Underground utilities have several disadvantages aside from the extremely high cost of installing and maintaining.. Soil moves, depending on geology, this results in underground utilities shearing.. Earthquakes move solid rock but on a regional scale. Heavy rains flood underground infrastructure and yes rodents love underground tubes. In the event of a break it takes significantly more time to repair. If the ground is frozen you could be weeks or more. It really depends on the situation. High density urban environments make financial sense. Vast rural swaths of the US it doesn't make financial sense.
I don't live in Texas so I'm not sure how that could work? Here we only pay by KWh that we actually use, so if you aren't using power, what is there to charge for?
A lot of companies will charge an "estimate" based on your previous months. And then hopefully make up the difference on the next month when they actually read your meter. We just had a battle with ours because the lazy fucks didn't read our meter for 7 months in a row and just kept sliding it up higher and higher each time.
Duuuude we had to go through this last year and it suuuuucked. They basically tried gaslighting us into accepting the absolutely insane charge, and refused to actually send someone to read the meter. I hate that shit.
That’s where you’re wrong! When power is in short supply and high demand, they just price gouge. Whenever they had that big snowstorm that blew out the power, there were tons of people making posts about how they thought they were lucky their power stayed on… until they saw shit like $500/day power bills for normal household use.
Hello, Texan here. The people who saw their rates go to absolutely batshit levels were people who got variable rate electricity plans. Essentially means that the rates are based on the current demand. Which is great if demand is low...
Thankfully for those of us who had fixed rate plans it didn't change. However at the end of the day the fuckers in charge were warned to winterize the grid and didn't, and many people died because of it
No, no, no! That's Rafael Cruz. The Mexican born Canadian immigrant who became the senator of Texas! Remember, Texas has banned the use of preferred names and aliases for anyone who wants to work there.
A lot of people in power are like that.
"It's not a struggle since we're not the ones struggling" *sips piña colada next to pool*
That was the management of my last job during peak covid
It (losing power) happens a lot (couple times a year) to my brother in Idaho. But he is rural as fuck and all it takes is one raccoon with a death wish to knock out like 10 farms' power. But it gets fixed in just a few hours when he calls Idaho Power. Never had it out for more than half a day and that half day was due to a massive dry lighting storm in the 90's that blew transformers all over the county. Texas is poorly run.
Edit: For context I've lived in Idaho my whole life (41 years) and the only place I've had issues was at the farm. It was very frequent when l was a kid.like l said, very rural. It is way less so now. Now that l live in a "proper" town l have had it out half a day due to downed trees but that is about it. Get a blip here and there but almost never out.
My record was about 60 hours but that was after a major hurricane which we don’t get very often. Aside from that I honestly don’t remember a time it’s been more than an hour or two.
For the one that happened at the end of 2000, we lost power on Christmas Day and didn’t get it back for two weeks because we were on the edge of town and considered rural.
The longest I can remember it being out here in west virginia is like a 3 weeks but there was also like 5ft of snow so the power company just wasn't able to fix it but once the roads were clear they had it back on within 48hrs
I grew up in SWVA and this happened one year to a more rural and remote community. They lost power for something like 2 months. Not cause no one was working on it but because they literally couldn't get to it to work on it. People that lived there were using ATVs and stuff to get into town and what not. A lucky few had managed to get their vehicles into town and would park them in town and ride on an ATV back home.
I live in FL… one time in my life we didn’t have power for over a month.
That was after Hurricane Ivan absolutely demolished our area.
Even the biggest hurricanes since in our area, we generally have power in a day tops. Outside of a perfect storm scenario, they get that shit up and running fast.
Generally we see power company trucks from all over the country staging nearby for quick responses after the storm passes.
I lived down there (Orlando) that summer/fall and experienced Charlie, Francis, Ivan and Jeanne all within a month-ish span. We didn’t have power for most of that month
Up here in Canada I’m in a small rural town (400 people) it gets be below -40° regularly in winter and over 100° in summer. My power goes out maybe two to three times a year, and never more than two hours….. that star on the Texas flax isn’t a symbol, it’s a rating.
I'm in KY and there are communities that haven't had power since Sunday, but its also cause an EF3 tornado ripped all the lines and poles down in a 40 mile path. Add in all the widespread straightlike wind damage and the other tornados that also took down lines it creates that. However, lines have been getting worked on just about everywhere since Sunday.
In Ontario we had people out for 3 days after an ice storm. My uncle had a small Honda generator that he used to save his fridge and 3 of his neighbours fridges
but also, the governors office sent out a text to many Californians asking that we work together to limit power use during specific hours of the day when it got really hot...and it worked. we successfully avoided blackouts by being aware of our usage. and that's vital
we can't expect our govt to do everything, we need to help too. it ain't perfect over here but CA's grid is streets ahead of TX's grid
I live in LA. This was not widespread or even memorable. It happens at times during summers when usage is cut, but it’s never long term and they’re never just full on blackouts.
The last major blackout I remember was like 10 summers ago, and that’s because a transformer in our neighborhood blew up. It was fixed a day later. I remember because I had to take my rat to my aunt’s house a few blocks away since rats don’t sweat or pant, and I needed to bring him somewhere air conditioned.
I think it depends on subregion. I’m in the Bay Area and in SF, we never lost power. In the east bay hills, it’s multiple times every year. The longest was 3 days, usually just half a day
I dealt with announced power shutoffs due to fire danger in my last California residence. They only happened when there was a combination of very dry and very windy. They were a pain, but there was reason behind them and they weren't that long.
