It was 111 outside today....

[blueamy66]

and I forgot to pay my electric bill....never got a disconnect notice....but they put some thing on my meter that won't let anything run that uses over 30W....so I have lights, cable tv and the fridge, but no fucking AC. I called and paid over the phone, but won't have the thingie removed until tomorrow. Are you kidding me? What if I had kids in my house? It's June in AZ and they cut off my AC? So, I will sweat and lose about 5 lbs. tonight.

What a messed up system. Cut the tv and the lights....keep the AC on...I know, not possible....

[HipChick]

1. Glad they have their priorities straight...we had a few deaths already from the heat

back east..what sods...

[blueamy66]

2. It's damn hot in here, but I will survive.

It's really my own fault, but hell, it's JUNE IN ARIZONA!!!! I've paid this bill on time for years...it was an oversight, and they cut the air. I'd rather have AC and no cable.

[HipChick]

3. It happens...hope u got some fans..

[blueamy66]

4. just ceiling fans....

I'll make it.

Like I said, I'm glad I don't have little ones....

[marzipanni]

7. That you always paid on time isn't recognized by the billing software.

If a Person was doing the billing they might give you a call to find out if you meant to pay. Wouldn't that cost less than having someone drive to your place to attach that gizmo to the meter, then drive back to remove it?
I wonder if they are cutting back expenses by not sending out disconnect notices.

Put cool wash cloths on your pulse points & more cooling tips-
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/health-well-being/stories/...

[blueamy66]

9. Thank you for your kind words,

It's now 3 a.m....and I'm awake....cause it's just too hot too sleep.

[ChoralScholar]

11. Last summer a storm knocked out our power for about 4 days

(broken power poles are what took so long)

I'll bet I took 30 showers in that four days.... it was the only way to stay cool.

[mycatfred]

5. That sucks

We don't have AC here, but the hottest it has got thus far is 98, and we really don't need it. But in AZ. . . Yeah, that really, really stinks. I'm sorry.

[blueamy66]

10. Thanks.

It's my own fault....but come one, it's sooo hot out.

Now I feel for those in the cold country who have their heat cut off in the dead of winter.

Ugh.

[smalll]

6. Don't live where it gets to 111 degrees. Seems pretty simple to me.

Also, don't live where there's a "fire season" (parts of Southern California.) Don't live where there's effin ALLIGATORS in the ponds (Florida.)

There are places on this earth where mankind is not meant to live. You live in one of them. Leave it to the cactuses and the gila monsters.

[blueamy66]

8. thx small

you're quite the human...

Is this DU or a Republican message board?

[Ineeda]

12. and people shouldn't live where there are

earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, floods, drought, ice storms, mud slides...uh huh, right.

[raccoon]

14. Alligator meat is edible, at least the tail. Might make a comeback in these hard times. nt

[Phentex]

15. That was helpful. Needing some attention today?

[Ikonoklast]

24. And you live where, exactly?

Mankind has populated the nether reaches of this planet, except those places utmostly unhospitable to any life.

Arizona has had humans living there nigh on 15,000 years now.



I bet a lot of things 'seem pretty simple' to you.

[raccoon]

13. But at least it's a dry heat. (sorry. ) I feel your pain. Heat really takes it out of me.

Hope you get your ac back pronto...

[Jennicut]

16. My husband works for a gas utility here in CT.

Medical exemptions sometimes get people out from being shut off, and you can claim it once and they don't always investigate it. Don't know about Arizona though.
My husband goes around shutting off gas meters (used to do electric meters) for non payment. The ones outside in CT usually get shut off no questions asked or sometimes not a knock at the door to remind you that you are late. If your meter is inside, there will be someone to knock at your door and ask you to pay. Some people give up and let my husband just shut it off. Yesterday he had a man on disability cry because he hadn't gotten his check yet and had family and grandchildren living in his small apartment. My husband couldn't do it, couldn't shut him off. I don't blame him. Not an easy job to do, especially in the winter. There is a certain cut off point when it gets too cold to shut off, too bad there is not one for too hot. And we don't get as hot as Arizona in Connecticut.

[blueamy66]

17. That's got to be a hard job.

Like I said, I didn't realize it had gotten to the "disconnect" point. But it really is too hot to shut off the AC right now. I would love to call someone, but who? The AG? The newspaper?

We struggle a bit with money.....huge child support payment....but I should have paid the bill.

