Just went 34 hours without power during a snow storm

[Mackeyser]

If your oven is gas, will it fire up without electricity? If not, I'd be running those burners.

The problem is that when temps get low enough the natural gas pipes can and do freeze. And since the pipes in Texas are not winterproofed like they are in places that get snow and cold even if only once in awhile, many didn't have any gas, either, due to the shut-offs at the gas utility so as not to risk pipes bursting.

having a wood stove or a rocket stove mass heater (sounds fancy, but it's not... it's a SUPER clean way to burn wood and essentially turn an earthen bench into a thermal battery that stores the heat during combustion and then radiates the heat throughout the day) is also a low tech way to go involving substantially lower costs especially if anyone has home DIY skillz.

 

[Mackeyser]

This whole system has been crazy. We've been lucky and not lost power in the area but due to the natural gas wells being frozen in Texas and Oklahoma we've been told we might have a $4000 gas bill next month because the price for rural communities went from $3/therm to $900/therm this past weekend. So were told to reduce thermostats to 60-65 but can't reduce much more cause pipes got to stay thawed. Also had multiple water main breaks so had no water friday or sunday and been on boil order since then. Amazing how widespread this arctic vortex has completely fucked things.

It's like Enron all over again...

I fucking hate it. I truly feel so badly for everyone affected. I saw a TikTok of a woman who had pipes burst in her house and she was hysterical... she had no idea what to do... it was freezing, she clearly understood that most of her stuff was lost and as the water was causing tons of damage, there was no dry warm place to go. She just walked around her house trying to make sense of the several waterfalls in her house. Seems the pipes bursting was pretty common and most folks don't know where their water valve is.

We don't have private fire companies anymore for a reason. $900/therm? a 30 THOUSAND percent increase? That's fine if you're talking stock appreciation from investing early in a tech stock. For a price increase for working and rural folks so that people can not die freezing? That's just nuts.

Also, a lot of reasonable looking people are going to go on to TV like the guy who runs ERCOT and say that these price increases are a sign that "the system is working as intended" (he's already dropped that little 12 already)... Which is fucking stupid. That sort of economic thinking involves rational buyers of a non-essential commodity purchasing among a bevy of equivalent goods with good information and under no duress.

Pretty fucking sure that doesn't describe Texas right now...

Anyway, solidarity with everyone struggling right now. And I hope the asshole energy companies drown in the lawsuits. I hope y'all sue them like you're all Scientologists... like sue the executives personally (that's literally how Scientology became tax-exempt... they just en masse sued the people IN the gov't as well as the gov't) as well as the companies.

 

[Psycho_X]

It's like Enron all over again...

I fucking hate it. I truly feel so badly for everyone affected. I saw a TikTok of a woman who had pipes burst in her house and she was hysterical... she had no idea what to do... it was freezing, she clearly understood that most of her stuff was lost and as the water was causing tons of damage, there was no dry warm place to go. She just walked around her house trying to make sense of the several waterfalls in her house. Seems the pipes bursting was pretty common and most folks don't know where their water valve is.

We don't have private fire companies anymore for a reason. $900/therm? a 30 THOUSAND percent increase? That's fine if you're talking stock appreciation from investing early in a tech stock. For a price increase for working and rural folks so that people can not die freezing? That's just nuts.

Also, a lot of reasonable looking people are going to go on to TV like the guy who runs ERCOT and say that these price increases are a sign that "the system is working as intended" (he's already dropped that little 12 already)... Which is fucking stupid. That sort of economic thinking involves rational buyers of a non-essential commodity purchasing among a bevy of equivalent goods with good information and under no duress.

Pretty fucking sure that doesn't describe Texas right now...

Anyway, solidarity with everyone struggling right now. And I hope the asshole energy companies drown in the lawsuits. I hope y'all sue them like you're all Scientologists... like sue the executives personally (that's literally how Scientology became tax-exempt... they just en masse sued the people IN the gov't as well as the gov't) as well as the companies.

It is easy to get very pissed off about everything that's happened the past 10 or so days. There is no reason this should have been an issue for most people other than profit. Whether profit in the past that led to the failures of the infrastructure in Texas or profits now essentially price gouging people. Watching videos of peoples houses being ice cubes from broken pipes is so sad. Makes me sick thinking about dealing with something like that.