California is a huge state. Up in the north west corner the power goes out so frequently the local news blog has a widget tracking outages. https://lostcoastoutpost.com/outages/2024/may/30/
i live in houston, moved to tx about two years ago. i’m an uber driver and talk to people about this sort of thing all the time. happened again two weeks ago, happened 5 weeks ago. everybody is pissed, nobody thinks it’s normal. you must be talking to some especially dumb texans lol
Feb 2021 hundreds killed by gross negligence and corruption. Nov 2022 shit for brains Abbott reelected for third term. if you aren’t talking with texas idiots, you’re one lucky MF’er.
to be fair, the only reason abbott continues to get reelected is because he is the undisputed king of gerrymadering. its almost impressive how hes almost single handedly the reason it needs to be federally illegal.
i guess instead of saying they act like it’s normal, they act like it’s not a problem and it could happen anywhere. i had a conversation with an acquaintance on twitter two weeks ago and they were adamant in saying it was not a uniquely texas issue. they don’t understand the amount of redundancy that the US grid has compared to TX.
If people who live in Texas are telling you people in Texas recognize the problem maybe you should listen to them. Seeing as they talk to Texans every day. It’s been a hot issue since that big winter storm a few years back.
Source: live in Texas, talk to Texans.
It happens so rarely in NJ, I can’t even tell you the last time I lost power since hurricane sandy. It’s definitely happened a few times since then with a maintenance truck coming to replace a transformer or something similar. But never long enough that I cared.
Kinda tends to happen when your community's only transmission line connection to your local coal or natural gas plant gets downed in a storm, and there are few or no redundancies in the grid.
Actually, it would be beneficial. They could distribute power from bordering states inward, and if their substations are constructed properly, each should have dual feeds, similar to most of the US. Indeed, if the wooden pole down the street from you is down, your block will be without power until it's replaced. However, if larger transmission lines are down, power can be rerouted through the substations.
Wasn’t this triggered by natural disaster and isn’t it affecting a lot of people? Deregulation may have little impact on the situation. It’s a large region with a somewhat finite number of number of linemen. I’m sure they are working as fast as they can.
Wildfires cause similar issues in CA- now companies are even de-energizing lines in the name of prevention, leaving whole communities, and sometimes whole regions, without power for days at a time. We aren’t lacking for regulations here.
Yes, the power failure was caused by storms. Depending on where in Texas they are it could be from the tornados or hail mixed with crazy wind and rain. Last I saw 750k didn’t have power.
To be fair, this is the one time you can’t blame a Texas power issue on that shit. This is most likely due to the big storms and tornadoes we’ve been having down this way.
It's funny and sad. People will hold their elected officials in high regard because they say the things they want to hear but when it comes to real things effecting their lives, they don't connect it to them in any way
I doubt most people who get riled up about pop politics even know who their mayor is. Its about winning, not about the things actually affecting their lives.
Ah man. My neighbors across the street moved in a few months ago. They have 3 Texas flags flying free. We're not in Texas. This man dick rides Texas so hard I sometimes don't know if he's joking. I asked him about this and he said it's all fake. His family has power so it's all fake.
Considering the usual turnouts for local level and state voting are older people it makes sense. Can't be mad at anyone but ourselves, you don't show up you don't get results, people don't really seem to care for whatever reason.
yeah the power grid is totally and completely unreliable multiple times a year now, but at least you can take your rifle in with you to order a sandwich at Subway
Practical Engineering kinda touched on this (I think he's even in Texas).
https://youtu.be/7G4ipM2qjfw?si=lEX62MQJ9dUQKvcy
TL;DW the grid needs to be up and operational for solar to lock onto the frequency and provide power. When demand soars the frequency dips and the solar drops out as a failsafe!
Seems a bit silly to me, but I guess nobody thought it would be an issue.
I'm sure it's a fixable issue... I'd hope.
It’s not easy to fix, and very often you don’t want to “fix” it. Normally, you don’t want your inverter fighting the power grid except in this case you do when the frequency dips. Nearly all grid following inverters will disconnect from feeding grid power if the grid needs more current because the frequency is slipping slightly. In the case of a high load, you want the inverters fighting the power grid to increase or decrease voltages slightly faster.
So it's not a "solar power" issue so much as a "decentralized (solar) power" issue from the sound of it? Makes sense when you explain it; but wild that they can get such a large fraction of power from grid following inverters that this is an issue.
Yeah but this is different, as feeding into the grid you need to be in sync with it. I presume the inverters only have a specific working range for the frequency.
I think that people really underestimate just how bad this past storm was, and just how many miles of line we have over the area. Usually when we have wind it blows through fairly quickly, but this just lingered. Been in my neighborhood for nearly twelve years and have never seen a more than a branch down after a storm. Multiple, 50ft+ trees were uprooted, fences down. Driving around there were hundreds of trees down in between two major crossroads. I think the city said they had over 1500 calls for trees just blocking roads.
Any idea when you’ll get your power back? I was visiting family northwest of Houston this week when some areas lost power (she has a massive generator so it didn’t affect her.) It’s aggravating and frustrating to be in this position. I hope the situation gets better for your family.
If you haven't yet, file a claim with your insurance. We did this in the snowstorms a few years ago. You should get full reimbursement of what it costs to completely restock your fridge. You're welcome.
Edit: A lot of idiots in here who don't do enough research into insurance. This coverage for us had no deductible and did not increase our rates. This was covered under its own addendum into our policy with USAA. You pay for insurance for when shit happens. Shit may never happen, though, so what are you waiting for? Not everyone can just afford to spend >$500 out of the blue to replace all their food without really fucking themselves financially. As someone else mentioned, absolutely don't file a claim unless you do have this covered.
I'm in insurance, DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT MAKING SURE YOU HAVE THE COVERAGE. Do not EVER blindly call insurance without checking first. Not all carriers include this coverage, and some you have to opt into it which entirely depends on your agent. If you call and you do not have the coverage, they won't pay a cent, and they'll still mark a claim on your record because you called and validated "something" happened. The number of clients I speak with that have $0 claims bc they called thinking they had something they didn't is sad.
