txags92 said:

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LostInLA07 said:

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I am guessing they took the outage map down because it made it really easy for criminals to target specific addresses that were without power and told them how long an address would be without power. The map updates automatically from smart meters so keeping it current it isn't a challenge.

You can still access info on your account by logging in even though their text and email system seems backed up (probably because they encouraged everyone to sign up for that service and it got overwhelmed by too many users.)

They should just make the map data less granular but still provide regional info to everyone.

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They took the outage map down because it was crashing under the load of the number of people trying to see when their power would come back on.

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Centerpoint remains the only company in America that doesn't undrerstand cloud computing.

sts7049 said:

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David_Puddy said:

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Ag_07 said:

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We got lucky this time around and never lost power but that's not been the case in the past.

It really is an awful experience and I feel for anyone who's down especially with the heat we're getting the next couple days..

However, I will say I think the hand wringing over the outage tracker and 'communication' from CP is a bit much. Critiquing the preparedness is acceptable but I've never got the big stink about the tracker map.

I can imagine the logistics of managing thousands of linemen from all over to assist in restoring millions of customers is extremely challenging.

I also imagine in mass outage events like this the tracker map is incredibly hard to keep updated and becomes absolutely pointless. IDGAF about a map. Just get power back on ASAP.

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Certainly a more reasonable post that the other dipsh-t, but again tracker map aside, the communication is pretty terrible. An outage map at least gives some sort of estimate or expectation versus just being completely in the dark. Especially if you have elderly family members you need to plan for. The heat index is about to get north of 100 and that is life threatening for an elderly person without electricity. Not really sure what is so hard to understand about that.

As noted by a poster above, Florida is far more prepared than we are and has no issue restoring power to 1m+ within a day.

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if you have elderly parents to deal with, you should have already had a plan in place for what you were going to do during a hurricane. with consideration for the potential for extended power outages, which should be a surprise to nobody on the gulf coast.

if you didn't do that ahead of time, that's not centerpoint's problem. obviously them having their ****e together would have made it easier, but that's not the real issue here

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This here is why I'll never be a big complainer.

There's got to be some self accountability for being prepared (which I wasn't).

But mark my words, I'm getting a damn transfer switched installed as soon as this weekend.

power restored. much faster than expected. went a week without during the spring storm.

Centerpoint admits all those extra repair personnel weren't actually in Houston on Monday. And that they were taken by surprise by the storm's intensity.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/investigations/centerpoint-power-outage-crews-not-staged-in-advance/285-24aa531a-9bb6-4e5e-b793-b7a1a0601340

Seanzy2012 said:

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randy828 said:

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BillYeoman said:

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Seanzy2012 said:

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Neighbors have power across the street since last night, but we still don't. I get that it's not all the same, but it messes with the mind a bit.

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That happened to me after Ike . Drove me insane.

I wanted to award Cemterpoint a Silver Star for Psychological Warfare.

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+1

Funny to see extension cords running across the street. One of my neighbors across the street let me use his portable generator for the extra week we didn't have electricity after they got it.

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My brother is a lineman, and he and I have had this discussion before, but still drives me nuts.

We don't have a transfer switch on our power box, so no way to hook up generator. We could do the fridge I guess, but I think the food is lost anyway.

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You don't need a transfer switch. More of a hindrance in reality. Just need an interlock with 50 amp power inlet.

Seanzy2012 said:

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sts7049 said:

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David_Puddy said:

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Ag_07 said:

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We got lucky this time around and never lost power but that's not been the case in the past.

It really is an awful experience and I feel for anyone who's down especially with the heat we're getting the next couple days..

However, I will say I think the hand wringing over the outage tracker and 'communication' from CP is a bit much. Critiquing the preparedness is acceptable but I've never got the big stink about the tracker map.

I can imagine the logistics of managing thousands of linemen from all over to assist in restoring millions of customers is extremely challenging.

I also imagine in mass outage events like this the tracker map is incredibly hard to keep updated and becomes absolutely pointless. IDGAF about a map. Just get power back on ASAP.

