When did a month become thought of as a long time for electric service to be

[Ship of Fools]

93. This is just how it is. Period. From my spouse to all of you:

The company that I work for sent a total of 167 lineman and support teams to help restore power to the people of the northeast who were knocked out of power by hurricane Sandy.

I'm a lineman from Kansas City and have been on many storms across the states--from the tornado in Joplin, MO, to snowstorms in MA. We've been to MD, FL, WV, LA, OK, NE, and many other places. We're a highly trained and very effective crew of professional linemen.

I understand the frustration of being without power. I worked Hurricane Rita in Beaumont, TX, and slept on the ground for several 16-hour days with no showers, eating aging box lunches that weren't refrigerated, etc. I get the fact that it's uncomfortable.

There are some things you need to understand. One is that it's easy to get killed or burned beyond recognition from a downed power line. Actually, there are many hazards that can kill you. One of the worst is customer-installed generators that can back-feed a line. Most people don't realize that when you hook up a generator to a house, you may feed 120 volts to that house. And if you do it wrong, you can feed 7200 volts back onto the line that may be laying in your driveway.

I will explain how electricity gets to your house and how it gets restored.

High voltage power is delivered to the substation in your area. It's usually 161,000 volt lines that feed the substation.
From the substation, 12000 volt lines feed out through the neighborhood to single-phase lines that feed through alleys and property lines.
Transformers take the voltage down to usable voltage in your home (120-240 volts.)
Your service wire goes from the transformer to your house.
The first thing that has to work are the transmission lines feeding the substation. If there is no power to the substation, none can go out.

Then the “backbone” has to become hot. The backbone is 12000 volt lines that feed the laterals that then feed into your neighborhoods and your transformers. Then the secondary wire goes up, connecting the services to you house. If your house is fed off of the backbone, chances are your lights will come on faster than if you're fed from a lateral. If you live at the end of the line, your lights will come on last. That's just the way it works. If you live in a place that has 10000 customers, chances are your lights will come on before someone who lives in an area with 100 customers. If you're the last customer (out in the boonies), chances are you'll be the last one on.

Get the highest density on first. That's just how it is. EVERYONE is important, and we try to get the most people on as quickly as possible.

One thing you should remember: no utility guarantees service; it would simply be impossible to do so. Every utility does its best to keep the meter turning, and that's just good business. There's a good chance that I'll be there next week helping restore your service. Hope I get to meet you.