Now I just have to wait for the elec co to come and take the "governor" off of the meter....hope it's soon!!!

[Jennicut]

18. The AG can sometimes be someone to contact.

Our AG, Blumenthal in CT (the one running for the Senate seat) has sometimes gone after the DPUC (Dept. of Public Utility Control) in CT over pricing issues for the local utilities here. My husband tells me the DPUC sets the rules over what temp Yankee Gas and CT Light and Power must stop shut offs in cold temps. Hot temps in Arizona have to be just as unsafe. Don't know who sets the rules for the utilities in Arizona.

[rurallib]

30. Up til only a few years ago people would get shut off in winter in Iowa

before a law was finally passed to stop that.

[Kali]

19. ouch, you are in the Phx metro area yes?

the corporation commission is a place to complain, but more for policy than an individual issue, I would think.

Still, I would try the squeaky wheel/bitchy customer approach - keep moving up the food chain until you get somebody that can do something. That or a set of bolt cutters. Not sure what the governor looks like but if it is just one of those little wire padlock things they have on the meters...especially if you have paid.

I would find out why you didn't get some kind of warning - that seems unconscionable to me! Has the system gotten so bad that you can't be a month late on utilities now?

[blueamy66]

21. Thx...I will call the Corp Comm

I've called 3 times now....they say the work order is out there and it will 'ABSOLUTELY' be back on today. My fiance should be home w/in the hour and hopefully he'll call w/good news. If not, I'm going to a hotel.

Yes, the bolt cutters would work...it's exactly as you describe.

No warning at all...and yes, I'm just outside of PHX.

[Kali]

23. oh hell you can cut those with a pair of pliers

[LWolf]

20. Hope it's back on soon.

Meanwhile, it's 66 degrees right now in the north west high desert.

[blueamy66]

22. ugh

that hurts to hear ~

[LWolf]

25. I'll send a breeze your way.

[Monique1]

26. Electric bill

I live in Mesa - I feel that heat. I paid my electric bill last month minus .23 cents. SRP sent me a notice saying pay immediately..... They are going to get the .23 when I pay my next bill tomorrow. If they shut off my electricity - I will contact all the TV stations. Electricity is a rip off any way. I looked at my past bills, all bills have the temp that it is outside at that time. What is with that?

A couple of years ago I was in my apartment for only a week. My bill was high than ever.

I think they are bound to give you a disconnect notice.

My thermometer on my patio is reading 120 but the patio faces the west.

[blueamy66]

28. I was about ready to call the tv stations....

It's back on already. The guy was very apologetic.

This will never happen again.

They should have to send a certified letter.

[elocs]

27. You know, when it's that hot you could take off all your clothes and still be miserably hot,

but here in Wisconsin when it is -30 I can dress up warmly and actually be quite comfortable.

Fortunately right now it is a very comfortable 76 degrees on a very nice and sunny summer's day.

[zabet]

29. Here....

the electric company man comes by the morning it is due to be disconnected and asks you if you are going to pay, and if so, to pay by 2pm or the computer will generate the cut-off order. When they disconnect here, it is a total shut off of power....none....nada...zilch left for you.

[RandomThoughts]

31. I was going to post a clip from an episode of angel.

But it is not showing up, someone needs to really take care of some people on the Interenet side of things, they really are messing up information systems.

But anyway, for those that have watched the "a Place Called Home" From the Angel TV show, the AC, in the background when Fred hugs her mother, was one of the first things I noticed, always figured it was a year date reference.

[rurallib]

32. Too bad there isn't a solar powered AC that would run on sun-power

Well there is, but it looks complicated and expensive.
try googling solar powered air conditioners and see if there is anything for you.

[david13]

33. Well, they got you to pay the bill, didn't they? And no food was

spoiled.
But a/c? Humans have lived on this earth for how many years? 100,000? And you think a/c is a necessity of life? No way.
You have become soft, bourgeoise, what next, Ivy League, penny loafers and petroleum stocks?
dc

[Kali]

34. you clearly do not know what the phx valley is like in the summer

yes people are soft and yes people lived there pre-airconditioning, but not many and it wasn't paved over with concrete either, bet it is at least 10 degrees average hotter now than it was pre-paving, nevermind planetary warming in general

even in-shape, hardy people die in the desert fairly regularly, it is a very harsh place.

[Monique1]

35. Phx summers are brutal

I am looking to moving up north. We have many more buildings now in the area - the large buildings retain the heat.