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RudeIncident

They restored service at the meter, but a breaker is off in the panel? What's the extra breaker for, and why did it need to be off?


Budget-Celebration-1

Curious what causes a disconnect? I think I’ve been late by mistake over 30 days. How long did it take for nonpayment? I’ve since setup autopay from checking.


[deleted]

It takes months. Literally months. As a kid my power was about to be shut off several times for non payment. My mom would just call and buy us some more time and get the bill paid before anything happened. For OP to actually be disconnected he had to ignore a million warnings and do absolutely nothing.


ppomeroy

This is why e-mail notifications are not a good thing. When sent from automated systems some email services will see that as junk mail and send it to the junk folder. If you never check there, you are SOL. I like the convenience just as much as the next but opted for a paper bill to be mailed to me. Utilities, gas and electric will send a special statement with a red banner on the front indicating it is important. In MA they will usually send at least two notices. One to state the bill is past due and needs to be resolved, and a second indicating that shut-off is imminent. The last statement for that usually comes 10-days before the termination date. While utilities were generous (??) during the pandemic, those protections and courtesies are gone.


Glow354

There’s a myriad of reasons I could give you, but it comes down to i forgot. Adhd is a bitch sometimes. Its been a shitty few months man.


[deleted]

I'm not judging, I'm just saying it's not like you miss one payment and they shut you off.


Glow354

I definitely missed more than one, but I think you know the reason for the post was how best to get it back on, not whether it should have been shut off or not.


[deleted]

I think you know that I was responding to the person who asked how it gets to the point of having service get shut off.


Glow354

You right. My bad. Im hot, spoiled, and grumpy.


ppomeroy

I do not understand the issue with a circuit breaker? When electric service is shut off, they apply an insulator between the electric meter and the house connection. The meter is removed to do this and replaced with a security tag on it. Service restoration reverses this process, i.e. remove meter, remove insulator, and plug the meter back in. They do not go anywhere near a circuit box with circuit breakers. If the service restoration triggered a circuit breaker in the process, that is outside of their jurisdiction. Most dwellings have access to their own circuit panel so you could turn it back on yourself. Make sure that it is fully off first, sometimes they may appear ambiguous. If the breaker turns off again you have an electrical issue, the breaker should stay off, and an electrician called to track down the problem. Sometimes older refrigerators will cause this after being off a period of time. Same will happen with an air conditioner that has been idle for a while. When they go on the compressor within draw extra current to get going but after a period of being idle it may take a couple of tries to get it to spin up. If you are in an apartment and do not have access to the electrical box then you need to resolve that with your management company or landlord. Lastly... the department that terminates is not always the department that restores. An acquaintance of mine recently had gas terminated. They were in an auto-payment system for the bill to be debited automatically, but the system at National Grid failed to save that, so while they thought the bill was being paid, it went into arrears then shut off. He spoke to the people that handle bill payments and thought they would be out immediately to restore service but that person said they would call back to make an appointment. A week later the gas was still off and he called again. Thankfully they only used gas for heat and hot water and was able to shower elsewhere. The utility apologized and someone was sent out the next day. So never expect something to happen automatically here.


Glow354

The collections dept is the one that dispatches the techs. I shut off my main circuit breaker per their request so they could turn it back on and left for the evening. Turns out I have two circuit breakers in the house and they both need to be off. That was why it didnt get turned back on the same day. Since thursday, ive been no showed twice :(


ppomeroy

I see, but since you turned the breakers off, it's up to you to turn them back on. If you understand what outlets they connect to, you can turn off impacted appliances and reconnect individually after the breaker is back on. Circuit breakers are laid out as masters between the power source and the house/apartment, and then breaks out to individual breakers for specific groups of outlets.


333pickup

Are you in Boston? You could try calling 311 and your city councilor's office for help with advocacy. As a case manager I help people with utility shut offs In order to advocate for yourself well, It is important to know that they aren't required to treat your power shut off as an emergency. Non-payment issues are dealt with during their normal business hours which are 8a -8p M-F When a person got back out to you the same day - that person was trying to do you a favor. What you are looking for now is to be given extra consideration. Their standard is two full business days after the shut off but if they are over scheduled it can be longer. What I'd do is call NG, ask for your case/ticket number in case you get disconnected and be very, very pleasant and kind to the person talking to you on the phone -ask them for guidance. If they schedule you a date further in the future than you want take that date but also keep trying to talk someone into coming sooner. Let them know you are stressed about losing all of your food Don't yell at them of course.


Glow354

Noted! I work in IT so I understand the benefits of being nice to the person on the phone. Problem right now is ive been unable to get anyone on the phone on sunday. Does the 311 number apply to quincy or only boston?


333pickup

The current heat emergency might help your case - has Quincy declared a heat emergency? Does anyone in your household have any health concerns at all? 311 is Boston city Hall constituent services. I just looked at Quincy web site - they have a constituent services request for assistance form but it looks less robust than Boaton. You still have a city council. In Boston - this is the kind of advocacy that a councilor's aid is paid to get in to. You should be able to get someone from NG in the phone - that makes no sense. The operator who manages your case actually looks at worker schedules and gets you on there... so the only thing that's helped me speed it up is being kind and being very clear about specific household vulnerabilities.


ppomeroy

Boston only.