Has the Electric Company ever given you a notice to cut the power in your house?
By zorlone
@zorlone (411)
Philippines
March 2, 2009 12:36am CST
Just about a few minutes ago, two men from the local electric company came to the door telling me that they will cut the power to our house. My initial reaction was "this can't be!" my mom would have certainly paid for the bills. Funny, cause my mind was filled with the ideas that I will not be able to use the internet and can't log on to myLot, my e-mails, my blog, hope was gone!!! Well, for at least 5 agonizing minutes.
I called up my mom and asked her what happened and it turned out that she just forgot to pay for it! So, she spoke to the men and told them that she will provide for the payment. The men acknowledged what she said and did not cut our power anymore. At least, here in my country you can reason with them.
Have you ever had this close encounter with the Electric Company? What would you have done?
2 people like this
6 responses
@cobrateacher (8432)
• United States
3 Mar 09
Humiliating, isn't it? It's happened to me a couple of times, when I just couldn't keep up with the bills. I try to pay it when it arrives so it won't ever happen again, but I don't always have sufficient income to cover all the bills.
@zorlone (411)
• Philippines
4 Mar 09
Hello Cobrateacher,
It sure is... I was thinking of what else I can tell them so that they wont cut the power. Good thing I was able to reach my mom on the phone, then she talked to the linemen. I hope we both don't experience this situation again.
Thanks for dropping by myLot!
Cheers!
@FehrLady (51)
• Philippines
3 Mar 09
We have receive so many times disconnection notices of our electric current. The best thing to do is to pay immediately the overdue bills before the deadline date. We always do it to prevent disconnection. It is because we have once experienced disconnection of our electricity. It cost us so much inconvenience and money on the reconnection. So from that time on, we avoid disconnections to the point of pawning some of our valuables or borrowing money from friends.
@zorlone (411)
• Philippines
3 Mar 09
I'm sorry to hear that... I hope that doesn't happen again to either of us. We will be prompt in paying for our bills next time. I wouldn't want to lose power during summer. that would be pretty bad, considering the heat and humidity!
i hope next time we'll have a more happy discussion.
@melissapalardy (213)
• United States
2 Mar 09
at least they came to the door and let you know first. where i live, they send you a shut off notice in the mail and if you don't pay the bill when it is due, then they shut you off. they normally give you lots of time before they do that though. i have never heard of them coming to the door to tell you they were going to shut you off.
@zorlone (411)
• Philippines
2 Mar 09
Yes, fortunately, i was also in the house. had they came in a different day, and nobody was home, then we wouldn't have any power. I guess the power wasn't meant to be cut. If so, then I wouldn't have been able to reply to this discussion today. :(
Thanks melissa for dropping by!
Cheers!
@anne25penn (3305)
• Philippines
2 Mar 09
I always get these notices but it has never gotten to the point where the linemen have cut my electricity off.
@zorlone (411)
• Philippines
2 Mar 09
The thing is, we never received a notice. I was surprised that the linemen were already at the gate and preparing to cut the power! :(( That was a pretty scaring site. Specially, since it's summer in my country.
Good to hear this hasn't happened to you.
Cheers!
@srganesh (6340)
• India
2 Mar 09
I use to settle the electric bills,telephone bills,water bills even before the deadline.I don't like to end up with long queues at the last day for bills.And I don't like the tension on the neck of the moment.So,I didn't have faced any situation like this.Cheers!
@zhuhuifen46 (3483)
• China
2 Mar 09
There should have been goodwill remindings, and warnings before the actual cut or power. We have similar cases, usually with shops found stealing electricity, or failure to pay bill after repeated warnings.
When there is shortage of power during summer, it is always the plants which are regulated, not the households. But things were not the same decades ago, when we were informed of the cut at short notice. Really hard to imagine life without electricity.