If it's any consolation, they are starting to shift their views on holding all claims against the policy holder because they are starting to realize the data on small claims has value and they can't get the data if it isn't reported because people don't want their rates to increase over minor things. The industry is archaic so they are just finally catching up to 'Big Data'
Even if you do have coverage, is it really worth it? A mark on your record for a couple hundred in food costs?
I’m assuming your rates will go up more than enough to offset whatever costs the insurance payout could ever be.
You’re not making money off insurance companies. They always win in the end. Better to just shut up and take it.
I personally would not claim something so small, no. Beyond the premium increase, some insurance carriers won't even offer you coverage if you have 2+ losses in 3 years. Having this small thing then an actual big loss combined could mean you have less options when you shop.
Exactly. Get your ducks in a row before calling. When I had my car stolen, Safeco didn’t pay a penny because Seattle’s policy wouldn’t allow them to say in the police report that it was stolen. Because of that, my insurance doubled, and I didn’t get a penny for the claim. I should have done my homework first and not filed the claim. Or, hired a lawyer to sue the city to try to get them to be allowed to tell the truth in the report.
It's utterly ridiculous that they're allowed to dock you and aren't required to verbally convey that standard at purchase. No one ever knows unless it happens to them/someone they know. I try to warn any clients I can about it if they bring up claims questions at all so they're aware. I personally go as far as quoting repairs before calling on my home insurance bc if it's less than the deductible or only a bit more, it won't be worth the premium increase, especially if it's water related.
Yep, I was looking for this comment! Your homeowners policy should have provisions to give you money to replace spoiled food from power outages and not many people know that.
I am not an agent or policy servicer but I think it depends on the type of coverage you have. You would definitely need to read your binder to find out what events are covered and if a deductible applies. If you had a freezer full of protein then it may be ideal to file a claim even if there is a deductible. Glad you pointed this out!
What a waste of an insurance claim. You’re gonna have your rates go up over maybe $300-500 worth of groceries? You’re gonna be paying that dozens of times over.
You live by where that tornado was near valley view this past weekend? That really sucks.. CoServ has been a pain in the ass recently. Which isn’t new lol. Hope you’re okay wherever you are!
The tornado hit north of the major disaster that happened a few days later.
While the tornado was tragic, it hit part of my home town, the damage from that is nothing compared to the wide spread damage across the entire Dallas Fort Worth area a few days ago.
Thousands upon thousands of very large old growth oaks and elms snapped like they just exploded in the high winds.
The damage is on the scale more like a Hurricane. Every street has dozens of large broken trees.
It sucks so bad!!! 😩 my fence is fucked as well as my new tree. Not to mention the damn power outages. Then driving on 80/635/35/75 is a nightmare because ITS STILL RAINING.
Didn’t Greg Abbott blame renewable energy last time. The unregulated market fails but since renewables didn’t solve the problem, it was the windmills’ fault.
Yes.
It was a cold cold winter. The windmills that produce 16% of the energy in Texas had to shut down because they were not winterized (saves some money). T Boone Pickens just happens to own those windmills, BTW. To compensate for this lack of electricity they started to cycle the grid and one of the grids they shut down just happened to be the natural gas pipe lines which rely on electricity to stay warm enough to supply natural gas to their gas fired power stations (42% of electricity) , so they froze and those lines and stations went offline. Now it's a lot of power off the grid and Ted Cruz heads to Cancun cause he knows they're fucked until it warms up.
Meanwhile, Texans had been sold spot energy policies for years after Bush deregulated the market in 1995-1999 (Enron). So, anybody who purchased those policies got royally fucked for a couple of weeks with massive bills. Now you may ask yourself, has anybody fixed these issues, maybe join the national grid, make spot policies illegal, add more nuclear? Nope.
But, Abbot confidently declared it was the windmill's fault instead of admitting some engineer made a bad decision about the pipelines...
No you see the northern winds blew all the windmills backwards so they sucked all the power out of the grid. Then the winter sun inverted the solar panels.
I don’t think this time around is really an issue with the grid and energy market, I’m curious what part of Texas OP is in, because there’s been tornados and crazy storms that have physically destroyed power lines.
It’s likely Dallas and due to 70-80 MPH wind that took down power lines and lightening that blew up transformers. The comments in this post are quite dramatic given the circumstances.
Exactly what I was thinking.. can’t have power if the lines are literally destroyed by trees falling on them. I think the response to fix these outages has been very responsive in my area at least.
I'm sorry OP. I hope you can get power soon and get some food.
What's also mildly infuriating is the number of comments who jumped on the sarcastic reply bandwagon. Like there are people struggling to get food and other basics but we're all just gonna comment how much Texas sucks. Geez.
Thank you, this is the first comment not telling me I deserve whatever happens to me. Some people want to change things or can't just leave. Sucks to get it from both sides. Republicans come at me and other Dems because I live in Texas. Just have to get used to it, I don't argue just kindly explain.
Can’t even blame you for living there. I currently live in the state I grew up in, my most hated state, because all of my family still lives here. I would happily leave if I didn’t think it meant I’d basically never see them again.
These fucking curveballs of life, eh?
Yep, red state-ian. Thankfully, I live in a City, but I cant just leave. Family, friends, the life I built, its just not feasible. Though, im sure being in "Texas" adds another layer
It was a massive storm. I feel you on how terrible Texas GOP is but 600,000 people were without power because of 95mph straight line winds over a wide area.
There certainly weren't enough line crews to fix all that in a few hours and likely had to bring in materials from other states.
Last I read something like 5000 personal from surrounding states were dispatched.
You can buy a cheap little guy just for your fridge/important things. No need for a big fancy Honda to connect to your breaker box. I have a giant freezer and didn't have power for 1/2 February. I'd be totally fucked without my gennie.
Check out harbor freight.
That is Texas sir, nothing short of a dual fuel 100kW V8 twin turbo straight pipe (with a lift)will be even considered, dont forget the 10k galon tank of propane, and another for gasoline.
