Add a vest and scarf, snuggle under the quilts.

I'm fine. I won't warm up the house until my kids get here tomorrow. I am just fed up with the rate increases and this kind of bullshit.

do you think it was an email targeted just to you? or are there a ton of people out there wearing shorts and tank tops in their 80 degree homes right now that they were trying to target, people who using a metric shitton of electric while some people conserve?

…but we have enough electricity for electric cars. 🤔

Do you have the ability to put in a wood stove in the future?

It’s a good bit of extra work, but I don’t have anyone dictating how warm my house can be.

Personally I prefer a 63F indoor temp.

Is First Energy one of those new electrical suppliers scalping customers from the local power company?

fuck them crank up the heat bruv

That's why we give them billions in service fees and hand outs. Those bonuses are keeping them warm and fully powered.

I have a pellet stove in the basement and it contributes a lot but can't do everything. Unfortunately everything else is electric-combination of baseboard and a retrofitted heat pump for the former A/C only forced air system. Heat pump is done at these temperatures. A wood stove install may be in the future but would be a significant undertaking for a safe operation, and that kind of cash is hard to find right now.

Right? The PUC has asked everyone to conserve, aka avoid doing laundry or using other high energy appliances unless you have to and to turn your heat down lower than you normally do, health permitting. Same thing in the summer (except setting ac to a higher temperature than normal) to prevent blackouts during this extreme weather.

I am fine on the cool side. But I get angry when I am hit with incessant rate increases for..."reasons" and I do everything possible to conserve.

Did I say that? No, I didn't. And "those people" who probably drive electric cars and vigorously oppose any new generation facilities. Electricity has to be generated before it comes out of the wall.

Fuck the PUC. They do not serve the consumers.

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you did... you specifically said what you were doing and then were outraged that YOU would be asked to conserve power...

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Please show me where I used the word outraged.

First energy keeps shutting plants down too. I worked at one for about 9 years as a contractor. I've also seen how they're losing employees from the plants that are still open because those employees are worried their plant will be the next one to go. They've even been talking about shutting down the nuke in beaver valley.

North power supplier not ppl up here, Penelec which is owned by first energy

FE bought out 2 or 3 companies including West Penn Power years ago.

Oh ok, wasn't sure if it was one of those scammer companies. I received this email after seeing this post:

As our communities continue to experience frigid weather, PJM, the regional grid operator that includes PECO, has asked for consumers across its 13 states and DC to look for ways to safely conserve electricity until 10 a.m. tomorrow. If your health permits, please consider reducing the use of your electricity until 10 a.m. tomorrow. Conserving electricity as much as possible will help ensure adequate power supplies. Here are a few ways you can pitch in this holiday weekend:

Set your thermostat a few degrees lower, if its safe to do so

Postpone doing laundry or running dishwasher

Turn off lights and appliances when you don't need to use them

Yeah that kind of thing is understandable the problem I have with first energy is the power is out every fucking month and I don’t get credits for when the power is out I might as well use the shit when I can

I crank my heat way up before any winter storm, I generally keep my house at 63 and use a space heater in the room I am in, but before a storm like we had the past 2 days, I target 75.

If we lose power, the increased temperature inside my house allows me more time to do the tasks I need to do to protect my property and ensure my families comfort and safety.

Every winter I stock about 15 gallons of gasoline and 15 of kerosene, sterilize my 10 gallon food safe buckets for storing water, and dust off the "oh shit no power" checklist for storing water from the pipes and draining the house pipes etc. I have done one pennsylvania winter weekend in mid january without power or heat for 4 days, i'm not rawdogging it ever again, because sitting in the car to get warm for a little bit every day and not moving from a sleeping bag fucking sucked.

Good to know, which region of Pa does FE serve?

Ouch that stinks, might as well.

Got the same email from Peco tonight. Still power outages and asking to conserve electricity.

>And I get an email from First Energy saying if I don't conserve electricity there may be managed blackouts. WTF?

does "WHAT THE FUCK" not count as outraged anymore? sure seems like outrage to me...

