I often talk about my little rural town here. Well under 10,000 folks. I don't live in a suburb. I am on an island away from any major metro area.
I get my power from a cooperative we buy into with other small towns in our area. I don't have the numbers in front of me per kilowatt, but last month I paid $53.61 for power. Now I get gas for heat, but I have a five bedroom house.
Follow me below for why I bet you should be pissed.
We were told to continue to buy our power from this source we needed to upgrade everything. So our City Council said we will make it happen. Moderate Republican BTW.
In like 8 months we have done that.
Across the main streets in our town there is a new "twin" pole up next to the old one and new cables running.
Every older pole has a new one dug next to it. I need to count, but I bet about 100.
New power lines running through all of them. Super high-tech looking stuff.
I need to take some pics cause the junction boxes and the wiring would blow your mind. What it should look like in 2013. I bet we are "good" for the next 30 or 40 years.
Over time we will switch over to the new lines ....
Best I can tell from the City Council meetings we did 75% of the work. We had to farm some of it out, but not alot.
But then again my town ran a $1.98M surplus last year.
Better things are possible.