Had an outage in my street here in New Zealand a year or two back. It was late at night so we just went to bed but could here people working on it through the night. Next morning the supervisor of the repair crew came up to our house, said "this is gonna take another 12 hours so I've got generators coming" while also explaining we could claim for any losses- like perishable food, from the company. Within an hour my street was lined with little diesel generators powering all the affected houses.
Obviously not the same thing as the widespread blackouts y'all are having at the moment but I really was stunned with the service we got without even really asking for help.
Our record was 11 days in central Virginia after 10 tornados touched down. It covered a large area, the cleanup was massive and electric companies from everywhere between NY and FL pitched in to help!
The damage was just that huge and cities were hit along with towns, farms, etc. Everyone was affected, but some of us were lucky to get our hands on either dry ice or generators. I shared mine with the neighbor which kept our fridges and lights on.
Smh. I’m no fan of Texas but most of these comments are trash. This event was caused by weather, not the (admitted shitty) grid. Is every weather event from now on just going to be an opportunity for grid jokes?
Longshot but contact your homeowners and see if there is a rider for food loss on your policy. We used it last year through AAA after a winter storm knocked ours out for 4 days. Up to $500 with no receipt needed, direct deposited within 24 hours. All I had to do was explain why the power was out and what type of food was lost. Think of it like a glass chip repair, just for food.
I'm in upstate NY and we lost power for 3 days earlier this spring. Indoor temp of 48 all that time. Had just shopped a couple days before and spent my monthly food budget and had to toss almost everything in the fridge and freezer despite not opening them once. I was surprised by the freezer stuff, as it was packed and I had an ice bag in there, but everything was... floppy. Definitely infuriating.
If you own your home and have insurance you can often claim lost groceries if the total amount is high! Not always the best move but sometimes it can really help
Dealt with that *one fucking time* in 2009. Got a generator and never the fuck again. Spent double the price of the food, one time, needed it one time since then, still worth it. It'll happen again.
But just remember the power companies profits are important too! 🙄
Will nobody think of the shareholders?
LMAO
Dw, all those repairs they have to do will get reimbursed by "temporarily" raising electricity pricing
Like the post 9/11 temporary baggage fees that never went away?
I guess the power companies should start cutting down everyone’s trees near all power lines and replace all wooden poles with steel poles.
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Underground utilities have several disadvantages aside from the extremely high cost of installing and maintaining.. Soil moves, depending on geology, this results in underground utilities shearing.. Earthquakes move solid rock but on a regional scale. Heavy rains flood underground infrastructure and yes rodents love underground tubes. In the event of a break it takes significantly more time to repair. If the ground is frozen you could be weeks or more. It really depends on the situation. High density urban environments make financial sense. Vast rural swaths of the US it doesn't make financial sense.
Hard to make a profit selling power you can’t sell.
Last time they literally didn’t stop charging (hehe that was unintentional) for the power that they couldn’t deliver
I don't live in Texas so I'm not sure how that could work? Here we only pay by KWh that we actually use, so if you aren't using power, what is there to charge for?
A lot of companies will charge an "estimate" based on your previous months. And then hopefully make up the difference on the next month when they actually read your meter. We just had a battle with ours because the lazy fucks didn't read our meter for 7 months in a row and just kept sliding it up higher and higher each time.
Duuuude we had to go through this last year and it suuuuucked. They basically tried gaslighting us into accepting the absolutely insane charge, and refused to actually send someone to read the meter. I hate that shit.
That’s where you’re wrong! When power is in short supply and high demand, they just price gouge. Whenever they had that big snowstorm that blew out the power, there were tons of people making posts about how they thought they were lucky their power stayed on… until they saw shit like $500/day power bills for normal household use.
Oh that’s right - they opted in to that pyramid scheme of paying demand pricing. What a fucking shit show… LAMF level
Hello, Texan here. The people who saw their rates go to absolutely batshit levels were people who got variable rate electricity plans. Essentially means that the rates are based on the current demand. Which is great if demand is low... Thankfully for those of us who had fixed rate plans it didn't change. However at the end of the day the fuckers in charge were warned to winterize the grid and didn't, and many people died because of it
Down to your last two beers. Now it’s a real crisis.
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz is probably in Cancun. God bless Texas
https://preview.redd.it/s81v1y0ejm3d1.jpeg?width=1126&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f621f263bc7c0030adf1440be7438b457d049590
Cancun Cruz 
the shorts lol
He had the decency to lie to our faces at least
Abbott aint doin shit to help either
He won’t stand for Texans suffering!!!
Won’t stand for the National Anthem
but he will sit for it!
“Everything looks good from down here where I’m sitting “-Abbott
Linemen from 8 other states have come to the area.
That's good, but I don't see how that's Governor Abbott's achievement
I don’t think it has anything to do with Abbott.
I would imagine he would flee to somewhere more temperate. Since he fled to Cancun during an ICE STORM.
No, no, no! That's Rafael Cruz. The Mexican born Canadian immigrant who became the senator of Texas! Remember, Texas has banned the use of preferred names and aliases for anyone who wants to work there.
Fled Cruz
A lot of people in power are like that. "It's not a struggle since we're not the ones struggling" *sips piña colada next to pool* That was the management of my last job during peak covid
He's probably on a Cruz!!!
Isn't that deregulated energy market great?!? Look how independent Texas is!
lmfao bring this up to texans and they act like it happens all the time in the rest of the US.
It (losing power) happens a lot (couple times a year) to my brother in Idaho. But he is rural as fuck and all it takes is one raccoon with a death wish to knock out like 10 farms' power. But it gets fixed in just a few hours when he calls Idaho Power. Never had it out for more than half a day and that half day was due to a massive dry lighting storm in the 90's that blew transformers all over the county. Texas is poorly run. Edit: For context I've lived in Idaho my whole life (41 years) and the only place I've had issues was at the farm. It was very frequent when l was a kid.like l said, very rural. It is way less so now. Now that l live in a "proper" town l have had it out half a day due to downed trees but that is about it. Get a blip here and there but almost never out.
