The Power Grid for the Southern States is Maxed Out!

In the Castle's Neighborhood, we are split...those living north of KT, are all on Entergy, which today has been doing some rolling brownouts...dropping service for an hour and then back on again. But the Castle and all residences south are on First Electric Coop...they issued a warning but did not do any brownouts. KT checked the electric service map for Their service and they had 0 outages today!

This is amazing for 40 years ago when the Royal Family moved into the Castle, we used to have power outages several times a year, but over the past 20 years this has reversed and now our neighbors to the north have 2-3 outages a year when we may have 1 that lasts an hour.

However, with these very low temps, we take no chances and keep the wood heater going day and night. It has a flat top, so if the electricity goes out, we can readily cook on it with cast iron pans or griddle.

That is our basic situation...full pantry, full wood rack, and generators on the ready! On Saturday, in prep for this weather, we went and topped off the Chariot and filled up 3 5-gallon cans of gas for the generators.

KingTotsalot said:

However, with these very low temps, we take no chances and keep the wood heater going day and night. It has a flat top, so if the electricity goes out, we can readily cook on it with cast iron pans or griddle.

That is our basic situation...full pantry, full wood rack, and generators on the ready! On Saturday, in prep for this weather, we went and topped off the Chariot and filled up 3 5-gallon cans of gas for the generators.

Click to expand...

Same here basically. Fortunately the previous owner of our house went to extremes to insulate it properly. Even put insulation between the floor joists. We've only used the heat pump a few times when I let the stove burn down to clean out the ashes. Usually let it burn all the coals during the night and clean the next day. We're all electric, 2600 square feet, raising 2 grandchildren and our electric bill hasn't been over $130 (Summer included). Hopefully this weeks winter will be the worst we'll have. Then the Tornado season starts. We're looking to put in a storm shelter soon! HH!

Been burning wood daily here but probably cheaper to run the furnace. House all electric and last bill was $310, what with the four of us home every day. Single digit temps and 10” snow...no outages since last summer, 8 hours. We’re at the end of the grid.

medicchief said:

Same here basically. Fortunately the previous owner of our house went to extremes to insulate it properly. Even put insulation between the floor joists. We've only used the heat pump a few times when I let the stove burn down to clean out the ashes. Usually let it burn all the coals during the night and clean the next day. We're all electric, 2600 square feet, raising 2 grandchildren and our electric bill hasn't been over $130 (Summer included). Hopefully this weeks winter will be the worst we'll have. Then the Tornado season starts. We're looking to put in a storm shelter soon! HH!

Click to expand...

Check out FamilySafe Tornado Shelters out of Joplin, MO for their different models. Superior product and service was great! We purchased a 6 x 6 x 6.5 tall and had it assembled in the Castle Dungeon. Big enough to use as a walk in safe also! It is their bolt together model. If you purchase a prefab unit, you have to go outside to get in it, or at least into your garage or carport to enter it. It bolts to your concrete slab. Incidentally the Castle is 2,700 square feet and was super insulated at the time of building.

amc rulz said:

Been burning wood daily here but probably cheaper to run the furnace. House all electric and last bill was $310, what with the four of us home every day. Single digit temps and 10” snow...no outages since last summer, 8 hours. We’re at the end of the grid.

Click to expand...

Ha ha! The Castle is on the end of the local grid also, amc rulz! Checked this morning and for the First Electric Coop Service in our county has less than 30 outages out of over 14,000 customers...not bad. In the county to the north, over 2% of Entergy service is out. Incidentally, 4 degrees presently, so KT got to wear His Royal Carhardt coat when He went out to load up some more firewood. It is so heavy, it is uncomfortable to wear and move around in above 20 degree weather!

My weather station displayed a low of -6 last night! That has to be an all-time record! At least we still have power, unlike many in our rural area....

In Mo, we've been in single digits for over a week. Last night started getting notifications that unless county wide consumption is lowered, roaming blackouts will ensue. Like there ain't enough going on as it is.

My 41 year old hvac system is working itself to death. It cant keep up. Currently 63 inside


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My heart goes out to all the folks in the south right now. I'm used to this living where we do here in the great white north. But for those of you living where it isn't supposed to get these kind of temps, or large amounts of snow I truly feel for you. I pray this ends soon for ya, and warm weather returns. We were at -15* this morning here in Grayling Michigan, and the sad part is that's not much colder that ya'll are way down there. Stay safe ok.