Circuits dont always lock-out

[reppy007]

Im not going to comment on this one,but it could have been avoided like most accidents ....Did I just comment? http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/vi...rline.wgn.html

[lewy]

If Com ed said it was safe and there was nothing they could have done to turn it off, which we all know is wrong, then I think they are going to get their asses sued big time because if what is being reported is true they are in big trouble.

[Orgnizdlbr]

If Com ed said it was safe and there was nothing they could have done to turn it off, which we all know is wrong, then I think they are going to get their asses sued big time because if what is being reported is true they are in big trouble.

What rocket scientist at Com Ed advised nothing could be done, and was clear to approach the area?????

The industry has gone to sh!t since dereg, and it's gonna get worse.......

[bluestreak]

As stated previously since deregulation the industry has gone to hell, when you have a Co. that has been in business for over a hundred years that changes management every three or four years trying to find the right way to do things there is something wrong. The management seems to be trying to ouwalmart Walmart. First thing they cut is maintanance then workers, They spend more for legal departments to defend themselves from lawsuits than to fix the original problem because the new wonder managers have spreadsheets showing how to squeeze the most out of consumers while delivering the least in services. Less than 20 years ago the CEO was paid $400,000,last year 12 million. Has the average person's pay gone up times thirty I don't think so. This isn't just a rant on executive salaries, but if they are paying that kind of money you know that the money that used to be spent on engineering and maintenance of breakers and other electronic safety equipment just isn't there and the consumers and the workers are put at risk to what end, to put a couple of dollars in some guys pocket who is just in town to boost his 401 k.

[T-Man]

This is awful and embarrassing to let happen. I can understand the cops and maybe the FD saying something stupid about a power line/utility equipment, but the Power company at the very least has customers calling into say their power is out, or a wire is down and on every wire down be it a power line, telephone, cable etc. someone should be dispatched to check and confirm what exactly is down. It could be a tree vine, but never the less, someone, a bird dog, engineer or Trouble depending on the size of the storm outage should be sent to see what is needed to make safe and restore the issue.

Sitting in an office and shooting trouble, saying all is clear is just plain foolishness. What a terrible unneeded accident. It's as simple as the saying "nothing is de-energized unless it's grounded" Customers are not trained to recognize the dangers.

This is sad

[reppy007]

I could be wrong ,now at the time this all happened I assume there were more circuits out...which would help explain why it took 4 hours to get utility people out there.And with the way companies are now they might of only had one guy on this circuit,who knows.I cant remember taking that long on a circuit,but I could be wrong on that.Its a bad ,sad situation.....you raise a kid for 21 years,and because of mistakes,its all gone....No Second Chance.

[bobbo]

Some dude from a power company saw a work sheet . During a storm it took these guys there 16 hours or whatever to get the structure, very inaccessible right of way. They didn't get the wire up. No one followed up. And the circuit had to go to normal. No one checked on the structures, they closed in, and a 400 acre bird sanctuary burned for a couple days.

That 3 day blackout in the Northeast in 2003 was a down tree branch on a sub entrance circuit in a little town in Ohio. Took out the whole Northeast.

i think they need to get some retirees out to manage this stuff. Do it the old way instead of relying on the computer.

fuse coordination is all fouled up. Because if you have a property that hasn't recovered since 20 storms ago. Guys coming in are going to grab a fuse that holds , most of the time you don't know the voltages your working with and they are unfamiliar . The utility gives no fusing information and issues no fuses . So the equipment to the sub might not even work because they never get their system normalized. After the wire is up, outages are gone, the work ends. But the system doesn't get normalized and it will get worse with more and more storms. OCRs and sectionalizers won't work as designed.

[trigger]

Blue Streak, thought you are East Coast sounds like you are here in the SW. Sounds like the same rape case.

[bluestreak]

Same disease they've ruined a lot of manufacturing in this country now their working on the utilities and the politicians are lined up to take their cash in return for a blind eye to the mess that's created then when the lights go out they look for scapegoats when they know **** well who's responsible.

[bobbo]

If you ever listen to these guys, manager types from the power company, they will talk politics and reveal that republican hard line. Then at the other end they beg for that FEMA money and they know how to get the most out of the government.

I am not politicky but I hate hypocrisy. If you need federal money and ask for handouts all the time. And you have the biggest lobbying groups begging for money all the time. What's the difference between a utility and a young girl pregnant on welfare.

i know the pole hasn't been replaced behind my grandmothers house since 1942. For 72 years the neighbors and her probably paid 1800 dollars a month for service. Where did that money go? The utility layed off most of its lineman. The structures haven't been replaced or upgraded. All the service centers are closed. The utility has been bought and sold four times since deregulation. Bills are up comparatively.

The he large manufacturing companies are buying blocks of power on open markets. But a homeowner can't. I don't get this deregulation.

heard on NPR that we are over 1.2 trillion dollars in infrastructure deficit mostly due to our grid. Where did the money go to maintain and build it for the last fifty years. And why do utilities cry poor all the time?

If this keeps up we are going to have to Nationalize the grid like Canada and Europe. There is no way we can compete if we don't have a reliable system. The co ops and municipals have better reliability. In twenty years there are more and more generators out there. And I know my own home has had more outages in the last ten years than we had in the previous 40. Someone is not doing their job somewhere either the government or power companies or both! I don't know enough to pinpoint what it is, all I can do is do my job and hope for a better future for my kids. But it doesn't look promising.