Post #8880

Just got back from a neighbor's house. The on going solar project of his. He decided last week to move his meterbase closer to the road so he could move his shipping containers further from the center of the property to make a little more room for the solar arrays. Yesterday we spent the day covering up the trench we dug to expose the service feed from the pole. Then he installed two ground rods. Got them almost in the ground all the way and one missed stroke with the sledge and he broke the handle off. So he decided that could wait until today to finish with a new sledge. Finished pounding the posts in this morning and he called hte power company to get power turned back on and they want an inspection. I knew this was coming but I figured he had an "in" with the power company. he doesn't. So it turns out the zoning and planning here is so rural they have to borrow an inspector from another county and he only works Tuesdays and thursdays. Ahhhhh the speed of government. Another issue he's having is that city water is available and he used to have a mobile home on this property. But he turned off the water 3 years ago since there was no need in paying $30 a month for not using water. So he went to turn on the water and they decided this year that "there are fixed and variable costs associated with water lines" and so if you have had the water shut off for 3-5 years you must pay the $30 a month x number of months no service in order to restore service. If >5 years they want even more money to do a "meter upgrade". What a racket. He's not having a good week.