Connection Lost

[AKIron]

I lived on Okinawa for 6 years and endured several typhoons. Lost a lot of trees but power was never an issue. You want hurricane proof power bury your wires.

And there was no evacuation for us regardless of storm strength.

[Skyyr]

And there was no evacuation for us regardless of storm strength.

I mean, uh, it's kind of a given an island nation can't evacuate hurricanes.

[AKIron]

I mean, uh, it's kind of a given an island nation can't evacuate hurricanes.

Yeah, there is that. We did send the F-4s in the 70's and F-15s in the 80's to Guam though. When they had storms they sent their B-52s to us.

[LilMak]

LOL!!! Must’ve touched a nerve. Got home from work and the power is out. Not a single storm within 100 miles. 

[Shuffler]

If it was JUST natural disasters, I probably wouldn’t have a gripe but it’s not.

Listen. I’m speaking from personal experience. And my experience isn’t just related to hurricanes and freak winter storms. I’ve literally spent more time in the dark in my last 6 years in Texas (in a metro area not the boonies) than the previous thirty plus years in various other states. Including Florida. That’s simply a fact. The grid, at least where I am, is TRASH. And there is plenty of evidence outside my personal experience to back that up. 

I’m genuinely curious to see that Florida map 4 days from now to compare percentages (not total numbers) of people who still don’t have power vs what happened in Houston. Mostly so I can see Florida’s recovery vs Texas. Cat 1s in Florida
usually bring more surfers than linemen.

I realize Texans have a lot of pride and this isn’t a bash on TX. Now, if you work for Centerpoint Energy as are trying to low-key defend your sub-par company, I’m willing to listen. But first you’re going to have to pay me the $2400 bucks you owe me for having to throw food away and repair the damage to my home your company cost me so far.

If the power in your area is having issues.... don't blame the grid. That is a local issue. Likely a fuse too small on a pole even. Could be anything.

[HL117]

Been in Houston area since 2018, we live on the North side, we have enjoyed our time here, great people, crazy traffic, very hot and humid, great food, we chose to come here, we like the politics in most of Texas not so much Harris county, we have CenterPoint for power distribution, we went through the freeze a few years back and lost power for 4 days, we just went through Beryle and were with out power for a week, it was a bit tedious but people in our neighborhood shrugged it off like pros, they are just collecting a hugh pile of debris from our front yard and others as I am writing this, everyone just piled all debris in their front yards and in teh streets, LiMak must be a neighbor , I never owned a generator for backup power and I have lived in 5 different states, I have one a "Firman" on standby now sitting in my garage, it is only 10kw,  I realize now I need something bigger, probably a Generac whole house 24kw, there are no basements in Houston because of the water level so I doubt power lines underground would make sense, below is an excerpt CenterPoint.com:




Houston – July 25, 2024 – Today, at a hearing before the Public Utility Commission of Texas, CenterPoint President and CEO Jason Wells apologized for the frustration Houstonians experienced during Hurricane Beryl and made a company-wide commitment to improve. In the hearing, Wells, accompanied by Tony Gardner, SVP and Chief Customer Officer, and Randy Pryor, VP Major Underground & Distribution Modernization, announced an initial series of specific actions that will increase the resiliency of the electric system, improve customer communications, and strengthen emergency response coordination and partnerships.

“There are no excuses. We will get better. We are taking immediate action to make real, measurable and positive changes to not only better serve our customers and the community, but to re-earn their trust," Jason Wells said. “Our mission is to build and operate the most resilient coastal grid anywhere in the country with best-in-class communications."
- See more at: https://www.centerpointenergy.com/en-us/corporate/about-us/news/1791#sthash.DRrO0E0l.dpuf

[LilMak]

If the power in your area is having issues.... don't blame the grid. That is a local issue. Likely a fuse too small on a pole even. Could be anything.

Oh. Didn’t realize it was my personal responsibility to get my ladder out and fix the fn pole. Do I have to repair the transformers and power lines too? How about the substations and power plants? That my duty as well? Must be a Texas thing. Everywhere else I’ve lived in America “the grid” delivers power. That included EVERYTHING from the power plant to my meter.

If Shuffler is right, I guess I need to get the visa out and make a trip to Lowe’s to buy some poles and fuses. Anyone know what isle the substations are on? I might pick one of those up too.

[Meatwad]

This country needs more power generation that does NOT come from wind and solar. Throw up some nuclear plants and not care about environmentalists cries

[Grind]

Two big semiconductor plants in construction now in Sherman Tx near us. Another was just awarded a $400 million subsidy under the Chips program to build another multi-billion dollar plant in Sherman.

Chip plants require a lot of water. Nearby Lake Texoma has a lot of water. North Texas in general has a lot of water.

That’s great news! Hope these plants will provide good union jobs and not trash the environment!

[Chris79]

If the power in your area is having issues.... don't blame the grid. That is a local issue. Likely a fuse too small on a pole even. Could be anything.

The Texas grid is “FUBAR”. If the fuse is to small it’s a grid issue. If the substation transformer is to small it’s a grid issue. If the pole spacing is 400 feet it’s a grid issue. If the conductor is 6 cwc where it ought to be least 3/0 acsr it’s a grid issue.

[Animl-AW]

LOL!!! Must’ve touched a nerve. Got home from work and the power is out. Not a single storm within 100 miles. 

You owe me a cleaning of coffee off my monitor

[Animl-AW]

This country needs more power generation that does NOT come from wind and solar. Throw up some nuclear plants and not care about environmentalists cries

Your future dog with 3 heads my have a different opinion

[AKIron]

Texas has independence with it's own power grid. That may be a very good thing in the coming years. Just sayin'.

[Shuffler]

Oh. Didn’t realize it was my personal responsibility to get my ladder out and fix the fn pole. Do I have to repair the transformers and power lines too? How about the substations and power plants? That my duty as well? Must be a Texas thing. Everywhere else I’ve lived in America “the grid” delivers power. That included EVERYTHING from the power plant to my meter.

If Shuffler is right, I guess I need to get the visa out and make a trip to Lowe’s to buy some poles and fuses. Anyone know what isle the substations are on? I might pick one of those up too.

LOL no one said it was your job to fix the pole. In fact the poles were mostly all straight until they broke up HL&P. Thank those that hate big business. The management of your area is lacking. Whoever is in charge should be replaced. Same as if your red lights seem yo be broken more often than working..... whoever is responsible in your area should be replaced. That is usually a person selected to manage an area. The grid is a much larger area.

This little storm was far worse than many big storms as far as wind. While the wind speeds were not that high, they were not straight winds.

[fudgums]