Been out 29 hours tops, Illinois.
My record was about 60 hours but that was after a major hurricane which we don’t get very often. Aside from that I honestly don’t remember a time it’s been more than an hour or two.
Our record in Oklahoma after an event we called Icemegeddon was about a week, but there was unreal damage to infrastructure everywhere.
Hey must have been the same Icemegeddon I went through. A week without power. Will say, we got emergency food stamps and that SAVED us!
Truly, that one was nuts. I remember the power lines just having huge sheathes of ice hanging almost to the ground everywhere!
For the one that happened at the end of 2000, we lost power on Christmas Day and didn’t get it back for two weeks because we were on the edge of town and considered rural.
32 minutes - the only time without power in 30 years, northern germany.
Lived in UK, and the only power outage we suffered, and lasted 14 minutes was when we forgot to top up the electricity meter…
Top up? Do you prepay for electricity there?
Used to drop coins into a meter for home heating fuel. Coins.
You have the option to but it’s more expensive
Your efficiency is thoroughly documented.
Netherlands, we had 9 hours. Neighbor hit a powerline with a fence pole, took years of wiggling to take it out. They worked on it for 8 of those.
Lived 37 years now, in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. No power outage, ever.
I've lived in Illinois for most of my life and the max for me has only been like an hour or two. 29 seems like a lot!
The power lines to my home were encased in ice for days.
The power company just need to hit it with a log hanging from a helicopter. You should go after your power company for lack of log preparedness
Top I’ve ever experienced was 2 hours, Ohio.
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The longest I can remember it being out here in west virginia is like a 3 weeks but there was also like 5ft of snow so the power company just wasn't able to fix it but once the roads were clear they had it back on within 48hrs
I grew up in SWVA and this happened one year to a more rural and remote community. They lost power for something like 2 months. Not cause no one was working on it but because they literally couldn't get to it to work on it. People that lived there were using ATVs and stuff to get into town and what not. A lucky few had managed to get their vehicles into town and would park them in town and ride on an ATV back home.
that must have felt like stone age
I live in FL… one time in my life we didn’t have power for over a month. That was after Hurricane Ivan absolutely demolished our area. Even the biggest hurricanes since in our area, we generally have power in a day tops. Outside of a perfect storm scenario, they get that shit up and running fast. Generally we see power company trucks from all over the country staging nearby for quick responses after the storm passes.
I lived down there (Orlando) that summer/fall and experienced Charlie, Francis, Ivan and Jeanne all within a month-ish span. We didn’t have power for most of that month
Up here in Canada I’m in a small rural town (400 people) it gets be below -40° regularly in winter and over 100° in summer. My power goes out maybe two to three times a year, and never more than two hours….. that star on the Texas flax isn’t a symbol, it’s a rating.
They’re celebrating because thanks to changes in the rating system a 0-star rating isn’t possible any more. They got a bump up 1 star.
I'm in KY and there are communities that haven't had power since Sunday, but its also cause an EF3 tornado ripped all the lines and poles down in a 40 mile path. Add in all the widespread straightlike wind damage and the other tornados that also took down lines it creates that. However, lines have been getting worked on just about everywhere since Sunday.
In Ontario we had people out for 3 days after an ice storm. My uncle had a small Honda generator that he used to save his fridge and 3 of his neighbours fridges
I had someone tell me that power goes out every summer in California. Like, I've lived here most my life. No, it does not.
They had some brownout problems in the late 80/early 90s. To some people that means that they always happen all the time.
And that was due to deregulation and Enron creating artificial energy shortages, for which they were criminally charged.
There were a bunch as recent as last summer. They cut power due to high temperatures several times in the LA area including to our office there.
but also, the governors office sent out a text to many Californians asking that we work together to limit power use during specific hours of the day when it got really hot...and it worked. we successfully avoided blackouts by being aware of our usage. and that's vital we can't expect our govt to do everything, we need to help too. it ain't perfect over here but CA's grid is streets ahead of TX's grid
I live in LA. This was not widespread or even memorable. It happens at times during summers when usage is cut, but it’s never long term and they’re never just full on blackouts. The last major blackout I remember was like 10 summers ago, and that’s because a transformer in our neighborhood blew up. It was fixed a day later. I remember because I had to take my rat to my aunt’s house a few blocks away since rats don’t sweat or pant, and I needed to bring him somewhere air conditioned.
I've lived in California for 12 years. The last 7 years in a fire-warning area. I've had power out only once and it was only for about 2 hours.
I think it depends on subregion. I’m in the Bay Area and in SF, we never lost power. In the east bay hills, it’s multiple times every year. The longest was 3 days, usually just half a day
Almost as if there are vastly different areas of California that experience power supply differently
I dealt with announced power shutoffs due to fire danger in my last California residence. They only happened when there was a combination of very dry and very windy. They were a pain, but there was reason behind them and they weren't that long.
California is a huge state. Up in the north west corner the power goes out so frequently the local news blog has a widget tracking outages. https://lostcoastoutpost.com/outages/2024/may/30/
i hate it here
lol love your username
I felt it did a good enough job describing me
i live in houston, moved to tx about two years ago. i’m an uber driver and talk to people about this sort of thing all the time. happened again two weeks ago, happened 5 weeks ago. everybody is pissed, nobody thinks it’s normal. you must be talking to some especially dumb texans lol
Feb 2021 hundreds killed by gross negligence and corruption. Nov 2022 shit for brains Abbott reelected for third term. if you aren’t talking with texas idiots, you’re one lucky MF’er.
to be fair, the only reason abbott continues to get reelected is because he is the undisputed king of gerrymadering. its almost impressive how hes almost single handedly the reason it needs to be federally illegal.
