Power outage – Day 2

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Posted by Annie in Twain Harte News on November 22, 2010

There is absolutely nothing quite as beautiful as freshly fallen snow. I think winter is natures way of saying, slow down — you might not be able to stop and smell the roses but certainly we can all take time out for a snowball fight.

It’s almost 7 a.m. and the snowplows have not made it down Fuller Road yet, which is unusual. Normally, when crews are late plowing the main drag in Twain Harte, it’s because snowplows are busy clearing streets in Sonora.  If you live in Twain Harte, stay home if you can or go into work late today. Better safe, than sorry.

PG&E crews had restored electric power late last evening, only to have it flicker a couple of times and remain out until around 2 a.m., when the power was restored briefly, only to go out again. The power remains off at this time. Calls to PG&E offered no details, other than they were experiencing widespread outages. Duh! I figured that one out all by myself.

We are assured that crews are working to restore power as quickly as possible. Let’s just say, I’m thankful I do not work for PG&E today — employees will all be working overtime I suspect. In the meantime, the generate is keeping us toasty and warm.

If you can stay home today — do so. Road crews will be able to clear the roads much faster if motorists aren’t on the roads slowing down the road crews.

I’ll be updating this page as new details become available and as I am able due to the power outage.

If you are looking for snow, Dodge Ridge has it and plenty of it. Opening day is November 24th — my birthday.

With 44+ inches of new snowfall and another 2 feet expected for Monday and Tuesday, Dodge Ridge will have a partial opening on Wed, Nov 24 with chairs 1,2,3,4,5 & 6 running and 40% of terrain open, with all services including food & beverage, lessons, rentals and the sport shop operating. On Thanksgiving Day, Thurs. Nov 25, we anticipate that all chairlifts will be running & 80% of terrain open. There’s still time to puchase Season passes on sale.

Have a safe Thanksgiving holiday.

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More Snow Hits Motherlode

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Posted by Annie in Outdoors, Twain Harte News on January 23, 2010

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.)

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PG&E ‘Smart’ Meter Comes to Twain Harte

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Posted by Annie in Twain Harte News on July 31, 2009

As I sit here to write, I am still shaking and mad as a wet hornet. We were just accosted by PG&E. I feel violated and I’m angry, very angry about it.

Here I am lying in bed, fast asleep when I’m awakened by a huge boom noise coming from outside the room I’m sleeping in. I bolt upright in bed, throw on my shoes and run out the door, only to find a man standing near my electric meter and the old meter is laying on the ground.

Devvy fights Smart Meters – Devvy Kidd — My statement to the Texas Public Utility Commission

I had planned to call PG&E and protest their new so-called “Smart Meter.” They sure didn’t waste anytime, we only got notification they were changing our meter out two-days ago.

The problem is they didn’t call, they didn’t make an appointment or anything. The man I found outside my house said, “I knocked on the door and no one answered.”  Well duh, we were sleeping.

The hubby and I both work from home, we were up late last night working on some new projects and this is the worst part, my husband was doing a critical data migration on a clients system. We still don’t know if any data was lost. We initially thought we had lost our router during the abrupt power loss.

After giving their technician a piece of my mind and scolding him for things he has no control over, I came back in the house to call and complain to PG&E. I’ve been sitting on hold now for over 30-minutes and my patience is failing.

I haven’t had the pleasure (dripping with sarcasm) of calling PG&E in ages. I dial their 800 number, only to hear something in chinese, then mandarin, then English. It wasn’t a short something, it was a very long message. I feel like I’ve moved to hell or communist China.

PG&E isn’t helping matters by repeatedly thanking me for my call and making promises that someone will be with me shortly. Of course they give me no indication if shortly is measured in hours, days or weeks.

As I am sitting here I searched google for “PG&E Smart Meter Complaints,” I shouldn’t have been surprised but honestly I am.

My husband and I figured the new “Smart Meter” would not only allow them to read our meter, without having to send out meter readers, but we surmised that they didn’t get the kind of response they were looking for, when they offered people $25 to allow PG&E to monitor their usage and shut them down during times of increased power usage.

Now I’m reading that everyone is complaining of higher electric bills, after their “Smart Meter” is installed. I’ve been very happy with our electric bill for the past several years. We have worked hard to keep our bill down. We’ve taken steps to conserve energy, like turning off lights when they aren’t in use; we disabled our electric base board heaters — over four years ago. We’ve also replaced most of our appliances with Energy Star Compliant ones. This might all be for nothing.

In the past five years we’ve seen our water bill almost double but our electric bill has stayed pretty steady. Now, I’m terrified our bill is going to drastically increase.

I’ll update this if I ever manage to get a “customer service” representative on the phone. I won’t hold my breath.

 According to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), these new services include the ability to turn on and off electricity remotely, instantaneous notification of power outages, and deployment of variable billing rates based on supply and demand of power. [Read higher cost!]

Michael Peevey, head of the state regulatory commission, said, “Without these meters, we will limit the ability of people to truly change their consumption habits.  However, it doesn’t stop at the meters.  Once the customer is informed, we must ensure that there is sufficient incentive to get the customer to take action.”

In the meantime, check out the following links. 

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