day Paul,
As I've just found out, the hyped up "Next Day Delivery" is not quite true...
The list of post codes on the back of the Express Post envelopes/satchels is the ONLY places you can send express post to and NOT to anywhere other than those post codes.
It's not just the guarantee of next day delivery to there, but anything outside those post codes they treat as standard mail rather than what I thought; that it's still treated as express post, but maybe it will take a little longer because it's not on the designated route.
Back to the mail I sent... Because it wasn't on the express post list of post codes, it defaulted to ordinary mail, so went via road instead of air.
A bit misleading I thought - as did the local post office people.

[shedbound]

We live within 10km of our power station, every time it rains we lose power, every time we ring we get told its one a transformer, sometimes we can go without power for up to 24hrs. This has been going on for 8 years and who knows how long before that? must say the phone lines are no better with our sporadic internet service. not to mention the constant loss of digital TV reception. One step forward three back! makes me wonder sometimes.