The Bloke

After nearly another summer of sub-standard electrical stuffups by Energex, even I'm thinking of going back to the UK where there is apparently a better system of delivering power to homes. The standard of electrical generation in Qld is disgusting and the amount of efficency, sorry, lack thereof makes any third-world country look decidedly better. The trouble is 99% of Australians still say "she'll be apples" and do nothing, while the politicians ripoff the system.

Sorry to those who think I'm having a whinge but after tonight I think I need to let off a little steam, as this PC was nearly fried by the on-off-on-off-on and low output of electricity, affecting houses and units in our street randomly. This was apparently caused by faulty traffic light (saw power crews up pole fixing it, Yeh right). Thought this was the 21st century in a first-world industrial nation, would have been better off in Beleize, as Pollyana
said as abuse was hurled after the joggers crashed into the fence outside. Thank God PC came back to life as it was going to be dumped on the counter of the nearest Energex office tomorrow.

I have been told that the UK system has not had a major outage since the seventies compared to the yearly outages from outdated equipment. And no I'm not Mike Stanton in disguise, but an Australian (Queenslander) who is fedup with the crap that is going on in this state and what is not shown in the glossy brochures shown to people in the UK or anyware. No wonder people get fedup and go home.

The only time this was worse was during the late seventies and early eighties when the striking power unions clashed with the then National Party gov't. At least then we new the reason was political not equipment failure.

ahoy

bloke its snowing here. and any minute now it will flood. and somewhere somebody's pipes will burst. bit like yours just nearly did.

Quinkana

No need to spit the dummy, old Bloke - UPS or Surge Protector perhaps? Or just log of the Poms until you regain composure.

Phoenixuk2oz

No power outage here and we're in Queensland

We've had two in 8 months, both in the middle of the night and both back on by early morning. No worries

Seems you have it bad where you live. Obviously not everywhere in Qld is the same.

And to put some balance back, we had the odd power cut in North UK too when it snowed heavily....

Same sh*t........... shinier bucket maybe

The Bloke

Well maybe they look after the posh part of town then , as we have had two outages in the past week, tonight and last Saturday at Chermside. You seem to have missed the point I was trying make that in this day and age there is no reason on a clear night (ie no storms), that power should be going out regularly. If there was a storm/industial action then you do have a reason for losing power. Even Energex says they have antiqued systems for the massive increase in population and usage.
Had PC surge-protection and it still took over an hour to bring PC back online properly.

Quinkana

Gareth W

You should know by now that you can't just make a simple point like yours on this site without the knee jerk reaction that its just the same or worse in the UK.

The voice/data/power infrastructure south of the river here in Perth is also very variable. Just one of the characteristics of bungling bureaucracies trying to keep up with rapid growth.

markeh

Hiya,
I was up taking a look in Brisbane last winter and it was big news then.
They were on about the state taking too much money out of the elec company and thus things were bad infreastructure wise.

I think the best answer might be to get a genny or solar power / battery storage! Not taking about running all the elc load, but lights and TV / Fridge would be nice.

It peed me off when it kept going down where I live in Brum and had no explanation. It makes you realise how much life stops :scared: when there is no electric.

Bye
Mark

blossom

You may think that the service is more for a 3rd world country, but just remember, in the UK most power supply is underground and therefore not open to the elements. Also the high population, pays in more for electricity, gas, water etc therefore income is much greater over here and enables the utility companies to put more into providing a better service.

Looking at the size of Australia, the lower population numbers and the fact that most power is supplied overhead - you have to accept that there will be cuts and learn to live with it.

You can't have it all ways - just learn to look on the bright side. At least your bills are cheaper in Oz for supply.

Blossom

Hutch

We live Nailsworth in Gloucestershire. This year alone we have had three power outages - one of which lasted for two days. Power is delivered to the homes here by overhead cable and it doesn't take much to stuff them up. Late last year we had an outage that lasted five days - in the end they brought in generators for us all, but only after a LOT of complaining. We also suffer badly from power fluctuations for the same reasons and have UPS units on all our PCs. So you see mate, unless you're living in some shite Whimpy box on a new estate with new wiring and underground delivery of electricity mains, it's just as bad if not worse over here. I seriously think it would take a lot more than an erratic mains electricity supply to make me change my opinion about Australia.

MrsDagboy

Gareth W

Hold on, if MOST power is supplied underground in the UK and almost NONE of it is supplied underground over here - how can it be "just as bad if not worse" in the UK ?

PommieLeague

Reminds me of why the Aussies have soakwells here in WA when a simple rain collecting system should be in place, and they wonder why theres no water.

Pollyana

But as I said to The Bloke tonight - before making a hole in the fence in frustration over yet another lost long email to my sister, and yet another night with no hot dinner, and yet another attempt to save the pc from spluttering into a grave (and yes it has a surge protector) - WHY do we have to live with power cuts that happen for no reason? And when you ring Energex they say "could be a few days" and you ring RACQ for the contents insurance and they say "if its fried mate, tough, take it up with Energex"

The spookiet thing tonight was that it wasn't a total outage, it was a sort of "third-of-normal" supply - all the light bulbs were glowing red, and the TV, video, pc were all flashing on/off/on and rebooting rapidly over and over again. That is more freaky than a total blackout

And incidentally - for those who don't know - he ain't a Whinging Pom (though he is married to one ) The Bloke is a Queenslander, has lived here 40 years, and says he always assumed that the UK power supply was as unreliable as here...........until I enlightened him

pike

Don't think the power cuts would bother me just knowing i have left the uk would bring me pleasure i would look at it as something and nothing