Western PA. Not sure how much of it. They bought up at least 3 different companies.

Well, you are apparently projecting. Goodnight and happy holidays.

I’m in Cameron County and they service us. We’re pretty close to being central so they cover a decent chunk of PA.

Mmmmmymmm capitalism, blame it on the consumer

Adams electric... You don't have to use what ever service you can always choose another...

Meanwhile the Steelers are playing and the stadium is lit as bright as ever

I'm in Westmoreland.

I'm sure they have a map on their site if anyone really cares.

“Heat pump is done at these temperatures”

Ya know, I would’ve thought so too. Bought a house with a 17 year-old heat pump last December. I had to run my auxiliary heater one cold day this November (high 20’s), so I figured for sure I’d have to be managing that in the middle of the night during this cold. I’ll be damned but I haven’t had to run the auxiliary at all during this cold snap. Thermostat is perpetually set at 68°, and the old-ass heat pump is doing work.

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They recommended a heat strip in the air handler for when the heat pump can't work efficiently. I am glad that I had them put it in.

This. After spending an entire week without electricity or any heat in freezing cold weather a few years ago, we finally got a generator and now crank the heat up a bit right before a winter storm hits.

I'm not at all about "wasting energy", but I'm also not about letting my family and pets freeze while huddled over a boiling pot of water for our only source of heat (which is dangerous).

Your place is 63°? I'm in an 1880s built place. The insulation and windows suck so bad, I can barely maintain 55° to 60°>

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Just got similar from PJM, which is the regional grid operator…including PECO. They want conservation until 10am tomm

People said the same thing about A/C and heating being installed in everyone's homes and businesses, I imagine you're not old enough to recall that.

Yet here we are, enjoying A/C and heat with electricity that scores of negative people said couldn't be adequately supplied.

It's all a matter of infrastructure, the energy sources and tech to create adequate electricity are there, the generation, storage and distribution is the expensive and long process.

Civilizations work best when there's a necessity, it's the only reason you have modern amenities.

https://www.firstenergycorp.com/content/dam/newsroom/images/news/FE-Service-Territory-Map-2020.png

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Just wanted to say I have that same weather sensor!

You got that email too? We did with Met-Ed

Getting the same emails here in Ohio, just fyi

PPL pulling the same shit here. My elderly parents were without power over 30 hours. Still not staying on. Merry fucking Christmas.

I hope things turn for you soon!!

Lower the temp to 60F and throw on a blanket . We keep ours at 60 during winter and we all wear shorts in the house. You will get used to it. First works problems lol

Ok boomer. Blame the very small percentage of cars that are EVs.

I remember being without power during an ice storm for three days in my apartment in Chester County. Most miserable and cold experience of my life. My roommate had a pet bearded dragon and coincidentally worked at PetSmart at the time, and they got permission to keep their lizard at the store for the entire power outage because the poor thing needed its heat lamp to survive.

Look at this fancy pants getting up in the 60s

Remember the old days when environmentalists were trying to sink popular opinion about nuke power in the 80s? They succeeded.

Talking about? I thought that was a done deal, I had friends that worked there saying they kept a skeleton crew on at huge wages to keep the plant running until the closure date.

Yinzer Enron sucks. FU First Energy.

> for when the heat pump can't work efficiently

Not exactly. Heat pump efficiency is related to outside temps. It's gradual. The colder it is, the less efficient it is.

Heat pumps are sized for the space they need to heat. Installers can undersize a heat pump unit and you'll need to run electric strips when it's 40F outside. And they can size it so large that it will heat your house to 90F when it's -10F outside without any heat strips.

On top of sizing, newer heat pumps just work much better in extreme colds. Newer is better in this case.

'twas in the 70's. And they were right. Nukes are going dark for a different reason, tho. Cannot compete with shale gas.

Do not charge your Tesla.

Interesting. In Nashville, the mayor asked the Titans to postpone their game due to the TVL instituting rolling blackouts in the area.

Fun fact: environmentalist groups that were targeting nuclear energy received money from big oil. They were in direct competition.

