Question for the lawyers out there

[mavs>spurs]

So for about 15 years now we've had problems with the electric company. When the house was first built, they ran out power line to our street from a separate station than the rest of the neighborhood, and ours goes through some wooded area to get to us. So inevitably every time there is any sort of bad weather, wind, even a little bit of rain, a tree or branch falls on one of the lines and were the only street in the whole area stuck without power for hours and sometimes days. This happens at least every couple of months for whatever reason or another and back a couple years ago when we got 12 inches of snow and were snowed in, we went without power for about a week while everyone else got there's turned back on pretty quickly. We would have probably frozen to death if not for having a bunch of firewood stored, and even still it was cold as fuck and I ended up getting a little sick which almost never happens. I figure that we just aren't high priority being just a few houses on our street and we are always the last ones they get to whenever something happens, because at the time we had a neighbor with a heart condition who had a pacemaker and used oxygen and as soon as he came home from out of town and discovered his power was out they had it on within 30 fucking minutes. All the while they had been telling us for 5 days that they were working as quickly as possible and just simply could not help us. They sat on their hands and let us freeze for 5 days when they could have fixed it in under 30 minutes to avoid a lawsuit.

So my question to anyone here who might be in the know is, do we have any sort of legal recourse? Can we take them to court and have them ordered to reroute our power to come from the same station as everyone else in the neighborhood? We've requested this before and they simply won't do it because it would cost them some money to do so and Encore doesn't give a fuck about the customer. They're the only people around here in charge of maintenance on the power grid so they don't have to worry about losing customers. It's impossible to do anything without power. Can't cook, can't take care of my school work, nobody can take care of their work here. Can't bathe when it's cold, just sitting in the dark doing nothing basically. It's miserable and I'm fed up, if there's any way I can get them to get off their lazy asses and do something I'm all ears.

[mavs>spurs]

I'm thinking maybe the court has ruled somewhere that in the 21st century, electricity and running water in your home is an inalienable right kind of like how they said internet was in Finland I believe.

[thispego]

Why you copyin me bro?

[mavs>spurs]

I have a real question unlike "how do i get my bastard kids last name changed to mine without paying a fee durrrr" so no, not copying imho.

[ElNono]

You should probably start by filing a complaint with the public utility commission/board of public utilities. Don't forget to document when the outages started and how long they took to fix them. You shouldn't need a lawyer to do that.

[mavs>spurs]

well thats the thing, we haven't been documenting any of this for the past 15 years..i figured maybe if i brought a case to court a lawyer could get all that subpoenaed.

[ElNono]

well thats the thing, we haven't been documenting any of this for the past 15 years..i figured maybe if i brought a case to court a lawyer could get all that subpoenaed.

Perhaps the board will request that information as part of an investigation. I mean, right now, you've not done anything. So file the complaint and see if that gets you anywhere.

A legal option will cost you a good chunk of money, so I'm just suggesting exploring the free options first.

[mavs>spurs]

agreed, good advice. i guess i will contact them first thing tomorrow. i mean like right now, the wind blew a little bit so it's been out for 3 hours and counting, they say it'll be around midnight before it's fixed. it fucking sucks. we have a generator powering the computer and a light or 2 for now.

[Blake]

Imo, I don't see a court forcing them to reroute.

If you want some kind of compensation for all of those years of inconvenience, it's going to be extremely difficult to prove that they took any unreasonable amount of time to fix your power outage.

Best thing is just to keep hounding them until your problem gets solved.

[Das Texan]

you have no documentation yet you think your dumbass can just complain and force the utility company to do something?

makes sense.

[Blake]

I'm thinking maybe the court has ruled somewhere that in the 21st century, electricity and running water in your home is an inalienable right kind of like how they said internet was in Finland I believe.

Most cities do have property codes that say running (and hot) water is a necessity. Electricity is getting specifically included more and more.

Of course, these are things that are required of property owners to provide or be subject to criminal charges.

Your beef with the utility company is a civil matter.

[mavs>spurs]

Imo, I don't see a court forcing them to reroute.

If you want some kind of compensation for all of those years of inconvenience, it's going to be extremely difficult to prove that they took any unreasonable amount of time to fix your power outage.

