- Thread starter Dolores
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Why the blackouts; power service improves over the weekend
What morons fire every engineer who has knowledge of the power plant? It is insanity.
But I am reaching my limit on DR too.
Yes there are tradeoffs but so much time gets spent here on things like power issues or water outages or getting a car properly repaired.
Sure it's cheaper but it is becoming less so daily and once you reach an age of retirement you want to relax and simplify.
Poor medical facilities, ridiculously dangerous traffic and higher food prices way on your mind.
Crime? I don't think it's as bad as the US is in many places.
But if the infrastructure keeps collapsing it may be many people look for their next paradise elsewhere.
I might be one looking soon.
We got water today after 5 (almost 6)weeks without.
Finally I did laundry
But I am reaching my limit on DR too.
Yes there are tradeoffs but so much time gets spent here on things like power issues or water outages or getting a car properly repaired.
Sure it's cheaper but it is becoming less so daily and once you reach an age of retirement you want to relax and simplify.
Poor medical facilities, ridiculously dangerous traffic and higher food prices way on your mind.
Crime? I don't think it's as bad as the US is in many places.
But if the infrastructure keeps collapsing it may be many people look for their next paradise elsewhere.
I might be one looking soon.
We got water today after 5 (almost 6)weeks without.
Finally I did laundry
Thanks. We have been taking and implementing everyone's tips. We literally have everything unplugged when not in use and we have even turned off the water pump for the past few months but we are still having increases in the area (I have spoken to a few neighbors too and they have the same issue. What amazes me is that my bill this month is more than last month and we have had outages daily for a minimum of 4 hours up to 8 hours. Also, somehow while I was out all day on Saturday I seemed to have almost my highest power usage day of the week which amazes me since only the dogs were home and I am quite sure they weren't on a power-eating frenzy.
Our electrician, who used to work for EdeSur told us that the company does not actually bill on actual usage but on the area and size of houses. It is a common practice. I get a report emailed to me weekly now as they claim I had a smart meter installed however it is the same meter that has been on this house for many years and the same meter which needed wiring replaced a few months ago because it was damaged. If we were not going to move this year, I would likely cut off EdeSur altogether and go solar. In the long run, it is better for my pocket and the environment.
This comment makes all the difference.
This is common practice in my home country Sweden.
When you make the contract, you estimate how much you are going to use during the entire year, and then pay that /12 every month. So if you estimate you are going to use 3000 kWh, you would pay for 250 kwh each month. The price can vary depending on the current price, but you always pay for the same amount of electricity. And then when 1 year has passed a technician comes to your house/apartment (or maybe they do it remotely now, who knows, I've not lived there in 10 years) and checks your meter. And if you have used more than the estimate, they will then charge you for the additional wattage on your following invoice, and if you've consumed less, then they'll give you a refund.
However, here, what I've seen in areas where the electrical company doesn't want to place a meter, or if you're new and they have to put up a new meter and they don't have it (it happened to me the first month when I moved to my current apartment, there was no meter and they didn't have any in stock) they instead just charge you an estimate depending on the number of electrical things you have. So for example, in my case, I told them the things that I had, an AC, computer, tv, etc. So then they used an estimate of what the "normal" usage would be with those appliances, which sometimes can be much higher than what you actually use.
So that might be happening in your case, they think you are using sooo much electricity because you've either declared the appliances you have or just assume that you have a lot of things depending on the size of your home. But that would then be noticeable on your bills. And the price for each kWh has also increased lately, so that's not strange. Just compared to last year I pay around 25-30% more than last year, so there's definitely a price increase.
If it wasn't for Sweden's STUPID migration laws I would have left several years ago. Not because I cannot move, but I have a Dominican wife and because of the previous migration law (and also somewhat the current one) makes the migration process a bit difficult.
But I've been tired of this country for years now, especially since the start of the pandemic.
And also a friend of mine who came here like 6 years ago, bought an apartment nearby, and during the pandemic traveled to Europe and got "stuck"(not because he didn't want to, but because he liked it) in Spain and spent several months there is now also going to leave and move to Spain with his family. For one thing, it's cheaper there.
So yeah, as soon as my wife's residency papers come through, I'm out of here...
Interesting. I know of several people, usually annual snowbirds, who stayed here during the height of Covid, because of difficulties returning to their country and because of being quickly able to return to a "normal" life. At least one has decided never to return "home" because he found living here full-time much better.
But we digress. I would actually say that the supply has been better on the North Coast in the last few days, after weeks of terrible, unreliable supply.
I just took part of your post, just wanted to comment that indeed, I'm talking from the view point of someone is responsible for 4 persons + one dogs well-being and the ONLY thing that is cheaper here than in Europe is housing (so pure purchase price or rent, I'm not talking about any utilities)... NOTHING else... Electricity and gasoline used to be more or less, that's not the case anymore....