Nukes can't compete because they suffer from economies of scale. If there was more nuclear, it would be cheaper per unit built/operated. The world took a wrong turn here. Nuclear is a better source if one goes by facts not emotions.

My town’s mayor office sent out a message on Facebook relaying the the same message. Though in all fairness a few in town and surrounding areas did loose power with the Walmart loosing power resulting in all refrigerated and frozen food going bad. Thankfully the fire departments In town and close by have opened their doors for anyone in need.

They are literally saving the consumer money by not building too much capacity. Extreme colds are extremely rare.

It's better for the consumer to sacrifice a little during 0.01% of the time and have cheaper energy the other 99.99% of the time.

especially with breeder reactors and related modern designs

i'm sure we'll start to do it again after the people that can profit on fracing are finished profiting on fracing

Appears to be the opposite, a monopoly in the west.

I thought they definitely were shutting it down in a few years. If I recall it's pretty old and out of date. But not replacing it is a terrible idea.

You sir, are not very intelligent

Bro…I hate doing this and I’m not an English perfectionist by any stretch, but “fracing” is legit bothering me so much. Fracking. Lol.

In rural Berks. Basically my only option.

Things like this make me glad that I have a oil furnace. Lots of downsides of an old oil furnace (like the cost of the oil), but I can keep my house warm with it even if the power goes out. I hooked it up to a battery bank and when it runs the blower it also charges the batteries. Its not a huge amount of capacity, but its enough that it can keep the thermostat on and kick the furnace on when it gets too low.

Blanketing off a room and using a kerosene heater puts in work, they're cheap to buy and cheap to run. They can run on diesel as well if you can't find kerosene, although diesel costs more due to road taxes (especially in PA).

Downside is the smell and the soot that gets on everything, but if you really need the heat source, 10/10. They'll heat up a modest living room to the point you turn them off in 2 hours.

I use mine in the garage in the winter when i need to work on cars, I fire it up, eat breakfast, and by the time i get the car jacked up I am in a t-shirt and shorts with the garage door cracked open to cool it off.

I think most people will gladly pay a bit more so they don't get screwed that 0.01% of the time And if you think any of those savings are going to the consumer you're severely mistaken

I have Penelec first energy in McKean county

Philly moment

Hi, I’m from out of state - was checking the national outage map and noticed that as of now, late Christmas Eve, in Tioga County, almost 100-percent of customers of Wellsboro Electric Co are still out of power. Anyone know anything about this company? (They also put out a request for customers to conserve energy. Lol)

https://poweroutage.us/area/county/762

Lost power at 6am. Called up Met-Ed at 10. Got told that they'd have the power back on by Eleven.

PM

December 25th.

20 seconds after I hung up the phone my power came back on.

Same here. Montgomery county area

You need to file a complaint with the licensing authority in your state. That's all they listen to.

We have Penelec. Received essentially the same email.

Wow! They're rates are fantastic if you manage using off-peak tasks... Otherwise they're about on par with PPL's standard rate.

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I am an English perfectionist and he's right

More like Coal/Oil strangled it in through lobbying, and the environmental activists sometimes get blamed for not understanding technology of the day or technology outpacing them.

I don't get emails/letters about how much power I use was the point, the other point is that you're legally entitled to use a different company outside of your area/state.

Specifically you?

Philly can keep its power on though?

It's not the current state that he's referring to, it's the push to electrify all vehicles as California has slated to complete by 2035 when they ban the sale of ICE vehicles.

This is generally okay, especially as I welcome electric cars, but we need the infrastructure to support it and what California, and now PA are experiencing are rolling blackouts.

For someone like myself who wants an electric car and would happily switch to a heat pump, these capacity issues are making it less appealing. It doesn't look feasible without a back up, especially as states reduce electric supply,

There was also that time a nuclear plant melted down within a few miles of the state capitol

but yeah blame shit on the people trying to keep the earth livable for the next generation

Didn't realize there was already a post about this. Posted a similar rant earlier. WTF indeed.

