Just because I am curious, after Tuesdayās massive storm damage to my area, do you have a generator?
@MotherDucker No. But I have A LOT of non-perishable, no-cooking-required food (and water) stored up.
Suffice to say I should be OK if the power is out for a while. Even a long while.
If power's out for so long that I run out of provisions... well, gasoline and diesel are perfectly usable fuels for cooking if you know what you're doing. Smelly and unpleasant, but usable.
@IrelandTorin yes! This is how we roll too. I was baffled: the electric company sent out a message to people still without power that they could get one free bag of ice and two free gallons of water. Like thatās some kind of relief. š³
We didnāt lose power for more than a minute, thank goodness, and we are somewhat prepared for extended power outages (after having gone through a 5 day one last year.)
@IrelandTorin I think I am just surprised the water isnāt 1 gallon per household resident. Itās just 2 gallons āper customer.ā
Andā¦ our energy provider is embroiled in scandalsā¦ so I am extra judgy.
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/02/12/ex-first-energy-executives-ohio-utility-regulator-charged-by-state-in-bailout-and-bribery-scandal/
@MotherDucker While I don't really have anything of substance to add about your utility company's shady actions (other than... wow, that really is shady),
I suspect I might know why they went with "per customer" rather than "per household member". It's kinda dumb, but very businessperson/accountant-ish.
They probably don't have good data on how many people are in each household, and wanted to be able to get a firm number for the maximum cost to provide the quoted quantity of water and ice.
@MotherDucker Either that, or they straight-up went out and sourced/bought enough to give every customer two gallons of water and one bag of ice, and if they have some left over plan to distribute it among those who still want more.
That's the most optimistic possibility.
@MotherDucker Admittedly I don't know exactly what the situation is like down there... but to me, a free bag of ice and a couple gallons of water, while not *massively* impactful, do sound like a helpful gesture.
The ice could be used to help preserve items in deep freezers a little longer, and 2 gal of clean drinking water can be enough to keep a person going for a few days if they're smart about it / taking steps to minimize water loss.
Sure beats a kick in the pants with a frozen boot!