9 replies to this topic

[Kleinz]

Came across this, and given the price of electricity and its effect on the hobby, I thought it worth putting here.

 

[Labcat]

I have a dream.

 

When the government stops paying me for the power I send them, just 4 or 5 years away now - in comes the hopefully then much cheaper batteries....

 

Click, OFF.

[Cawdor]

*sigh*

 

half truths and hand picking of examples. I'm not going to write a long story debating this video, I'm sure it's one of many. Main point: Power prices were kept at fixed levels by several WA governments, whilst infrastructure was aging and approaching or even exceeding end of life (fail). It got to a stage where some years ago the government realised it can't continue like that and prices started to rise to reflect the cost of maintaining the network.

 

Remember some years back we had all the brown outs? Remember how many we had this summer? That's because Western Power was upgrading old assets while our population grew.

 

Now we're at a stage again where we are all supposed to "tighten the belt" and Western Power has had its budget slashed and ordered to save money. First things to go: proactive maintenance. The program to change light globes in streetlights before they fail - gone. Expect to see more streetlights fail in the next 12 months as globes approach end of life.

[shayne]

What the? I dont give a damn for excuses i am a born and bred shareholder of this state  and affordable public utilities should be part of my return!

[bigjohnnofish]

soon we have a charge for power on our bills just for providing the power cables that pass your place whether or not your connected....

[Kleinz]

The program to change light globes in streetlights before they fail - gone. Expect to see more streetlights fail in the next 12 months as globes approach end of life.

 

 Why in god's name would you change them before they failed anyway? Does anyone else change a lightglobe before it dies?

 

The main thrust is correct. The cost of power generation has been falling for some time and there is certainly some gold plating going on in the network.

 

To streetlights again. I cannot think of anything more wasteful than having all those guzzling metal halide lamps running all night every night, though that is a side issue.

[bigjohnnofish]

as kids we used to save the government heaps of money by shooting out the street lights with our slingshots lol  

 

at the end of the day its about greed , money and power.... lol get it hahahah

[werdna]

 

To streetlights again. I cannot think of anything more wasteful than having all those guzzling metal halide lamps running all night every night, though that is a side issue.

I agree.

And they ruin the night sky.

But mummy and daddy are so convinced crime is everywhere that they think its safer if street lights are on.

[Kleinz]

When I was a kid they only stayed on until 1 in the morning. In the burbs I think that is eminently sensible. It's not as if cars don't have headlights.

 

Also they screw with all the nanimals rather badly. Turning them off would be so much less wasteful and a good idea.

 

Which is why it will never happen here.

[bigjohnnofish]

they have to burn up excess power - so they can generate more and charge the public more