*edit Also I have the same temp monitor on my desk, currently reads 12 outside and 65 inside

Company representative. GTFO.

Got the same email from PECO

So your heat is from electric? I've always had natural gas. Electric runs the blower for the furnace though.

I thought this only happened in Texas 🤔

Nah, I think TMI did that one lol

Gas furnaces require electricity to power on.

Wasn't bad, and was managed properly.

Nuclear reactors now are hugely more efficient and safer than back then.

Germany shut down all of their nuclear reactors because of environmentalists but it seems the environmentalists were paid by Russia, now Germany is reliant on fossil fuels from Russia and other countries.

They're trying to do the same for France but France has 80% of its energy from nuclear power.

You sound like me. Jogging outfit, slipper socks & slippers, robe, heat set at 59 & I got that email too.

No EV charging then.

Yeah wind and solar would fix this, smh

Yea make sure you get yourself an electric car so they can tell you when you can and cant charge it. The future is bright…then dim…then blacked out…then bright again. Dont forget to mention expensive as well. Vote for Biden!

You understand they haven’t built a new nuclear power plant since TMI, right?

Though they had good intentions, the anti-nuke crowd absolutely did more harm than good.

They should have pushed strictly for MORE solar and wind, not been AGAINST nuclear. There have been how many major nuclear accidents vs how many major fossil fuel accidents? When I was a kid, an oil tanker dumped well over 200k gallons of oil into the Delaware, or when the PES refinery blew up, almost gassing south Philly. How many abandoned coal mines are poisoning our waters?

Then what you’re both ignoring is that this will be a gradual transition, likely with many exemptions for certain vehicle needs. Also, how’s the artificial scarcity of oil working out for us?

Heat pumps are highly efficient within certain temperature ranges and many EVs can be set to charge during off-peak hours. Sure, we need more chargers in public places, but businesses that are smart about drawing customers will eventually understand the incentive to install them. Rest areas on highways will have more of them as well.

Keep voting blue, it’ll only get worse.

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Tennessee opened one in 2016, and Georgia is building another one.

HaR hAR eV bAd!

Most EVs can be set to charge during off peak hours.

How’s the artificial scarcity of oil and gas working for ya?

They’re LED and the stadium only sources about 1/4 of their power from the local grid.

I'm sure they all do. I would think the demand on the electric grid would be less if the main heat came from gas and not heat pumps and radiant heaters. We get temps like that all winter and never have problems with the electric grid. But also we have a whole lot less people. Either way green policies have consequences. Stay warm.

I stand corrected.Still not a long term solution.

The point wasn't specifically about the lights, but rather that the stadium was operating in general. Even if they only get 1/4 of their power from the grid, it's a stadium and that's still a lot of power. Additionally, there's all the infrastructure that supports the game - transportation, broadcasting, local food/accommodations/etc. It's absolutely insane that they're allowed to host these games when people all across the county have no heat and people in six states are being told to only use what's absolutely necessary.

…right. Sure because that’s feasible, but whatever makes you feel better.

I think all electric companies were attempting to conserve energy during the storm.

Wasn't bad? They literally still hand out iodine tablets to the surrounding residences every year. This area has one of the highest rates of thyroid cancer and other thyroid issues in the country.

Not sure what you're claiming isn't feasible because I didn't make any suggestions in my previous comment and you didn't quote anything.

But while we're talking about feasibility, here's one that I know would work: postpone the game until the energy emergency is resolved.

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What part of PA are you in?

I complete agree. Things can improve that will make it more appealing. If plans are in place for those improvements, I wish they would be shared because all we're seeing is capacity reductions. Cars can be charged off-peak, except when we need them to be charged on-peak. If the plan is to wait for 6 hours until you can charge your car, people are going to cling to ICE or hybrids.

It's the grid transmission organization, not First Energy, it's a form letter that was sent out to everyone on the PLM grid.

The French power their entire country safely with nuclear power, and I assure you they are far more environmentally conscious than we are.

There's nothing longer lasting than nuclear power

During this latest storm there was not enough sun to produce any meaningful electricity and too much wind to run the turbines.

