Longest blackouts in santiago

rolling in dough

I am selling inverters now, so I'd like to express my heartfelt thanks to his baldness for sending me so much business.

Like AZB said the inverter doesn't help much without a power source to charge it. Guess you'll be selling out on solar panels, too, soon!

Alba said they have only had about 4 hours of power in three days at the house in Santiago. Bought 4,000 pesos of food and lots of meat last week and most of it spoiled, so now I guess she'll have to go to the store every day and only buy what can be eaten. We've been good here on the North Coast the last week. But the last two days we've had only about 8 hours on, 16 off. Back to the planta.

Must be because Alba is here at Xanadu. Blackouts tarted as soon as she arrived. Maybe power's OK now in Santiago? Could it all just be a curse following here around? :: smile ::

Tom (aka XR)

Cabarete power?

Same situation as XR - off for more times than it's on!!!
Off all night then came back on for 25 minutes earlier this morning!!! Still off now at almost midday! Can't even get the inverter to charge up!!

Yeah I feel sorry for the people buying inverters like mad right now, I know they won't be able to charge their batteries properly untill things stabilize a little bit, I guess with a Trace inverter they would need to have street power at least 8 hours out of a 24 hour cycle in order to balance charge and discharge.

(that was a very general and non-scientific assumption based on averages that vary wildly from household to household)

If you conserve power pretty well you can manage though. I once went 4 days without power on my inverter, but all I ever ran at the time was a fan and a computer. (no TV, no Fridge, hardly ever turn on a light bulb) as a single guy you can do that if you're disciplined but good luck getting any group of people (even just a couple) to be conscientious about power consumption.

Cabarete power

Yeah the power in Cabarete was suprisingly good during the transition and the first week of the "takeover". Last two days has been horrible. In preparation for more frequent blackouts (didn't think the power would be out THIS LONG!), we bought 4 new batteries last week. In the morning, the guy in Sosua had 30. When we came back at 5p, he only had 2 and sold us 2 of his personal batteries, which he had just put in the shop the week before...

It's 33.5 degrees outside, no seabreeze and no power anywhere in sight! It's this what we're in for? Looks like we might have to hook up to the new project next door, Residencia, which runs completely on generator.

marina

Maybe this should go in a new thread, and maybe it has already been handled, but I heard a rumor once that if you manage to make yourself completely independant of the local power grid and use only power which you generate for yourself, then you will still get a bill from the power company, and possibly eventually fined or taxed for generating power without a license/permit. Anybody know if this is true?

It seems like now would be a good time to look into becoming independant of the local power grid.

I know it used to be that way in Mexico. Maybe still is. Some big radio stations on the Mexican side of the border got fed up with being off the air for lack of power from the state owned and run electrical company and put in their own full time generators. Ended up getting shut-down, fined, and roughed up for their effort.

I don't think that is the case here. I was told that the Coastal station and supermarket here in Sosua runs completely off diesel generators here? Maybe he could chime in and tell us!

We're planning on installing a diesel generator for Xanadu and a few neighbors (and buying lots of Coastal diesel fuel!) over the next few months so I'd be interested to know as well.

Tom (aka XR)

Mr.

The way I understand it is that you can not independently produce power and sell it without some sort of wavier. Las Terrenas and Bavaro are two examples which have been in operation for a long time. Places like Sea Horse ranch or an apartment building probably fall under a sharing the cost (capital and maintenance) situation and then have the right to share the generated power. You can probably connect a few houses together with one generator and not have any problem. Unless you have a meter, I doubt whether you will get an electric bill. I think you may be referring to water bills. I have heard of people who have dug their own wells and attempts were made to bill them something being the government claims ownership of the groundwater. I think this is correct and hope others may be a little more knowledge on the topic.

Tom F.

Well................

There are some large companies that actually have their own power. For example, Mercasid, which is the largest foodstuffs company in the DR and maybe in the Caribbean, has their own power at their main factory. They stopped relying on the local grid years ago so now the only thing they have to pay for is oil and maintenance. Sounds like a plan to me.

Same thing in Shito Domingo

"hay lu"?

"naylu"!

"diablo co?o"!

I have a generator,inverter,and a well!

You are right about the bill for having a well! I used to get a bill for my well,but I never paid it!I mean what can they do shut off your ground water?
Now here is the "Only In The DR" part.About a year ago I got a water bill for 44,000 pesos,that went back about 6 years,about 3 pages long!This is after living in my house for 5 years.I ignored the bill,and paid whatever "other" bill came to my house.I used to get 3 different bills,with 3 different locations,and 3 different names! Only one a month,but different all the time!So I find out that the 44,000 peso bill is in the name of my neighbor,2 houses down,who has a big pool.I go to the water dept,and explain all the above.They send someone to my house to check the serial# on my water meter,which I have only had for about a year.I go back to the water dept,and they try to tell me that the 44,000 bill is indeed mine! Then they tell me that I DON"T have to pay the bill for the well,because I DON"T have a well! "Well" that DOES make sense,because I don't live where I live because I live in my neighbors house,since the 44.000 peso bill is MINE! I am with a friend ,a Dominican, and even HE is starting to get frustrated,and mad! I tell him,"Lets go,I know how to settle this!"
So,I just pay the bill that comes every month,no matter what name it is in! I keep all the bills that I have paid to show the water company guy if he ever comes back.I no longer get a bill for my well,because as you remember,they told me I don't have a well!
As far as the electric bills go,I pay the Dominican way,I steal it!!!CC

Jajajajajajajaja!

Baldy's got YOU outfoxed my tall friend! You can't steal, what he's not generating. I just show the inspectors the outside of the gate here. They have no authority to step in my horseshit around here while they snoop. That's reserved for owners only.

Tom (aka XR)

Actually,I didn't want to say anything,but................

The power has hardly gone off where I live for the past two weeks!"Knock On Wood!"and, I don't want everyone mad at me!
Oh,except from Friday night(when a cement mixer tore down my telephone wires,and 220 volt line) until Sunday morning when some guy who I found standing in the street in front of my house,(where do these people come from,and how do they know what we need?)went to Departamentos Americana,bought 200 feet of # 8 wire,climed a tree,and the utility pole,and re-connected me!I ran the generator from Friday night,until Sunday mid-day,just to have 220 for my air-conditioners!Am I spoiled or what?
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Sitting here wondering how long

People will put up with this crappo. We had 4 hours out of the last 24. Our 12 battery inverter that can run all the computers is out of energy and my poor little 5.5 kw Denyo is really taking a beating.

My son just announced that we are getting a new 20 kw diesel to solve the problem for the foreseeable future.

I wonder if MrMike and AZB have noticed what i have seen. Everyone in Santiago is walking around in a daze. the streets are deserted like in Easter week and even without lights at the intersections, traffic, such as it is, is moving along...

and of course at about 7:54 this morning we had a nice tremor...Just to shake everybody up.

Cleef's comments are really on target.

HB