Twain Harte TimesTwain Harte Information & Photo Gallery

Sugar Pine, California -- Snowfall

Most of Twain Harte has been without power since yesterday. 

According to PG&E recorded messages, they have had equipment damage that they are working to repair. PG&E is currently estimating power restoration sometime after 3:00 p.m., January 26th. 

Fortunately, folks in Sugar Pine currently have power, although residents have experienced numerous power outages over the past several days. 

We left our house this afternoon and for a nice change we headed up to Sugar Pine for a wonderfully HOT shower, some warm food and to pick up an electrical generator. When we left our house it was a chilly 49° — inside the house. 

Sugar Pine Ridge

It got down to a brisk 28° outside last night. Today it’s beautiful, the sun is shining, the snow has stopped falling — at least for now. We are expecting more snow, down to around 3500 feet tonight. Another storm has been predicted to roll through Sunday evening. 

If you are planning a trip up highway 108 into our winter wonderland, expect to chain up. Tire chains or snowtires are required past Twain Harte. A check point has been established just east of Twain Harte, where installers are present and for $30, they will chain up your vehicle for you. 

We drove up highway 108, as far as Sugar Pine, the highway is clear of snow but wet, it’s currently 35°, so ice isn’t much of an issue at this time. I’ll be posting regular updates, as often as I can — depending of course on the availability of power. 

Stay warm!

(Scroll down for updates.)

Ok, you’ve got me! It’s not actually raining cats and dogs, but last night it sure sounded like it. We had so much hail come down, so fast and so heavy, that the ground was covered.

We got hammered hard last night. The hail was still blanketing the ground this morning. It looked like it had snowed here. We had about half an inch of hail covering our deck this morning. They were good size hail balls too.

Today, it snowed hard for a couple of hours but nothing stuck. The snow stopped but the rain has continued to fall at regular intervals. I expect we’ll get some snow accumulation tonight but it won’t be that big of a deal. (Let’s see if I’m right.) 

No, I’m not a weather man, I’m not married to one and I don’t play one on television. We’ve just lived here in Twain Harte long enough that you get a feel for the weather this time of year.

The hubby says they are predicting a foot of snow fall tonight, with accumulations of up to 3 feet of snow at 5,000 feet. It could happen I suppose.

While, I’ve read that some Motherlode residents have lost power during the storm last night, fortunately, we haven’t experienced any outages at this time. We can normally expect to lose our electric power at least twice during the winter season. My Motherlode reports… 

PG&E Spokesperson Nicole Liebelt says crews have restored a majority of the 4,400 customers that went without power this morning in the Angels Camp, Murphys and Glencoe areas.

Meanwhile, 150 customers in the Jamestown/Rawhide Road area are in the dark due to a downed power line and full restoration is not expected until approximately 6:30pm.

If you are planning to make the drive to Twain Harte, drive safely, there have been quite a few weather-related accidents. So, slow down, take your time. Remember to carry chains — just in case we do get snow that decides to hang around.

I spent over an hour on hold waiting for someone — anyone – to answer the phone at PG&E. After the customer service representative patiently listened to me strongly complain, he basically said, “We don’t care. Deal with it,” and passed me off on someone else.

I was informed that my call was recorded but that until I sent a written complaint my words were falling on deaf ears; Nobody was going to hear my complaint, save the flunky answering the phone, who was very polite if completely ineffective.

In the meantime, I’ve been reading up on these so-called “Smart Meters.” They are smart alright, they are going to make PG&E untold billions of dollars off consumers, because while they taunt the savings and controls consumers will have — notice the future tense.

The immediate payoff will be for PG&E, these new Smart Meters will allow them to accurately measure our usage and charge accordingly.  Currently, our bill is measured in ”tiers,” which basically means, once I reach a certain point of usage, I start paying more.

With the new Smart Meters, the “tiers” will be based on the clock and the season. Those who use more electricity during “peak hours,” will be charged more. No wonder people are complaining about their bills going up.

Since we don’t have air conditioning and I do all my laundry in the middle of the night, I’m thinking our bill won’t go up too much, but I’m certain everyone’s bill will go up with these new meters installed. Why else would PG&E invest in so many, so quickly? They haven’t even been properly tested.

The best website I found that explains the way it works in Ontario was created by Northern Ontario Wires. They offer a great deal of helpful consumer information. This is what they have to say about California’s new technology:

Other jurisdictions such as California are actively pursuing the same technology. On July 20, 2006, California’s energy regulators approved a program to roll out of conventional meters retrofit with communications co-processor electronics to 9 million gas and electric household customers in the Northern California territory of PG&E.

These meters report electricity consumption on an hourly basis. This enables PG&E to set pricing that varies by season and time of the day, rewarding customers who shift energy use to off-peak periods.

The peak pricing program will start out on a voluntary basis, and the full rollout is expected to take five years.. The smart grid also allows PG&E to give customers timing and pricing options for upload to the grid.

Learn more about Smart Meters

• PG&E customer questions intelligence of new smart meters
• PG&E replacing meters with SmartMeters
• Smart Meters
• Smart meters cracking into U.S. homes
• The Smart Meter News Network