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best to joemikeb
#57999 02/19/21 05:45 PM
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jchuzi Online OP
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Joemikeb hasn't posted in a few days. He is located in Texas and I want to extend my best wishes and hopes that he and his family are OK. Post back when you can, Joe!


Jon

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Re: best to joemikeb
jchuzi #58000 02/19/21 05:59 PM
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Originally Posted by jchuzi
Joemikeb hasn't posted in a few days. He is located in Texas and I want to extend my best wishes and hopes that he and his family are OK. Post back when you can, Joe!

Yes, myself also! Our youngest son lives in Frisco, Texas, about 30 miles north of Dallas, and on Tuesday, they lost power for over 16 hours straight. Since then, they have had some rolling blackouts, but based on texts we've received from our daughter-in-law, things seem to be OK.

Re: best to joemikeb
MartyByrde #58004 02/19/21 07:38 PM
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No worries! Cruz is back and everything will be sorted now.

joemikeb – good luck!

Except, I can't help but think back to a fuel crisis many years ago (someone can help me with the year – 1980-ish?) when Texans drove around with a bumper sticker that read "Drive 90 – Freeze a Yankee".

The Germans have a word for what I'm feeling...

grin


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Re: best to joemikeb
freelance #58033 02/21/21 07:34 PM
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THANKS FOR THE WARM THOUGHTS!

Actually we were very fortunate, We rolled the temp down to 68° turned on the gas log in the fireplace and unlike most people we know our power never even blinked. The only real issues we encountered were a frozen water line to the kitchen sink (which thawed out uneventfully on Friday) and the sprinkler system at our storage locker where we keep seasonal "stuff" like an artificial Christmas tree did burst but we haven't been able to get in to assess the damage yet. We did put in a lot of time watching AppleTV ,BritBox, and Disney+.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: best to joemikeb
joemikeb #58039 02/21/21 11:37 PM
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Originally Posted by joemikeb
THANKS FOR THE WARM THOUGHTS!

Actually we were very fortunate, We rolled the temp down to 68° turned on the gas log in the fireplace and unlike most people we know our power never even blinked. The only real issues we encountered were a frozen water line to the kitchen sink (which thawed out uneventfully on Friday) and the sprinkler system at our storage locker where we keep seasonal "stuff" like an artificial Christmas tree did burst but we haven't been able to get in to assess the damage yet. We did put in a lot of time watching AppleTV ,BritBox, and Disney+.

Glad everything is OK for you. Spoke with our youngest son yesterday (as I have mentioned, he lives in Frisco, about 30 miles north of Dallas), and all is good. He said they lost power on Tuesday for about 16 hours, then again on Wednesday for about 6 hours. No issues with water, though.

We also know a woman that lives in Dallas, but have not heard from her. I'm going to reach out to her soon.

As for electricity, seems some folks (maybe a lot?) in Texas are getting hit with MASSIVE bills:

https://www.npr.org/sections/live-u...s-residents-now-face-huge-electric-bills

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/21/texas-electric-bill-greg-abbott/

Seems to be "hit and miss". Our son did not mention anything about that. What about you, Joe?

Also, this does not paint a "pleasant" picture of the situation in Texas:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/explainer-power-grid-failed-texas-75957608

Wonder if better preparations will happen?

Last edited by MartyByrde; 02/22/21 12:46 AM.
Re: best to joemikeb
jchuzi #58040 02/22/21 03:48 PM
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Originally Posted by jchuzi
Joemikeb hasn't posted in a few days. He is located in Texas and I want to extend my best wishes and hopes that he and his family are OK. Post back when you can, Joe!
My best wishes can now be added. I've been out of FTM for a few days with an issue (currently being addressed) that wouldn't let me in. My heart also goes out to all those folks who, along with no heat, are without food and water. It's a dreadful situation that should never have been repeated.


ryck

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Re: best to joemikeb
ryck #58042 02/22/21 06:43 PM
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Originally Posted by ryck
Originally Posted by jchuzi
Joemikeb hasn't posted in a few days. He is located in Texas and I want to extend my best wishes and hopes that he and his family are OK. Post back when you can, Joe!
My best wishes can now be added. I've been out of FTM for a few days with an issue (currently being addressed) that wouldn't let me in. My heart also goes out to all those folks who, along with no heat, are without food and water. It's a dreadful situation that should never have been repeated.

Could not agree more! (Fortunately our youngest son and his family experienced just a "little" discomfort). I wonder if the the folks in Texas will do anything about that situation. One would think they would not want to experience a repeat of what happened. As it is, apparently they were seconds or minutes away from a situation that would have resulted in no power for as much as 4 months!

Re: best to joemikeb
MartyByrde #58065 02/24/21 12:02 PM
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Jon

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Re: best to joemikeb
jchuzi #58066 02/24/21 03:40 PM
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Unfortunately they are the ones best qualified for the job, but they will probably be back as "consultants".


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: best to joemikeb
jchuzi #58067 02/24/21 04:15 PM
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Unfortunately, Texans have yet to get a resignation from the one person who should do so - the multi-faced Senator Ted Cruz. Note: I was going to use two-faced but, so far, he has lied with at least three excuses for his Cancun jaunt so I guess we won't have the real number until he stops lying.

Last edited by ryck; 02/24/21 04:16 PM.

ryck

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Re: best to joemikeb
joemikeb #58068 02/24/21 06:23 PM
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Originally Posted by joemikeb
Unfortunately they are the ones best qualified for the job, but they will probably be back as "consultants".

What about the crazy electric bills some Texas residents are getting?

Re: best to joemikeb
MartyByrde #58070 02/24/21 06:55 PM
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Originally Posted by MartyByrde
What about the crazy electric bills some Texas residents are getting?
I've read that those astronomical bills affect only the small (I believe) percentage of Texans who had elected to be billed at a variable rate rather than a fixed rate, so on the one hand, it's really on them for gambling.

