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Posted By: Trumpy Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/01/07 05:24 AM
Have a look at this story guys and tell me wether you think that this family really has a case?.
Stuff.co.nz

Now it seems that if you don't pay your power bill, don't worry, Nanny State will be there to fight for you.
Sure this lady did die, but exactly what do you have to do these days to ensure that if you disconnect a non-paying customer, your customer doesn't need that supply?.
Saturday morning here is my disconnection time, where I go around and disconnect all the places listed on my sheet from various electricity companies.
At one stage I was disconnecting 38 houses in a morning.
Not an easy task, considering that people will take any means necessary to prevent you from accessing their property.
I have keys to a lot of properties here, but most people won't even let you onto their land or have a big dog that will make you think twice.
I'd like to hear from RODALCO about this incident as he is a lot closer to it.
Sure the loss of an oxygen pump is one thing, non-payment of a bill is another.
I would stand by the contractor in this instance.
No-one likes paying for something they've already used (as in electricity), but it IS an essential service.
I would like to ask why there were no markings (or a tag on the pole/pillar box fuse) to say that that supply fed an essential supply?.
Our PoCo here uses them for dialysis patients, we will make sure that during any situation, they get the power back on first and make doubly sure that continuous supply is available.
If the fuse here is Red Tagged, you never pull it.
Your thoughts guys?.
Posted By: RODALCO Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/01/07 07:48 AM
We used to have some form of id or tag on powerpoles and pillars in the old WEPB days, for people dependant upon electricity for medical purposes.
Our old WEPB controlroom had addresses of patients on certain feeders, and they could be contacted in case of a feeder fault or maintenance shutdowns.
Now these days with everything deregulated and lots of poles and pillars upgraded that info is lost.
Because of the customer privacy act the hospitals are not allowed to give critical info to the POCO which makes it even more complicated.
All evidence hasn't come out yet but i think the EMS Vircom contractor who pulled the fuse and was aware of the patient inside should have called his supervisor and let him make the decision.
The family concerned should have contacted 111 and get an ambulance or get the neighbours to so.
Also where was the back up oxygen bottle ?
Awaiting the police findings we wait and see what happens in the next couple of days.
Posted By: RODALCO Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/01/07 07:53 AM
Mike, it is actually MERCURY ENERGY who is in the fix mode.
These are part of the Mighty River Power scheme of the Waikato river.
They supply the greater Auckland area and Wellington. Not sure if they retail in the South Island.

( OT! this is post 691 which is our Titirangi 691 appliance number )
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/01/07 08:25 AM
Ray thanks a LOT mate!.
All I can say over this whole thing is:
Thanks a heap Mr Bradford, look where this has got us.
There seems to be a LOT of nastiness around the internet this morning on NZ sites regarding the actions of Mercury Energy and in particular thier contractor that performed the actual disconnection.
This is wrong.
Mercury Energy is there to supply electricity, that has to be paid for, the contractor is there to operate the electricity system in a safe and economical way.
Let me say this, I lived in a place when I was in Timaru, that had it's power shut off, because one of the guys (flatting situation) that was supposed to pay the power account, with-held the money for his own use.
When the faultsman turned up at the door one Friday afternoon, it came as a real sort of surprise, I can tell you!. laugh
But seriously, power disconnection is a last resort after months of non-payment, there are usually 2 warning letters, at least 2 phone calls from your power company and then a final notice, is served, telling you WHEN the power will be disconnected, (usually within 2 days of the final warning).
So, it's not like the family in this case wouldn't have known the power was going to be cut off.
Finally, I would like to ask this question:
Why is a person that is dependant on oxygen to survive, not in hospital?.
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/01/07 11:09 PM
BTW Ray,
Thanks a lot for the correction.
Oops, I'd hate to have a libel suit start here.
Cheers.
Posted By: 32VAC Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/02/07 01:07 PM
Originally Posted by Trumpy

Finally, I would like to ask this question:
Why is a person that is dependant on oxygen to survive, not in hospital?.


I knew of a couple of people who were on oxygen who were cared for at home with a daily visit from nursing staff to check on the patient.

It is a way of taking the strain off the hospital system by "outsourcing" the care for the want of a better term.
Posted By: noderaser Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/02/07 11:24 PM
Just because someone is on oxygen doesn't mean that they are going to die soon--they could have years left to live. Had to provide an oxygen tank the other day for a kid who's had to use a filtration system for a couple of years. Putting all of those people in a hospital would not only be economically unfeasible, it would be pretty degrading and depressing for them.