Best thing is just to keep hounding them until your problem gets solved.

the only reason i'd be seeking compensation would be simply to cover my costs for having to take them to court just to have electricity. we hound them plenty but they make it where it is impossible to even talk to someone, most of the time all you're going to get is a recording. We once hounded the electric company enough that they gave us a number to encore's human office and they cried that we weren't even supposed to have that number.

idk, i guess it would be up to the courts to determine what's "unreasonable." to me, it's unreasonable to be out of power 1 day out of every month. it was especially fucking unreasonable when we were without it for a week and it was freezing cold and we were basically snowed in. soon as my neighbor with the heart condition got back in town and complained, they fixed it within 30 minutes. we just weren't high priority to them. my beef with them is that in their eyes we just aren't worth them spending a little money to reroute it so that we don't have to constantly be out of power.

[ElNono]

agreed, good advice. i guess i will contact them first thing tomorrow. i mean like right now, the wind blew a little bit so it's been out for 3 hours and counting, they say it'll be around midnight before it's fixed. it fucking sucks. we have a generator powering the computer and a light or 2 for now.

If you're in texas, you can file an informal complaint online:

http://www.puc.state.tx.us/consumer/complaint/Complaint.aspx

As it states there, if after the informal complaint you don't get anywhere with your provider, you can file a formal complaint with the PUC's Customer Protection Division.

Basically, start going through the process. The company is going to continue not giving a shit if you don't go through the proper channels.

[Blake]

the only reason i'd be seeking compensation would be simply to cover my costs for having to take them to court just to have electricity.

If you lose the case like I think you would, you'd be out a decent amount of time and cash.


idk, i guess it would be up to the courts to determine what's "unreasonable." to me, it's unreasonable to be out of power 1 day out of every month. it was especially fucking unreasonable when we were without it for a week and it was freezing cold and we were basically snowed in.

Was the company trying to fix it when you were without it for a week?

[mavs>spurs]

If you lose the case like I think you would, you'd be out a decent amount of time and cash.



Was the company trying to fix it when you were without it for a week?

no, they had bigger fish to fry. they were able to fix it pretty quickly as soon as they finally showed up. we were at the back of the line because it's always a hairy messy job going down there in the wooded bottomland to fix it. a bunch of other people were out of power for a day or 2 but none that i knew of as long as we were. they decided they'd wait for it to dry while we froze than get a little muddy i guess.

[mavs>spurs]

you have no documentation yet you think your dumbass can just complain and force the utility company to do something?

makes sense.

Well that was the point of getting their records subpoenaed. I'm pretty sure somewhere every call they've made is on record somewhere. But I am convinced that if I bitch and moan enough I can get somewhere yes. it wouldn't be hard for them to reroute it at all. The rest of my neighbors are all on this other one and they could hook us up just down the street.

Btw, random attack made you look like a major douche. Imagine the life of someone who speaks this way with someone he's never interacted with before..

[mavs>spurs]

Honestly, I think rerouting the damn thing would actually save them money in the long run rather than having to send a team down there to cut trees and fix broken power lines every couple of months. It's just a matter of convincing them to stop being shortsighted and go ahead and spend what would be a small amount of money (for them) to fix it the right way and be done with it.

[Blake]

no, they had bigger fish to fry. they were able to fix it pretty quickly as soon as they finally showed up. we were at the back of the line because it's always a hairy messy job going down there in the wooded bottomland to fix it. a bunch of other people were out of power for a day or 2 but none that i knew of as long as we were. they decided they'd wait for it to dry while we froze than get a little muddy i guess.

so they had excuses for why they took/take so long to get to you. I'm more than sure they would tell you and a judge that the reasons for delay were legit.

you've got no real evidence of anything here to waste time in a courtroom.

[mavs>spurs]

yeah but their excuses were just pure bullshit and laziness. after feeding us the same tired crap for a week, as SOON as my neighbor with a heart problem came home it was fixed in a heartbeat, because their sorry asses didn't want a lawsuit on their hands. They could have totally fixed it in a jiffy and just flat chose not to. not sure if it's criminal, but it sure is bullshit to me. which is why i'm seeking options to stop this crap from ever happening again. as i sit here in the dark typing with my computer powered by a generator. this sucks and it's a monthly thing. i guess its my fault for putting up with it this long but for a large majority of that time i was a minor and didn't really have much say in the matter.

[TDMVPDPOY]

they will tell you if you dont like the service, change provider

then again, shit like this usually happens when u live in remot areas.....shouldve ask the builder about shit like this and reliable service....

[DMC]

Shitload of lawyers here.