We pay a lot in taxes as citizens, yet the government invests little in infrastructure most of the time (but always has boat loads of cash to feed the military), our energy is provided by companies who only care about the bottom line.

I'm all for doing something for the good of society but this is a case of lack of proper investment by the energy industry. yeah you have a right to be annoyed!

Nuclear fusion, not fission is the future

Nuclear waste is the problem. It can't be considered more efficient as long as you have nuclear waste as by-product

And yeah...this

Holy shit your indoor temp is so warm

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somewhat scary from a country wanting to be 'totally electric', huh?

It’s a multi billion dollar industry supporting well over 1500 people just in Pittsburgh on game day. They had 11 other games played yesterday as well.

It’s a lot more than just let’s cancel the game until this is over.

You obviously have zero idea how any of this works.

But go ahead and cast your bullshit on the Steelers. You’re obviously so much more caring than the nfl and the Steelers

They're the only distributor but not the only supplier. Shop your electric rates.

let's see, who should we blame for nuclear power being shit on, hippies from 40 years ago, or oil and coal companies 🤔

^f^U^c^K^i^N ^t^R^e^E ^H^u^g^G^e^r^S

Nuclear fusion, whenever it becomes viable, is undeniably the future like it or not. It will eventually be the main source of power for everything. Solar and wind may supplement on a local level, essentially people may use them like they use generators now, but there will never be massive wind and solar farms powering everything.

Even current fission is more likely to play a much bigger role to power the country than wind or solar in the long term. I have nothing against solar panels and windmills, but anyone who believes they could replace fossil fuels entirely or in large part is living in a fantasy. Especially since fusion has so many applications beyond just powering countries.

Wow. What part of Pennsylvania are Tennessee and Georgia in

Technically First Energy doesn't own power generation since deregulation separated distribution and generation companies. They have spun off companies like First Energy Solutions that actually are generators.

The coal and nuke plants keep shutting down because they are aging, expensive and can't compete with cheaper gas and renewables in the wholesale markets.

We could solve this shortage problem by incentivizing people to install battery storage and solar and giving them a way to share their stored power with the grid in exchange for money.

We got the same email from them. I’ve got the same weather station by the way.

Exactly.

All electricity distribution is a monopoly. You can choose an alternate supplier, but the distribution network is expensive to build and maintain so it’s only built once for an area.

Same with water distribution and natural gas.

Plenty of money to send to ukraine

I believe that the sky has giant fusion reactor transmitting gigajoules of power to the earth 24 hours a day.

Yikes! Where is this?

Yes, but the problem remains converting enough of it to usable energy and storing enough of it during good weather to keep the power on during long overcast periods like winter.

But it absolutely can. That radioactive waste is in some cases less toxic then coal ash. If we had fully committed to nuclear energy in the 50-70s, we could be 100% energy independent. And I still think it’ll be an incredibly important stepping stone to Fusion Reactors.

I totally get your point - but it’s not so easy to “just” postpone a major league game. There are a lot of moving parts and schedules to deal with.

Winter is a hemispheric phenomenon.

Yikes! That’s awful! Time to report them to the PUC?

Might have to go part solar

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Really? Can you explain that one?

>Nuclear is a better source if one goes by facts not emotions.

Right. That's what they said before 1980 at TMI because all that was caused by emotions, not facts, same as in Chernobyl.

I hate fracing. Whatever that is.

>Germany shut down all of their nuclear reactors

Isar2 would like to have a word. Neckarwestheim and a couple others, too.

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Thought they shutdown the majority?

And thorium reactors that that use waste

>Germany shut down all of their nuclear reactors

Majority =/= all.

it's an abbreviation of the word 'fracture'

That’s not how we roll here in PA.

What one is it?

This one.

Thank you!

You're welcome! Know that this is a bit of an older model, there are many newer ones!

Republicans/conservatives have run the state legislature for 30+ years.

It is when electricity is either used for keeping a family from freezing or keeping a car charged.

Lol, heating a house takes way more energy. Keep on hatin’.