I was working on some homework this evening, and once again, my power went out. This really isn’t unusual at all at my house in northern Baltimore County. It seems as though any stiff wind or moderate rain will most likely take out my electricity for at least 12 hours. I should have expected the same for tonight. I was listening to the radio on the way home tonight and heard the ‘Emergency Broadcasting Service’ warning of especially nasty thunderstorms which would likely produce “ping pong ball sized hail”. Well of course, just as I was making some headway tonight, it happened again.
For me, losing power is more than just an inconvenience. My house isn’t on public water; we have a well. Additionally, we have an electric stove and oven (even though the dryer and water heater are powered by natural gas… go figure). Therefore when my power goes out, I don’t simply lose my lights and hot water. Instead, I also lose everything, most importantly running water. This means no drinking water, no showers, no teeth brushing, and most importantly no toilet flushing.
I’m really beginning to wonder why BGE allows my neighborhood to go without power so frequently and why it always seems to take days to repair. Every time I lose power, it’s because of a downed tree, limb, or telephone poll. It really makes me wonder why BGE doesn’t just bury the power lines in my neighborhood. The homes here aren’t very far apart, with an average yard size of an acre or so, and there aren’t more than 50 homes in the whole neighborhood. It simply can’t be cost efficient for BGE to be constantly sending crews out in hazardous conditions (at double or triple the normal rate of pay) twice each month on average to fix the same problem time and again.
Furthermore, shouldn’t BGE be able to prioritize those areas which are most reliant on power for the most basic necessities? I know that BGE sends crews to areas where danger is more imminent. For instance, a crew came out pretty quickly in the last snowstorm because the downed limb was causing the power lines to smoke and spark. BGE should take this a step further and assist those without water first and foremost.
What really gets to me with all of this is that Comcast ALWAYS repairs my cable service before BGE restores my power. I know this because I have a TV tuner for my laptop. How is it possible that Comcast has the resources to outperform BGE in continuity of service? And since when does Comcast serve its customers more effectively than ANY other firm?
BGE will have to solve the problem of frequent outages, but there is another problem with BGE that you can solve for yourself.
ReplyDeleteBGE's price for residential electricity is 20% over market. If you don't like paying BGE's high rates, you can reduce your bill by lowering the price you pay for the electricity you use. Here's how.
BGE's average annual price for electricity is 11.97 cents per kWh for a typical residential customer (rate class "R") You can get your electricity for 9.6 cents per kWh from Washington Gas Energy Services (WGES). BGE delivers it.
To get WGES' best price offers, you need a special code. Here it is. Go to www.wges.com . Where it asks "New to WGES? Enter your promo code here" enter code: EAHome-EA2016 . This code will bring up WGES' 9.6 cents price offer.
If you enroll with WGES, your electric utility will bill you for your electricity at WGES's price rather than at their higher price. If you are on BGE's budget billing plan, you can continue paying that way. If you move, you can terminate WGES' supply agreement without penalty.
BGE will continue to deliver your electricity, respond to emergencies, read the meter, and do the billing as always. None of that changes. There is no service interruption. Nothing is connected or disconnected.