THis was on the local TV news last night:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/3623770.stm

I can't imagine living without electricity, but then I doubt any of us at ECN could!

I wonder about the £19,000 bill though. Suffolk is a mostly rural county, but this is the southern half of England where nowhere is very far from civilization. It must be very isolated.

 
It’s probably impossible to know the length of the line extension. Years ago, power sales would partially subsidize new construction, and having more appliances would qualify for a longer line extension without additional charges. Deregulation and utility competition have spoiled that idea.

One plus may be that if others want new service along the line, the original customer would be reimbursed a portion of their original £19,000 investment.

A 11 kV line can cost $10' per kilometer to build. Therefore, you don't have to live very far from civilization for the cost to be $19'. Most people wouldn't realise this for the reasons given by Scott. A few pence per kWh turns into a lot of money in ten years.

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 09-03-2004).]

I'm upset if the power blinks out for a second while I'm on the computer. If you want to see angry, though, I did a month for a cable TV company. You should see how upsetting it is for some people to be without TV for an hour. I had to leave that job. I couldn't take the pressure.

HV Reticulation is never a cheap to do at the best of times.
I would have hated to see the looks on the faces of customers I've assisted to install Spur lines for, when they open the Invoice envelope.
It would be the exact opposite to winning the lottery!.
And at the end of the day, the PoCo still owns and mantains your lines, that you have just paid for!?!.
Truly weird!.