ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Well Who do you ask?

Guys,
I don't want to cut a lot of you out of this argument, by all means jump in.
I was talking with a former colleague who is working in Invercargill now and he asked me this:
Since we've lost all of our Power Boards to the Max Bradford idea of cheaper power, where do you go these days if you want a bit of free, friendly advice on Installation work.
Given that we have to comply with various Stupid Standards and other rubbish, all he wanted was a clear-cut opinion, from someone with clout.
Now, without actually wanting to sound too silly here, I am quite biased, working for the local Lines Company, which was a Power Board, before Mr Bradford told us we would have to sell the retailing side of the Company.
This would mean cheaper power for all, we were told.
Now, we have a situation, where work goes un-certified and what my mate was talking about, you have no advice at all.
Unless, that is, you have to pay for a consultant (Inspector) to answer your question.
I have one Inspector that answers all questions for free, he hates the paper-work.
But guys, is this the road we are heading down?.
What is the point of working in an industry where the answers aren't readily available.
Sure as I said, I work for the Lines Co, but at the end of the day, who wants to pay exorbitant rates just to have a question answered.

Trumpy,
I have yet to fail to have a technical query answered on the net. Guys like yourselves have a wide collective knowledge. I am also a member of several other forums and I find I can safely and comfortably ask questions that may seem almost dumb to some. It really is time that we realised that knowledge is a wonderful attribute which should be shared and gleaned without restriction.
Any one asking for a fee, tell them to pedal it elsewhere.

I second that Lyle, by the way aint someone pedaling info for a fee a consultant, don't they usually talk to you, get the info from you, then charge the earth to you for giving it you back!
Long live the ECN.

Trumpy, tell them to come here. For any kind of advice.
Since this forum has several parts, means that I can be here too, mostly in the Computers and the Internet topic, which is also again one area where people like to have a huge amount of money from us all to answer silly questions as how to set up an e-mail account.

I suggest everyone to jump in and ask.

As my mother used to say "better to ask than to do something stupid".

Well,
I'll just hop off the soap-box now!.
Seriously though, there are a lot of dis-illusioned Electrical workers over here, (Electrician's mainly) as far as the way that the system is being run.
Considering that one wrong move here, these days, could cost you your Registration and a lot of money, not only in fines, but legal bills as well.
If you are unlucky enough to be hauled in front of the authorities here, you are more or less guilty, until you can prove your own innocence.
This is wrong.

I'm so confused about when did you write your answer. Is the time always US time, or local time?

Gloria,

The times shown for each post are always U.S. Eastern Time (GMT - 5 hours during winter) regardless of where the member is located.

This is the local time zone for where the ECN server is located (Long Island, NY).

On the same side of the coin, I would like to be able to ask a few questions of you guys on the subject of 11kV+ Lines work, but at the end of the day, that just isn't possible, because there are no other Line Mechanics here.
It's nothing against you guys, it's just that HV stuff is totally different to anything else in the Electrical field.
Guessing at these sorts of voltages will land you in Hospital for a long time.

Trumpy, I'm sure you'll find someone to ask sooner or later here, cause every day more people use the internet, and able to find this site.

My suggestion would be to open a HV area in the General discussions area, or a very different area.

(I know no similar words for area. LOL)

Trumpy,
I have significant experience in transmission and distribution systems. I am always willing to consider questions but to tell you the truth, I mostly just like to browse!