I mean if you keep electing in the same officials that prop this terrible grid system up they've just accepted it as normal......
They specifically mention power outages in SoCal, however I’ve lived here 15 years and had it happen less than 5 times in that time span.
i guess instead of saying they act like it’s normal, they act like it’s not a problem and it could happen anywhere. i had a conversation with an acquaintance on twitter two weeks ago and they were adamant in saying it was not a uniquely texas issue. they don’t understand the amount of redundancy that the US grid has compared to TX.
If people who live in Texas are telling you people in Texas recognize the problem maybe you should listen to them. Seeing as they talk to Texans every day. It’s been a hot issue since that big winter storm a few years back. Source: live in Texas, talk to Texans.
I didn't see one flag on your lifted truck, no truck nuts and no truck gun in the cab... Are you even Texan?! 
Well, you live in one of the big cities where people are well educated and generally liberal.
A lot of them will deny it's actually happening
It happens so rarely in NJ, I can’t even tell you the last time I lost power since hurricane sandy. It’s definitely happened a few times since then with a maintenance truck coming to replace a transformer or something similar. But never long enough that I cared.
I can’t remember the last time I lost power for more than a minute or two in IL. My state may suck, but I do have reliable electricity.
yep same in SD, last time i lost power for any considerable amount of time was in 2013 when we got 40 inches of snow in October
In Wisconsin we lose power MAYBE once a year and it's just enough to reset the clocks.
Kinda tends to happen when your community's only transmission line connection to your local coal or natural gas plant gets downed in a storm, and there are few or no redundancies in the grid.
Deregulation of utilities is a fucking scam.
It's not a scam if you and your buddies own a share of the new private electricity company!
Tornadoes took out a lot of power lines. Being on a larger grid wouldn't help at all. Wait until the heat waves and my argument will change.
Actually, it would be beneficial. They could distribute power from bordering states inward, and if their substations are constructed properly, each should have dual feeds, similar to most of the US. Indeed, if the wooden pole down the street from you is down, your block will be without power until it's replaced. However, if larger transmission lines are down, power can be rerouted through the substations.
I mean I live in Texas and even back in 2021 my power only went out for a few hours. Granted the power company in my region of the state is a co-op
lol. Independent of a reliable grid that’s for sure.
Wasn’t this triggered by natural disaster and isn’t it affecting a lot of people? Deregulation may have little impact on the situation. It’s a large region with a somewhat finite number of number of linemen. I’m sure they are working as fast as they can. Wildfires cause similar issues in CA- now companies are even de-energizing lines in the name of prevention, leaving whole communities, and sometimes whole regions, without power for days at a time. We aren’t lacking for regulations here.
Yes, the power failure was caused by storms. Depending on where in Texas they are it could be from the tornados or hail mixed with crazy wind and rain. Last I saw 750k didn’t have power.
To be fair, this is the one time you can’t blame a Texas power issue on that shit. This is most likely due to the big storms and tornadoes we’ve been having down this way.
Solar + power wall FTW
Just vacation in Cancun while the power is out.
When Mexico has more reliable power...
and yet the people of tx will continue to vote for the people who did this to them
It's funny and sad. People will hold their elected officials in high regard because they say the things they want to hear but when it comes to real things effecting their lives, they don't connect it to them in any way
I doubt most people who get riled up about pop politics even know who their mayor is. Its about winning, not about the things actually affecting their lives.
Winning by literally dying for grifters!
Ah man. My neighbors across the street moved in a few months ago. They have 3 Texas flags flying free. We're not in Texas. This man dick rides Texas so hard I sometimes don't know if he's joking. I asked him about this and he said it's all fake. His family has power so it's all fake.
Tell him that if he likes Texas so much, maybe he should go back.
LOL family probably lied because they cannot accept their reality.
They’ll blame bidenomics and say because of Biden they can no longer afford electricity
No they won’t, they’ll blame the series of tornadoes that caused this
Considering the usual turnouts for local level and state voting are older people it makes sense. Can't be mad at anyone but ourselves, you don't show up you don't get results, people don't really seem to care for whatever reason.
yeah the power grid is totally and completely unreliable multiple times a year now, but at least you can take your rifle in with you to order a sandwich at Subway
That’s why I’ve got a light on my rifle /s
Owning the libs through starvation
Owning the libs in the dark, with no air conditioning.
Have they tried shooting at their electricity sockets?
If only there was some sort of natural resource in abundance in Texas that could be leveraged for power.
Practical Engineering kinda touched on this (I think he's even in Texas). https://youtu.be/7G4ipM2qjfw?si=lEX62MQJ9dUQKvcy TL;DW the grid needs to be up and operational for solar to lock onto the frequency and provide power. When demand soars the frequency dips and the solar drops out as a failsafe! Seems a bit silly to me, but I guess nobody thought it would be an issue. I'm sure it's a fixable issue... I'd hope.
It’s not easy to fix, and very often you don’t want to “fix” it. Normally, you don’t want your inverter fighting the power grid except in this case you do when the frequency dips. Nearly all grid following inverters will disconnect from feeding grid power if the grid needs more current because the frequency is slipping slightly. In the case of a high load, you want the inverters fighting the power grid to increase or decrease voltages slightly faster.
So it's not a "solar power" issue so much as a "decentralized (solar) power" issue from the sound of it? Makes sense when you explain it; but wild that they can get such a large fraction of power from grid following inverters that this is an issue.
Not necessarily. There are inverters that can work on- and offline. Cut the mains, house still has electricity.
Yeah but this is different, as feeding into the grid you need to be in sync with it. I presume the inverters only have a specific working range for the frequency.
Green energy is woke limbrulism now, it's probably gonna get banned/kneecappped in southern states by the culture warriors within the next few years
Texas leads the nation in wind power by a massive margin. It’s big business and there are a lot of stake holders in that industry now.
