How do I operate off the f'n monopoly grid?

Post #102,624 by mhuber 5/19/03 6:06:59 PM Reply	How do I operate off the f'n monopoly grid? Over the winter, the gas bills for my shop went through the roof. $500 for fucking MARCH heating two goddamn little rooms warm enough to get through the day wearing a winter parka. Which you don't really need outside in March in SouthEast Wisconsin. So we went through April with the gas off because we aren't exactly Microsoft here. Well, the bastards want a $975 deposit - which they will hold for two years - before they reconnect us. The problem is that the gas company and the electric company are the same company. We have electricity now because the cluster of businesses here shares an electric meter and we pay our share. Oh, yeah, 40% is fair when we run a computer, a sewing machine, and a half dozen flourescent light clusters, and the other guys run a schoolbus company with full garage including hydraulic lifts and big honking mercury vapor lamps on 24/7. But we are moving to a new place in a few days. Oh, yeah - apparently they are starting to think there might have been a problem with the meter. Or something. Gee, really? We aren't paying all that much more than the FACTORY that was here before us. So how do I run a costume shop downtown without plugging into the goddamn (maybe the Amish are right) grid? New policy here: monopoly businesses are considered a severe credit risk. All rentals require a 100% deposit, all special orders 100% down on order. No credit, no cards, no checks, cash with three forms of ID (at least one issued outside the monopoly zone) and then tested for counterfeit and drug residue. We've dealt with the bastards before, and they take forever and a day to pay their bills. OK, I'll probably end up taking out a loan and maybe I can get the new landlord to keep the electricity in his name for a while. But I'm pissed off. And I can't even do the three cent overpayment to trigger manual processing and keep a balance thing this time. ---- Whatever
Post #102,627 by tseliot 5/19/03 6:39:28 PM Reply	Are you serious or just venting? Next Q: are you looking at zero power or providing your own? Many fears are born of stupidity and ignorance - Which you should be feeding with rumour and generalisation. BOfH, 2002 "Episode" 10
Post #102,687 by mhuber 5/19/03 11:19:01 PM Reply	I don't know I do know I'm seriously pissed off. I will definitely need some electricity - sewing machines and computer are essential, microwave and fridge very nice. Lights also essential. I've brought up the idea of treadle sewing machines a few times. Too much exercise. Not real practical as a full solution - modern machines are just too nice. Still, there are times when it would be interesting - probably 70% of what I do with the machine works just as well on The Tank - a WWII vintage machine that can only do a stright stitch but kicks ass on those. And has kind of a neat user interface feature - no reverse control, just a stitch length control that goes below zero. Computer, well I guess I could go laptop and charge up at home. For lights, there are some obvious options but I doubt that the fire marshal will let me do anything involving fire. Maybe I can do some kind of generator, but it would have to be clean and quiet and not insanely expensive. I can't afford to get too obviously psycho about this, we are in a definite small town mode here, and the Chamber of Commerce people are being very, very nice so far. That niceness is a critical piece of our business model. I'll probably just get over it. ---- Whatever
Post #102,692 by tseliot 5/20/03 12:18:55 AM Reply	Depends on your wattage needs ...but I looked at some very nice solar options lately--that industry continues to improve, unlike some other energy technologies. The decision comes down mostly to how much you want to pay up front to enjoy savings later on... WAY off topic: Speaking of sewing machines, I just received Janet Arnold's [link\|http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0896760839\|Patterns of Fashion] The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women C1560-1620 today from Amazon. Need a doublet made anytime soon? :) Many fears are born of stupidity and ignorance - Which you should be feeding with rumour and generalisation. BOfH, 2002 "Episode" 10
Post #102,650 by Ashton 5/19/03 8:49:00 PM Reply	Sounds like CA gas bills a winter ago - for a mobile home I know of. (then badly insulated.. now, with new insul. roof and other improvements) Unclear if the 'reconnection' fee is a deposit you can draw against for usage - or a free perpetual loan to the Local Monopoly (?) But as backup - even those kerosene heaters using less-smelly distillations, do work. (Kero-Sun\ufffd comes to mind). This if you forego their gas while looking for alternatives. I dunno about the electrical metering, but seems to me that you can 'demand' a separate KWHr meter for just you - they don't cost that much and I think can be found at salvage places for home deconstruction. Even if you wired that in via Electician, perhaps you can deal just with the prime customer you are piggy-backed on, unofficially: fair is er fair. Unless s/he's a '03-style Repo, that is. I've gone the route of "calculating loads" etc. for another in similar situation. Problem as you well know, is ignorance (of Ohm's Law even - which is OK for AC until the waveform gets really awful) -- often willful-ignorance of the sort, "gosh that's just Soo complicated for poor little me; I only have an MBA, you know." Lastly - most gas-meter failures tend to read low, by virtue of the design. Again, went through this with the mentioned trailer owner: but in this case we suspected that a high digit had tripped-over - resulting in an absurdly high bill.. so took data on usage for a year. They (finally) jerked the meter, 'tested' it and claimed it didn't snag digits. Yeah.. prove you aren't a commie. (Ignorance of probabilities - 'nother Murican edjaKayshun important product) Well.. Occam and all, the other evidence - and the intermediary of the mobile home park (run by a wannabe Vulture capitalist creep, evidence of which I have seen first-hand) -- net result was null. My guess is that millions of old folks in these rattraps are victimized regularly - as each biznessman seeks Max Return a la Billy, and most city councils are umm .. run or led around by such. Ex: If one such local bizness guy with a lawyer on retainer threatens to sue over an adverse ruling - and does, the CC has to pay the legal bills even on winning == THAT is how it works in Sonoma County. This next 'reluctance' to act, on council's part - occurs despite mobs-in-street, filling meetings, and with sane legal-checked Points to be made. Hence my extrapolation / guess re elsewhere. Luck.. the corruption begins via example from The Top and - the corruptors are currently Popular and have good teeth and photo-ops. :( Ashton Babbitt Lives in '03
Post #102,688 by mhuber 5/19/03 11:21:52 PM Reply	The reconnection deposit My interpretation is that it is refundable (with interest) after 24 consecutive on-time monthly utility payments. Not an event that has happened in my lifetime. Could happen in years 4 and 5 of the plan if all goes well - stranger things have happened but not often. ---- Whatever
Post #102,683 by mmoffitt 5/19/03 11:08:06 PM Reply	Windmill, dude, windmill. bcnu, Mikem The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism. - Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"

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