[mavs>spurs]

they will tell you if you dont like the service, change provider

then again, shit like this usually happens when u live in remot areas.....shouldve ask the builder about shit like this and reliable service....


well see, that's the thing. no matter who your provider is, it all comes from the same power grid. the provider only handles the retail end of it. then they all outsource the grid maintenance to this company called Encore. no matter who your provider is, you get stuck with shitty encore to fix it every time there's a problem with the infrastructure.

[cantthinkofanything]

I ain't passed the bar but I know a lil' bit.

[mavs>spurs]

I ain't passed the bar but I know a lil' bit.

is there a damn thing i can do? btw, power is back on for now as of 10 min ago :hat

[Nathan Explosion]

is there a damn thing i can do? btw, power is back on for now as of 10 min ago :hat

This isn't an easy option, but it is worth looking into if it's feasible.

If the power sucks at your home as much as you say it does, have you ever considered moving? I mean, if it were me, and I froze my ass off for 5 days with no power, and this is very common occurrence (power outages) I'd think about moving to a neighborhood with more reliable utilities.

[Wild Cobra]

I'm sure the laws vary from state to state, but I'll bet they are required to keep the trees trimmed away from the power lines. may want to check on that. If that in enforceable, they may find it cheaper to reroute your power lines.

[Sportcamper]

Your post is like deja vu all over again…I lived on a private street where everybody’s lot was between one and five acres…We would not allow the county to open up the street to traffic from the surrounding neighborhoods...People had horses & small farms & we enjoyed the peace…The county was very hostile to our position…Every time there was a small wind storm our power would go out because they refused to upgrade our service…The service was close to a hundred years old …This went on for 15 years…We went to public meetings and filed complaints with the District Attorney, Local County Supervisor and the public utility commission…Response from public works was the same, “give access to the private road & we can do something but not until then”…Finally there was a housing boom in the area & they were forced to modernize everybody’s service to accommodate all of the new building…If there was not a housing boom I am confident that nothing would have been improved upon…

Save yourself the headache and forget the attorney…Show up at public utility meetings bearing gifts and plead for mercy…

[Nathan Explosion]

Your post is like deja vu all over again…I lived on a private street where everybody’s lot was between one and five acres…We would not allow the county to open up the street to traffic from the surrounding neighborhoods...People had horses & small farms & we enjoyed the peace…The county was very hostile to our position…Every time there was a small wind storm our power would go out because they refused to upgrade our service…The service was close to a hundred years old …This went on for 15 years…We went to public meetings and filed complaints with the District Attorney, Local County Supervisor and the public utility commission…Response from public works was the same, “give access to the private road & we can do something but not until then”…Finally there was a housing boom in the area & they were forced to modernize everybody’s service to accommodate all of the new building…If there was not a housing boom I am confident that nothing would have been improved upon…

Save yourself the headache and forget the attorney…Show up at public utility meetings bearing gifts and plead for mercy…

So, you all didn't want the modernization when it didn't suit you, but wanted it when you did suit you?

They were right imo. If you wanted the county out of your property, don't get mad when they stay out of your property.

[Sportcamper]

Nathan are you one of those posters who lives in his parents garage & gets high all day…This is a thread for adults…Move along…:lol

[CosmicCowboy]

Buy a generator you cheap bastard.




And to answer your question, no, you do not have any legal recourse.

[bus driver]

dont take them to court, take them to the People's Court (http://peoplescourt.warnerbros.com/)

I0F-IHwgC-Q

[mavs>spurs]

Buy a generator you cheap bastard.




And to answer your question, no, you do not have any legal recourse.

Was using one to create this thread. But yeah I dunno, I guess things should be in order where we can move before too long and won't have to deal with it anymore. Soon as I graduate this summer I'm thinking about getting the hell out of Texas and going to Colorado Springs. Gonna use my degree to finally get a real job and trout fish some mountain springs on my days off.

[CavsSuperFan]

Can not get better electrical service so I think I am just gonna move to Colorado & go fishing…

http://www.russpage.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/scratch-head.jpg

[mavs>spurs]

You don't get it. Me wanting to move to Colorado is something I've been wanting to do. Someone suggested why not just move and I'm saying that I actually intend to, but that I must finish my last semester of school first. I don't have the ability to just move right this second. I'm now questioning whether or not I should just go ahead and plan to move or if it's worth fighting to get them to fix it.

[DMC]

lol

colorado

get the fuck back to where you come from, yank
Colorado is nice. I go there all the time and lived there for a few years.

Other than coastal states, it's the best place I've been.