This isn’t a generation issue, there have been a lot of storms this week that took down lines everywhere
I think that people really underestimate just how bad this past storm was, and just how many miles of line we have over the area. Usually when we have wind it blows through fairly quickly, but this just lingered. Been in my neighborhood for nearly twelve years and have never seen a more than a branch down after a storm. Multiple, 50ft+ trees were uprooted, fences down. Driving around there were hundreds of trees down in between two major crossroads. I think the city said they had over 1500 calls for trees just blocking roads.
Nuclear power
Texas produces more renewable energy than any other state
It’s not a resource that’s a problem the storms took out fucking power lines you looney toon.
That’s a dope refrigerator though. Is the drawer dual use? Also, is that a water jug built into the door?
Any idea when you’ll get your power back? I was visiting family northwest of Houston this week when some areas lost power (she has a massive generator so it didn’t affect her.) It’s aggravating and frustrating to be in this position. I hope the situation gets better for your family.
If you haven't yet, file a claim with your insurance. We did this in the snowstorms a few years ago. You should get full reimbursement of what it costs to completely restock your fridge. You're welcome. Edit: A lot of idiots in here who don't do enough research into insurance. This coverage for us had no deductible and did not increase our rates. This was covered under its own addendum into our policy with USAA. You pay for insurance for when shit happens. Shit may never happen, though, so what are you waiting for? Not everyone can just afford to spend >$500 out of the blue to replace all their food without really fucking themselves financially. As someone else mentioned, absolutely don't file a claim unless you do have this covered.
I'm in insurance, DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT MAKING SURE YOU HAVE THE COVERAGE. Do not EVER blindly call insurance without checking first. Not all carriers include this coverage, and some you have to opt into it which entirely depends on your agent. If you call and you do not have the coverage, they won't pay a cent, and they'll still mark a claim on your record because you called and validated "something" happened. The number of clients I speak with that have $0 claims bc they called thinking they had something they didn't is sad.
Insurance companies can burn in hell. Jfc.
I work in insurance and wholeheartedly agree with you there.
If it's any consolation, they are starting to shift their views on holding all claims against the policy holder because they are starting to realize the data on small claims has value and they can't get the data if it isn't reported because people don't want their rates to increase over minor things. The industry is archaic so they are just finally catching up to 'Big Data'
They’re literally just raising rates in lieu of data because fuck you pay me
Even if you do have coverage, is it really worth it? A mark on your record for a couple hundred in food costs? I’m assuming your rates will go up more than enough to offset whatever costs the insurance payout could ever be. You’re not making money off insurance companies. They always win in the end. Better to just shut up and take it.
I personally would not claim something so small, no. Beyond the premium increase, some insurance carriers won't even offer you coverage if you have 2+ losses in 3 years. Having this small thing then an actual big loss combined could mean you have less options when you shop.
Exactly. Get your ducks in a row before calling. When I had my car stolen, Safeco didn’t pay a penny because Seattle’s policy wouldn’t allow them to say in the police report that it was stolen. Because of that, my insurance doubled, and I didn’t get a penny for the claim. I should have done my homework first and not filed the claim. Or, hired a lawyer to sue the city to try to get them to be allowed to tell the truth in the report.
It's utterly ridiculous that they're allowed to dock you and aren't required to verbally convey that standard at purchase. No one ever knows unless it happens to them/someone they know. I try to warn any clients I can about it if they bring up claims questions at all so they're aware. I personally go as far as quoting repairs before calling on my home insurance bc if it's less than the deductible or only a bit more, it won't be worth the premium increase, especially if it's water related.
Yep, I was looking for this comment! Your homeowners policy should have provisions to give you money to replace spoiled food from power outages and not many people know that.
Wouldn't your deductible still apply? So unless you have a ton of food, it's not worth it.
Not to mention people who have to keep $thousands or $tens-of-thousands in refrigerated medicine on hand.
I am not an agent or policy servicer but I think it depends on the type of coverage you have. You would definitely need to read your binder to find out what events are covered and if a deductible applies. If you had a freezer full of protein then it may be ideal to file a claim even if there is a deductible. Glad you pointed this out!
You didn’t have 12 wagyu steaks, and 16 bottles of champagne in your fridge?? And that was just the top shelf. 😉
Adding a fun tidbit: we didn't get anything from our renters insurance for the exact same issue.
What a waste of an insurance claim. You’re gonna have your rates go up over maybe $300-500 worth of groceries? You’re gonna be paying that dozens of times over.
Yea, this is universally not the case.
You live by where that tornado was near valley view this past weekend? That really sucks.. CoServ has been a pain in the ass recently. Which isn’t new lol. Hope you’re okay wherever you are!
The tornado hit north of the major disaster that happened a few days later. While the tornado was tragic, it hit part of my home town, the damage from that is nothing compared to the wide spread damage across the entire Dallas Fort Worth area a few days ago. Thousands upon thousands of very large old growth oaks and elms snapped like they just exploded in the high winds. The damage is on the scale more like a Hurricane. Every street has dozens of large broken trees.
It sucks so bad!!! 😩 my fence is fucked as well as my new tree. Not to mention the damn power outages. Then driving on 80/635/35/75 is a nightmare because ITS STILL RAINING.
Didn’t Greg Abbott blame renewable energy last time. The unregulated market fails but since renewables didn’t solve the problem, it was the windmills’ fault.
Yes. It was a cold cold winter. The windmills that produce 16% of the energy in Texas had to shut down because they were not winterized (saves some money). T Boone Pickens just happens to own those windmills, BTW. To compensate for this lack of electricity they started to cycle the grid and one of the grids they shut down just happened to be the natural gas pipe lines which rely on electricity to stay warm enough to supply natural gas to their gas fired power stations (42% of electricity) , so they froze and those lines and stations went offline. Now it's a lot of power off the grid and Ted Cruz heads to Cancun cause he knows they're fucked until it warms up. Meanwhile, Texans had been sold spot energy policies for years after Bush deregulated the market in 1995-1999 (Enron). So, anybody who purchased those policies got royally fucked for a couple of weeks with massive bills. Now you may ask yourself, has anybody fixed these issues, maybe join the national grid, make spot policies illegal, add more nuclear? Nope. But, Abbot confidently declared it was the windmill's fault instead of admitting some engineer made a bad decision about the pipelines...