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Certainly a more reasonable post that the other dipsh-t, but again tracker map aside, the communication is pretty terrible. An outage map at least gives some sort of estimate or expectation versus just being completely in the dark. Especially if you have elderly family members you need to plan for. The heat index is about to get north of 100 and that is life threatening for an elderly person without electricity. Not really sure what is so hard to understand about that.

As noted by a poster above, Florida is far more prepared than we are and has no issue restoring power to 1m+ within a day.

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if you have elderly parents to deal with, you should have already had a plan in place for what you were going to do during a hurricane. with consideration for the potential for extended power outages, which should be a surprise to nobody on the gulf coast.

if you didn't do that ahead of time, that's not centerpoint's problem. obviously them having their ****e together would have made it easier, but that's not the real issue here

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This here is why I'll never be a big complainer.

There's got to be some self accountability for being prepared (which I wasn't).

But mark my words, I'm getting a damn transfer switched installed as soon as this weekend.

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These two things are all you will need, but you have to make sure you buy the interlock kit compatible with your box. If you want to save another few bucks you could get the right 50A breaker from home Depot as well and have it ready for the electrician. Should be $400ish to have them wire it up.

Not sure on the wattage and all that. It's being loaned out right now but I think it's a 6500.

It's enough for me to run fridge/freezer, TV/internet, 2 window units, and misc chargers.

The Harbor Freight brand is great. It runs flawlessly and has incredible gas efficiency. It'll run on a full tank for almost 24 hrs.

Do not be afraid to purchase HF brand because it's not name brand. It's good stuff.

The Porkchop Express said:

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Centerpoint admits all those extra repair personnel weren't actually in Houston on Monday. And that they were taken by surprise by the storm's intensity.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/investigations/centerpoint-power-outage-crews-not-staged-in-advance/285-24aa531a-9bb6-4e5e-b793-b7a1a0601340

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Crazy how we have all been anticipating a ROUGH hurricane season but they were taken off guard when their job is to prep.

Amateur hour over there at centerpoint

tjack16 said:

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The Porkchop Express said:

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Centerpoint admits all those extra repair personnel weren't actually in Houston on Monday. And that they were taken by surprise by the storm's intensity.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/investigations/centerpoint-power-outage-crews-not-staged-in-advance/285-24aa531a-9bb6-4e5e-b793-b7a1a0601340

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Crazy how we have all been anticipating a ROUGH hurricane season but they were taken off guard when their job is to prep.

Amateur hour over there at centerpoint

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The derecho, I can sort of understand. That MF'er came out of nowhere. In SORT OF Centerpoint's defense, it wasn't until basically Sunday that the storm was forcasted to hit Houston. From a dollars and cents perspective, you can't "all hands" every time a storm is in the gulf.

Quote:

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But mark my words, I'm getting a damn transfer switched installed as soon as this weekend.

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Good luck

Electricians have been booked solid since the derechos doing mostly this exact kinda work. My guy (board rec Brian Ziese) is booked out 3-4 weeks.

How many of them actually service and maintain them how they're supposed to, though? Especially seeing how some just ran for 100-200+ hours a month and a half ago? A generator isn't a set it, forget it, and always be covered type investment.

Also, it should be a reality and taken into consideration when fiscally looking at generators and when planning for emergency situations. The number of these things has grown exponentially. Don't expect parts or techs to be readily available

The above is a big reason why I just go with the interlock kit and portable generators. The unknowns really tip the scale to make the $20k in investment worth it to me.

Power is back 77578.

sts7049 said:

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David_Puddy said:

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Ag_07 said:

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We got lucky this time around and never lost power but that's not been the case in the past.

It really is an awful experience and I feel for anyone who's down especially with the heat we're getting the next couple days..

However, I will say I think the hand wringing over the outage tracker and 'communication' from CP is a bit much. Critiquing the preparedness is acceptable but I've never got the big stink about the tracker map.

I can imagine the logistics of managing thousands of linemen from all over to assist in restoring millions of customers is extremely challenging.