I'm hoping the financial impact of the gas prices is minimal. All rural communities put the alert out to constituents that if each community used up their reserves they'd have to buy on the open market which is where the $900/therm came from. So that allowed whole communities to lower their thermostats down to mid 60s at least to conserve gas. We've been told that it was mostly successful. Mine did have to buy on open market but it was after prices started coming down a bit. They don't know yet what the damage will be and we've been told to expect to have the largest gas bill we've ever had but sounds like the threat of a $10,000 bill was avoided. I saw some horror stories yesterday of people who had their credit cards charged $16k for their gas bill this past weekend because their set up on one of those open market utilities with no reserves. That would make me sick.

 

[Mackeyser]

It is easy to get very pissed off about everything that's happened the past 10 or so days. There is no reason this should have been an issue for most people other than profit. Whether profit in the past that led to the failures of the infrastructure in Texas or profits now essentially price gouging people. Watching videos of peoples houses being ice cubes from broken pipes is so sad. Makes me sick thinking about dealing with something like that.

I'm hoping the financial impact of the gas prices is minimal. All rural communities put the alert out to constituents that if each community used up their reserves they'd have to buy on the open market which is where the $900/therm came from. So that allowed whole communities to lower their thermostats down to mid 60s at least to conserve gas. We've been told that it was mostly successful. Mine did have to buy on open market but it was after prices started coming down a bit. They don't know yet what the damage will be and we've been told to expect to have the largest gas bill we've ever had but sounds like the threat of a $10,000 bill was avoided. I saw some horror stories yesterday of people who had their credit cards charged $16k for their gas bill this past weekend because their set up on one of those open market utilities with no reserves. That would make me sick.

Yeah, I saw that one, too. The number of calls coming in... especially about Griddy, I think it was called... were crazy... LOTS of bills in excess of $6k.

It's insane and should be criminal.

 

[1maGoh]

Yeah, I saw that one, too. The number of calls coming in... especially about Griddy, I think it was called... were crazy... LOTS of bills in excess of $6k.

It's insane and should be criminal.

I read an article where Griddy said they notified all their customers to switch because they weren't going to be a cost effective solution through this. Who knows if they could or not, but at least Griddy tried.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/article249324240.html

 

[CGI_Ram]

60 THOUSAND bridges and dams... red tagged. Barely safe for the moment and likely to collapse.

That feels like a stretch, the “likely to collapse” part.

But your whole post feels spot on to me.

Money is going a lot of places, and missing some pretty damn big things. I can’t really comment more without getting worked up. lol.

If people REALLY understood the magnitude of how badly our infrastructure was crumbling, they'd be in the fetal position.

60 THOUSAND bridges and dams... red tagged. Barely safe for the moment and likely to collapse.

thousands of water systems way past their design date.

Millions of miles of highways past their design date and the overpasses are worse.

Our electrical grid? So, a recent study showed that by simply taking out 9 substations... you know, those things that sit on lots maybe the size of a few houses? Yeah, 9 in specific places across the country...those go out and it would trigger a cascade that would wipe out our entire electrical grid for 18 MONTHS. We've got millions of miles of cable that was never meant to run 24/7/365 or at 100% for long periods of time running at 100% full capacity 24/7/365.

In Texas ERCOT has again and again chosen as an agency around private energy creators to NOT justify upgrading or protecting their grid.

NASA does a lot with a very little including private space contractors because they choose to.

It's ultimately a choice.

It's also beyond coincidence that none of the wealthy neighborhoods lost power. Maybe they didn't think poor people could afford to sue? I dunno, but damn, that's just savage.

 

[Psycho_X]

That feels like a stretch, the “likely to collapse” part.

But your whole post feels spot on to me.

Money is going a lot of places, and missing some pretty damn big things. I can’t really comment more without getting worked up. lol.

Yeah its easy to get worked up about it. This has been a known issue since at least 2007 when that bridge in Minnesota just collapsed for no reason other than deterioration. It's a scary problem that the countries entire infrastructure has. I remember when that happened and everyone was saying how thousands of bridges across the country were in the same condition as that one. Yet, 14 years later and I am not aware of anything serious being done about it.


View: https://youtu.be/CMdv2wRaqo4

 

[Angry Ram]

My electric bill was only a few dollars more than last month. Thankfully.

We'll see on the gas and water bills though.