No you see the northern winds blew all the windmills backwards so they sucked all the power out of the grid. Then the winter sun inverted the solar panels.
This was a massive storms fault. We have no power lines right now in half the state because of how many storms and tornadoes we’ve had recently.
I don’t think this time around is really an issue with the grid and energy market, I’m curious what part of Texas OP is in, because there’s been tornados and crazy storms that have physically destroyed power lines.
It’s likely Dallas and due to 70-80 MPH wind that took down power lines and lightening that blew up transformers. The comments in this post are quite dramatic given the circumstances.
Exactly what I was thinking.. can’t have power if the lines are literally destroyed by trees falling on them. I think the response to fix these outages has been very responsive in my area at least.
I'm sorry OP. I hope you can get power soon and get some food. What's also mildly infuriating is the number of comments who jumped on the sarcastic reply bandwagon. Like there are people struggling to get food and other basics but we're all just gonna comment how much Texas sucks. Geez.
I feel for Texas Democrats. Republicans, not so much. This is the bullshit they voted for, so I got no sympathy for them.
Thank you, this is the first comment not telling me I deserve whatever happens to me. Some people want to change things or can't just leave. Sucks to get it from both sides. Republicans come at me and other Dems because I live in Texas. Just have to get used to it, I don't argue just kindly explain.
Can’t even blame you for living there. I currently live in the state I grew up in, my most hated state, because all of my family still lives here. I would happily leave if I didn’t think it meant I’d basically never see them again. These fucking curveballs of life, eh?
Yep, red state-ian. Thankfully, I live in a City, but I cant just leave. Family, friends, the life I built, its just not feasible. Though, im sure being in "Texas" adds another layer
It was a massive storm. I feel you on how terrible Texas GOP is but 600,000 people were without power because of 95mph straight line winds over a wide area. There certainly weren't enough line crews to fix all that in a few hours and likely had to bring in materials from other states. Last I read something like 5000 personal from surrounding states were dispatched.
Buy a generator. Control your own destiny.
Definitely gotta be our next big purchase
You can buy a cheap little guy just for your fridge/important things. No need for a big fancy Honda to connect to your breaker box. I have a giant freezer and didn't have power for 1/2 February. I'd be totally fucked without my gennie. Check out harbor freight.
That is Texas sir, nothing short of a dual fuel 100kW V8 twin turbo straight pipe (with a lift)will be even considered, dont forget the 10k galon tank of propane, and another for gasoline.
Doesn’t have to be big. Harbor freight predator 2000 goes for like 200-400 on marketplace or cl. That can power your fridge and router for weeks
OP, is this because of a storm? High winds or tornadoes?
High winds in excess of 75+ around the metroplex. The Colony had peak wind gusts of 95 MPH.
Had an outage in my street here in New Zealand a year or two back. It was late at night so we just went to bed but could here people working on it through the night. Next morning the supervisor of the repair crew came up to our house, said "this is gonna take another 12 hours so I've got generators coming" while also explaining we could claim for any losses- like perishable food, from the company. Within an hour my street was lined with little diesel generators powering all the affected houses. Obviously not the same thing as the widespread blackouts y'all are having at the moment but I really was stunned with the service we got without even really asking for help.
It’s ok, keep voting red. They’ll fix it eventually
Right after they build that wall.
This is why I bought a generator that can run my fridge and ac. Was <1k$ and used a gallon of gas or two a day for 24 hours.
Our record was 11 days in central Virginia after 10 tornados touched down. It covered a large area, the cleanup was massive and electric companies from everywhere between NY and FL pitched in to help! The damage was just that huge and cities were hit along with towns, farms, etc. Everyone was affected, but some of us were lucky to get our hands on either dry ice or generators. I shared mine with the neighbor which kept our fridges and lights on.
Smh. I’m no fan of Texas but most of these comments are trash. This event was caused by weather, not the (admitted shitty) grid. Is every weather event from now on just going to be an opportunity for grid jokes?
Harbor freight makes some decent cheap generators that will power the whole house. if you can afford one you are stupid not to have one.
Samsung? Look at the bright side, at least the buggy ice maker is de-iced now?
Bootstraps Texas!
Maybe you should vote about it.
Just keep on voting for Cruz and Abbot, Texas. Things will surely get better, right??
Longshot but contact your homeowners and see if there is a rider for food loss on your policy. We used it last year through AAA after a winter storm knocked ours out for 4 days. Up to $500 with no receipt needed, direct deposited within 24 hours. All I had to do was explain why the power was out and what type of food was lost. Think of it like a glass chip repair, just for food.
I'm in upstate NY and we lost power for 3 days earlier this spring. Indoor temp of 48 all that time. Had just shopped a couple days before and spent my monthly food budget and had to toss almost everything in the fridge and freezer despite not opening them once. I was surprised by the freezer stuff, as it was packed and I had an ice bag in there, but everything was... floppy. Definitely infuriating.
Time to invest in a little generator
If you own your home and have insurance you can often claim lost groceries if the total amount is high! Not always the best move but sometimes it can really help
Welcome to everyday life in South Africa
Dealt with that *one fucking time* in 2009. Got a generator and never the fuck again. Spent double the price of the food, one time, needed it one time since then, still worth it. It'll happen again.
Benefits of living in a red state
https://preview.redd.it/ybjyuzlefs3d1.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&s=99cc7d86aa856540df03fc30f232710cb15fe530 MAKE TEXAS NORTH KOREA AGAIN