I also imagine in mass outage events like this the tracker map is incredibly hard to keep updated and becomes absolutely pointless. IDGAF about a map. Just get power back on ASAP.

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Certainly a more reasonable post that the other dipsh-t, but again tracker map aside, the communication is pretty terrible. An outage map at least gives some sort of estimate or expectation versus just being completely in the dark. Especially if you have elderly family members you need to plan for. The heat index is about to get north of 100 and that is life threatening for an elderly person without electricity. Not really sure what is so hard to understand about that.

As noted by a poster above, Florida is far more prepared than we are and has no issue restoring power to 1m+ within a day.

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if you have elderly parents to deal with, you should have already had a plan in place for what you were going to do during a hurricane. with consideration for the potential for extended power outages, which should be a surprise to nobody on the gulf coast.

if you didn't do that ahead of time, that's not centerpoint's problem. obviously them having their ****e together would have made it easier, but that's not the real issue here

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Mine live in the hill country, but you're missing the point. I mean we're all pretty much in the dark in getting power back via their communication with the local news and their sh-tty outage tracker. As has been pointed out by another poster there is always so much "in retrospect" from Centerpoint instead of becoming more efficient. In regards to my example, there are certain people who can't afford to transport family members elsewhere. I mean hell there aren't many hotels all the way to College Station, sometimes it's not really that easy to just "make alternate plans." Especially when up until Sunday the meteorologists didn't have this thing headed our way.

It's a storm out of people's control, but Jesus Christ when we've had enough of these over the years, you'd think their communication process would be more efficient and it seems like it's even less efficient now. How does that make sense? The outage map worked perfectly fine during the freeze in '21.

South Platte said:

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BBRex said:

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sts7049 said:

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If you have elderly parents to deal with, you should have already had a plan in place for what you were going to do during a hurricane. with consideration for the potential for extended power outages, which should be a surprise to nobody on the gulf coast.

if you didn't do that ahead of time, that's not centerpoint's problem. obviously them having their ****e together would have made it easier, but that's not the real issue here

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My wife, who is on the neighborhood Facebook page, said there were starting to be messages asking about Generac error codes and the generator not staying on. Some said that callers asking about service were told it could be a while before a technician comes out. Not everyone who has an emergency now started without a plan.

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I'm seeing those as well. $15,000 essentially down the tubes in those cases. At that investment level, failure is simply not an option.

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What are the causes of that? That is wild. I would be furious.

Plastic fine for the short term. Keep rain out.

htxag09 said:

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How many of them actually service and maintain them how they're supposed to, though? Especially seeing how some just ran for 100-200+ hours a month and a half ago? A generator isn't a set it, forget it, and always be covered type investment.

Also, it should be a reality and taken into consideration when fiscally looking at generators and when planning for emergency situations. The number of these things has grown exponentially. Don't expect parts or techs to be readily available

The above is a big reason why I just go with the interlock kit and portable generators. The unknowns really tip the scale to make the $20k in investment worth it to me.

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~18 year old Briggs and Stratton. Ran for 14 days straight during Ike and a few more days here and there since then. Keep them maintained and they fuel drained when not in use and they will last a long time. Currently running two window units, two refrigerators, one tankless hot water heater, tv, three fans plus misc lights and chargers. Works like a champ!

htxag09 said:

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How many of them actually service and maintain them how they're supposed to, though? Especially seeing how some just ran for 100-200+ hours a month and a half ago? A generator isn't a set it, forget it, and always be covered type investment.

Also, it should be a reality and taken into consideration when fiscally looking at generators and when planning for emergency situations. The number of these things has grown exponentially. Don't expect parts or techs to be readily available

The above is a big reason why I just go with the interlock kit and portable generators. The unknowns really tip the scale to make the $20k in investment worth it to me.

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For sure this. I'm in to my backup power about $1700 and should be able to power our garage apartment plus select circuits in our house or fewer circuits in the house and one home HVAC system. Really hard to justify an extra $10-$15 grand for the auto start generac.