On the other hand, though, it seems like while the unusual demand portion of those bills is just plain gamblers' bad luck, any portion of those bills that may have resulted from grid issues shouldn't be their problem.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: best to joemikeb
artie505 #58071 02/24/21 07:52 PM
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Originally Posted by artie505
Originally Posted by MartyByrde
What about the crazy electric bills some Texas residents are getting?
I've read that those astronomical bills affect only the small (I believe) percentage of Texans who had elected to be billed at a variable rate rather than a fixed rate, so on the one hand, it's really on them for gambling.

On the other hand, though, it seems like while the unusual demand portion of those bills is just plain gamblers' bad luck, any portion of those bills that may have resulted from grid issues shouldn't be their problem.

Sounds reasonable. So far, our youngest son has not mentioned any issues with that.

Re: best to joemikeb
MartyByrde #58073 02/25/21 04:12 PM
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The out of sight electric bills are the result of consumers choosing to "save money" by buying power on the wholesale rather than retail market. Because of demand the "spot" price for power went from the normal $1,300 per unit to over $9,000 and homes with electric heat sucked up a huge amount of power at that elevated rate and are faced with quite legitimate bills reportedly as high as $19,000. Those who buy power at retail generally pay a flat rate per KWH will have a higher bill as well because of additional power usage, but more like the normal summer A/C bill when the outside temperatures are in the 105° range. Even those of us with natural gas heat will have higher electric bills than normal due to usage, but probably less than our mid-summer bills. Another discovery we made was our solar panels that normally produce a bit over 30 kWh per day this time of year only managed 0.5 kWh a day when covered with three inches of snow.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: best to joemikeb
joemikeb #58074 02/25/21 06:29 PM
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Originally Posted by joemikeb
The out of sight electric bills are the result of consumers choosing to "save money" by buying power on the wholesale rather than retail market. Because of demand the "spot" price for power went from the normal $1,300 per unit to over $9,000 and homes with electric heat sucked up a huge amount of power at that elevated rate and are faced with quite legitimate bills reportedly as high as $19,000. Those who buy power at retail generally pay a flat rate per KWH will have a higher bill as well because of additional power usage, but more like the normal summer A/C bill when the outside temperatures are in the 105° range. Even those of us with natural gas heat will have higher electric bills than normal due to usage, but probably less than our mid-summer bills. Another discovery we made was our solar panels that normally produce a bit over 30 kWh per day this time of year only managed 0.5 kWh a day when covered with three inches of snow.

So, can we assume that you buy power at the retail market?

Also, that seems to say that the builder of the homes in the community in Frisco that our youngest son lives in either set up such purchasing from the retail market, or that is a buyer's choice at closing. I need to ask him out of curiosity.

Our heating and air conditioning systems run on natural gas, and since it does not get too hot here in the summer (thus do not need to use the air conditioning either everyday or for long periods of time), our combined gas and electric bill is higher in the winter. This year, given that we are staying home more due to the pandemic, energy usage is higher, and thus our utility bill is accordingly somewhat higher than usual. Can't wait to spring arrives, so that I can be outside more and thus use less energy.

Re: best to joemikeb
MartyByrde #58079 02/25/21 11:40 PM
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Originally Posted by MartyByrde
So, can we assume that you buy power at the retail market?
Yes and sell any excess power produced by my solar panels at the same rate.

Originally Posted by MartyByrde
Also, that seems to say that the builder of the homes in the community in Frisco that our youngest son lives in either set up such purchasing from the retail market, or that is a buyer's choice at closing. I need to ask him out of curiosity.
The home owner/purchaser chooses from among the dozens of energy suppliers available in the state and has the option of changing providers at any time. For example I buy my power from a small company in Houston specializing in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. I pay them for energy and pay another firm, Oncor, to deliver the power to my home and pickup the excess power my solar panels produce. Oncor owns all the power lines in our part of the state, but there are any number of energy providers pumping energy into those lines. It was claimed when Texas withdrew from the national energy grids that competition among providers would result in lower prices, but that has never really worked out in practice. That decision that will be looked at very closely after this winter's debacle.

Originally Posted by MartyByrde
Our heating and air conditioning systems run on natural gas, and since it does not get too hot here in the summer (thus do not need to use the air conditioning either everyday or for long periods of time), our combined gas and electric bill is higher in the winter. This year, given that we are staying home more due to the pandemic, energy usage is higher, and thus our utility bill is accordingly somewhat higher than usual. Can't wait to spring arrives, so that I can be outside more and thus use less energy.
In an average year even those who use electric heat or heat pumps in Texas will have significantly higher energy bills in the summer, and thanks to climate change, summers are not getting any cooler. There are systems (geothermal) that can heat and cool well using extremely modest amounts of energy, but they are enormously expensive to install and can be even more costly to maintain so there are few of them around. I know of two of those installations and one is either in Frisco or within spiting distance, the other about a mile from our home in Fort Worth.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: best to joemikeb
joemikeb #58080 02/26/21 12:02 AM
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Yeah, we always heard from our son how hot it is/was in the summer down his way. Reminds me of Las Vegas and Phoenix (plus other parts of both states). I'll take our more moderate climate up here, even with all the (supposedly) days of rain. Plus Texas is just too barren for us. Really like our green, mountain-filled landscape up here. I remember when we left Nebraska (another flat place, and also has brutal weather) in June 1975 and came up here that I had heard this area of the US/world being referred to s "God's Country". That's not a religious statement at all, but for sure, the landscape from Portland, Oregon, through Seattle, and up to Vancouver, British Columbia is definitely awesome!


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