As pointed out by Bob Saunders in the other thread (or was it this one, not sure), indeed if you live in the campo or can access it quickly, you get high-quality and cheap ingredients there... We also do that but due to time restrictions, not on a daily basis unfortunately... I would trade off any supermarket product for a fresh procude from campo... My wife always stocks up on coconut things when we visit our (her sister's husband's) campo...
Being from a neighboring country compared to yours, just out of curiosity, please elaborate what you mean? I'm asking as when we applied a residency for my wife (married since many years), the answer (obviously a positive one) has never taken more than 2-4 business days... I say "never taken", as we've had to apply for that twice, as we stayed too long in the DR and she unfortunately lost her residency... Completely our fault...
If you are married and have your papers right, as far as I know, Sweden being in Schengen, you have every right to bring your family member to your country... Of course, different countries but still within Schengen...
We had a sudden increase in elect bills for a couple of months to 16,000 a month. We checked with an amp meter everything we used in the house. The pool was using too much so we replaced the lines ,we checked how many amps every appliance and found the water heater used way too much so now we only put it on once a day. Now its back to 3000 a month
After they were fired, the power has stayed on since then. So I would call them "good" morons in this case.
Of course power will probably go off in 30 seconds.
Power outages are as common here as motos running red lights and taxis passing on the right shoulder
Wire a timer to your water heater. It only needs about 20-30 minutes to get hot so set the timer at 25 minutes and forget about turning it off. 11 dollars on Amazon
Well, that's not how it works. It's easier for me to take my wife with me and live in any OTHER country than my home country. So let me explain. As the EU and Schengen countries have made agreements that their citizens should be able to move and live within the Schengen zone if I from Sweden want to move from Sweden to let's say Spain. Spanish migration should not stop that, but I have the freedom to do so, including my family, even if they are not EU citizens.
However, that does not apply when you move to your own country. So it's easier for me to move to Spain, Denmark, or any other EU/Schengen country and my wife would get residency right away. But if I want to move back to the country that I'm a citizen in(in this case Sweden) with my non-EU family member, then it's Swedish migration rules that have to be applied. So that means that my wife is treated like any other immigrant moving to Sweden.
And to bring your family member to Sweden is not a "complicated" process per see, but it takes time. The queue at the moment is around 16 months.
It's not possible to live in Sweden while the process is undergoing, but you have to be living outside of Sweden for that.
Before a recent change, I as the Swedish citizen, would have had to have "duty of care", which means that before my wife could even apply, I needed to show Swedish migration, that I had a sufficient salary to support me and my wife (and our 2 kids) and also an apartment big enough where we could live.
Which in practice meant that I would have had to go back to Sweden, on my own, and try to get a well-paying job (although I'm currently earning enough to support us here, the salary that I have would not be enough per Swedish standards) and an apartment, then my wife could apply for residency and then wait up to 16 months.
So in practice, I would have had to be away from my family for probably at least 1.5-2 years. And that was not something that I wanted for my family.
Now, at least they have removed that last requirement, however, the queue is still as long or even longer than before (because now a lot of Ukrainians needs to be taken cared of as well).
Thank you very much for clarifying, and I fully agree, that is complicated and demanding.... I hope you and your family are able to resolve this quickly
Here's an increase for you.
My consumption has always been on the low side.
Understanding the rates were going to go up, I took steps to decrease my consumption as much as possible.
Things like washing every two weeks instead of weekly, turning off stuff with LED indicators I don't use, using the hot water heater even less than I do now, and cooking on the gas stove instead of using the microwave. All things to significantly lower my bill.
It's pretty hard for me to reduce consumption because I consume so little.
I was sure I could counteract the increase cost per Kwh by conserving.
So, what did it get me? Check out my consumption for May, the first full month of cutting corners:
From 192 to 262, a 73% increase in consumption, on top of the price increase. In the four years I've lived in San Cristobal, I have never come close to consuming 200 kWa in a month.
That got me a more than 100% increase in my electric bill. (I used to pay 700-800 a month.
Crazy.
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My point exactly. It's a double whammy. Increased consumption and increased tariff.
It's not enough to complain about, but it's still aggravating.
The first thing that comes to mind is this: They have the technology to read meters digitally; can meters be adjusted to show more consumption?
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They have been reading my meter remotely for years. As far as changing the meter itself, as in reprogramming it remotely. to read more power is being used than actual usage, I would hope not, but here anything is possible.
It is crazy. Some years ago as our elec bill kept climbing, I hunted for amps. and started unplugging this we didn't need. Bill went up. Found more and more and bill went up more and more.
Shut down chest freezer, turned A.C. breakers off. Charged batteries via solar only. Bill went up.
Shut down hot tub and wine cooler. Bill went up. 24,000 Pesos per month from 10k in 6 months.
Not to mention the replacement of fried items due to dirty power.
Upgraded our solar systems and now average 400 pesos per month bill. We also have brought some elec. items back online and added a small hot water heater on a timer under kitchen sink.
24,000 to 400. I don’t remember our bills kwh usage back then but we now use about 750 per month usage with 807 coming from solar for all elec. plus charging batteries daily.