However, I think it is safe to say that someone dependant on such a system should understand that they are at a much higher risk of death than people who aren't. Because, without technology, they likely wouldn't be alive.
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/03/07 03:39 AM
Sorry guys, my question asking wether the person should have been in hospital was probably a bit out of line.
But, I will say this though, did the family in question have some sort of a contingency PLAN, in case there was a fault on the Network supplying thier house?.
The electricity systems here have a real habit of failing (just look at my time-sheet for the last 2 weeks), now we have a certain length of time in which to get given circuits operational again, this figure is getting lower and lower all the time, but hey, we aren't perfect and things like the weather and traffic conditions do upset the formula.
The reason I mentioned hospital care was because, if there is a Network failure, hospitals are required to have a No-Break Electricity supply.
Ray,
I couldn't agree with you more in respect to your comments about record-keeping and the Privacy Act here, it's sending us backwards.
The same people that tell us they are in compliance with a "Quality" system are all full of it, if things like this occur, what does this say about the quality systems that are in place.
I say can the lot and start doing things the way we used to, without all the BS and complications.
Rant Over. laugh
Posted By: OldAppy Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/03/07 06:17 AM
Reckon i would be pretty grumpy if it was my Wife or Mother in that situation.
I await the outcome of the police investigation with interest.
Cheers
Posted By: renosteinke Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/03/07 07:48 PM
Mike, I don't think your question was out of line at all!

First, for some background: My next-door neighbor is a quadriplegic. He also relies upon a nebulizer, or oxygen bottles, to supplement his breathing. It's no to say he needs electrical service to live; during sundry power failures, we have either fired up a portable generator, or had an ambulance transfer him to a care facility.

Contrast this to the many instances where the slightest calamity has produced folks who were amazingly well prepared, in a different way, for the disaster. Right away, they call the media, they have receipts, they have all sorts of 'documentation' that attests that the losses were the fault of someone else, that someone should pay. Amazingly enough, there always is some person involved who evokes sympathy: a child, the elderly, the handicapped, the 'war widow.'
Hand-in-hand, there always seems to be some special interest group stage-managing the show ... be it a 'civil rights' group, and 'advocacy' group, whatever.

It's all a sham. Some folks are happy to use professional victims as stepping stones to their own political power- and the media is quite happy to stir thing up.

I don't wish hardship upon anyone - but it's not MY job to carry their load. Power companies are not magically 'just there.' They need someone to pay their bills.

My phone bill would literally be half what it currently is, were it not for the extra charges to provide service to the needy. My PoCo bill is likewise inflated 50% to subsidize others. My payroll taxes would easily be less than a third of what they are ... were it not for sundry 'entitlement' programs.

I spend my days, going from service call to service call. Many times, I am hired by the owner of a rental property - a property whose occupants are not working. It sometimes feels as if I am the only one who has to go to work in the morning!

I'm simply tired of carrying everyone else's load, in addition to my own. If the folks in that story were my neighbors, I'd be happy to lend them my shovel ... IF they put down a deposit. I'm that jaded.
(Who am I kidding? They'll be buried at my expense anyway!)
Posted By: Paulusgnome Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/04/07 08:53 PM
One can only wonder how it came to be that a patient whose life depends on a supply of supplementary oxygen was sent home with only a mains-powered machine to deliver said oxygen. The power companies cannot guarantee an uninterrupted supply, and state so very clearly in their terms of service agreements. If, instead of a deliberate disconnection, the power had gone off due to an outage, this lady would be just as dead but we would be looking for someone in the medical process to pin the blame on.
At a minimum, the patient should have been provided with an oxygen cylinder to use in case of a power outage.
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Mercury Energy in a fix - 06/28/07 04:03 AM
Mark,
I was talking with a fellow Inspector from Christchurch this morning.
The police report on this whole thing has come out as saying basically "no-one is to blame".
Now, can someone please explain to me how it is that people from the contracting company to Mercury can get nasty taunts and bad language assailed at them if, no-one is to blame.
Wasn't it nice of Uncle Helen to come on the news after the incident and say how "shocked" she was that a thing like this could happen in a country like New Zealand.
Well, I have news for her, it is her governments socialist policies that control electricity generation, transmission and to a degree distribution.
Which bit did you miss Helen?, your party caused all of this, so don't come out with rubbish like you didn't know.
Same thing, different day.
Now, lets put all this in perspective, I'm told that there are over 150 disconnections per day in Auckland because of defaulting on power accounts.
How is a company supposed to make money in a climate like that?.
Power companies are not a charity, why does the Government want to make them so, considering that they are often the major share-holder in these companies?.
If you don't pay your power bill, you get disconnected, simple as that.
What happens if your car runs out of fuel?, it is up to you to fill it up again, not go crying to the welfare agencies.
My $0.02 worth
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