What to do when the lights go out
If you’re a regular to one of my other blogs, you’re probably sick and tired of hearing me gripe about the regular power outages I’m experiencing as a result of living across the street from a construction site. Thanks to the building of thirty some-odd overpriced McMansions, my power keeps going. I learned something very important from this, though. If your power goes, the first thing you should do is contact your power company - even if you know your neighbor has already done so.
When you call the power company, they’ll ask for your phone number or account number. This is important because after they make note of your call they should deduct the amount of time you were without power from your next bill. Be sure you make a note of the day and time of the power outage, as well as the amount of time you were down. If this isn’t deducted from your bill, you can call to complain.
One of my neighbors doesn’t like to call because she feels she’s making a pain of herself. The way I see it, it’s more of a pain for me to have to pay for power I didn’t receive. Besides, it’s all done through an automated system. The bots don’t care if you’re a pest.
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5 opinions for What to do when the lights go out
Jennifer
Aug 25, 2007 at 2:20 am
Ok, I seriously thought this was going to be fun stuff like play hide and go seek or get out the flashlights and make wall puppets or maybe make a campfire. But no, I have to learn stuff.
That said I’m very happy I came anyway because I had no idea your bill was supposed to be cut if your power goes out! How come that’s not published anywhere? How did you even know that. Now I’m a little mad becuase in CA our power went out for a day at a time sometimes. I bet I never got a refund either. Thanks for the tip. This is a really good one.
Deborah Ng
Aug 25, 2007 at 5:35 am
Jennifer, I don’t know if they’re “supposed” to tell you. All I know is that when my cable. phone or power is out, I call and report the outage. If I talk with a real live human being, I let that person know (nicely) that I won’t be paying for the times I had no service.
If you call in, even if you leave your account number with an automated service, they have it on record that your service was interrupted. Make note of it and if it’s not taken off your bill, call the company give them the exact date and time and tell them you called.
Jenni
Aug 25, 2007 at 9:58 am
I wish! Our power company won’t credit you unless you’ve been without power for a certain number of days, can’t remember exact. I have called to complain about outages before and this is what I was told. sigh
Thrifty Karen
Aug 25, 2007 at 8:09 pm
If they come out to read your meter, then aren’t you only charged for the KWH you used? I’m pretty sure that’s the way they do it here. So, if you don’t have power, then you can’t use the KWH, and then you won’t be charged . . . right? Now, when it comes to cable and internet company, I do expect a refund because it is a flat monthly fee.
Amy
Aug 27, 2007 at 8:05 am
Also program it in your cell phone too. We lost power last week, due to a really bad storm, and I had the number programmed in my cell phone. There is nothing worse than trying to hunt through the yellow pages or your bills in the dark :)
Sad when you are a pro at this, right? :)
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