A Cautionary tale to those wanting to save on their electric bill

Hi all,

So, Connecticut Light and Power.  They're greeeat.  You know, not a monopoly at all.  So, when I got a cold call from a company offering to reduce my bill, I thought it was a great idea.  I signed up.  Then CL&P stopped sending me bills, the new company never sent me their first bill, and CL&P cut off my power.  WTF?  Because of their lack of communication, I lose my power?  It coincided with a thunderstorm, so I figured that was the problem.  It took me a couple hours to realize that it was that the company cut my power!

So, in an effort to save 30% on my electric bill (approximately $35) a month, I ended up paying $35 to reconnect my service, and I have $250 in escrow until I pay my bill on time for a year.  How freaking embarrassing.  Especially since I didn't do anything wrong; it was the middleman electric company who didn't pay my bill!

The best part is that I sent a $100 payment to CL&P when they contacted me.  Want to know what they shut off my service for?  The $3 balance.  They would have needed $103.19 to make the payment and keep my service on, and my $100 just wouldn't cut it.  You've gotta love big corporations and their degree of empathy.

I'm thinking I need to go to the better business bureau to get some of my money back.  By my calculation, I am owed a day of electric service, an hour and a half of cell phone minutes, the money in escrow, and the $35 reconnect fee.  So, $5, $10, my $250 back, and $35 is about $300.

What do you all think?  Can I fight the big electric company?

~Mark

Being positive despite some dumb poopenschticken

Hi all,

So, Karma's a bitch, as they say.  But it's also nice to you if you pay into it.  I frequently fix peoples' computers, bikes and other stuff for free, and give stuff away because I just don't need it anymore.  I like to think that this means good things for me.  Now, it doesn't mean I get ipads or samsung tablets falling out of the sky for me, but I did win a kindle fire last year :)

So, I've decided that when my one man, sucking at guitar band goes viral this year, the title will be "Smiling at Strangers." because it works.  I just wrote a letter of recommendation for a coworker, and one of the most positive things I said was as follows: "She makes those around her happier just by smiling at them every day, for no particular reason other than that she is happy to see them."  Now, she's not exactly a stranger, and full on beaming at random folks tends to freak them out.  However, a gentle, contented smile tends to win people over and improve their day.

Now, what does this have to do with technology, you say?  Well, not much.  But I don't have another blog for karma (yet).

Have a good day, and recycle your old electronics.  Maybe a samsung will fall out of the sky for you :)

~Mark