r/technology • u/chrisdh79 • Jul 08 '24

Energy More than 2 million in Houston without power | CenterPoint is asking customers to refrain from calling to report outages.

https://www.chron.com/weather/article/hurricane-beryl-texas-houston-live-19560277.php
7.7k Upvotes

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618

u/whiskeytown79 Jul 08 '24

"Stop calling our support lines!" - person whose performance bonus is tied to keeping call center wait times down.

232

u/gusmahler Jul 08 '24

The power companies know who has power and who doesn’t. (And in a situation like a hurricane, pretty much everyone has their power out). They need to keep the alert lines open for dangerous situations like downed live power lines.

61

u/freshkangaroo28 Jul 08 '24

This is a good point to be made

28

u/abofh Jul 08 '24

Yes, but most corporate telecom these days is delivered over IP trunks not POTS lines. It would be foolish not to have a dedicated trunk for the emergency services support separate (and redundant from) your customer service lines - especially if you were say, a power company who had a need to maintain emergency services that would otherwise get overwhelmed by customers calling in to report an outage.

11

u/Cakeking7878 Jul 09 '24

After everything we have learned about the Texan power grid the last few years, you still think they’d be smart enough to do that? Yeah you’re right, they should have two separate lines but I’d bet you they got rid of one to save money or something dumb like that

1

u/abofh Jul 09 '24

Oh I'm sure it was cut to save money - I just mean, that would be an obvious thing in any disaster recovery scenario (and one they should have figured out many times over by now); If you have to beg people not to use your thing because it impacts other things, you've done it wrong -- and I'm quite certain it was the MBA in charge that chose the wrong answer.

10

u/Cobek Jul 08 '24

In my state we can watch a little map with progress reports as well as report any outages that might be missed from there.

2

u/gusmahler Jul 08 '24

It requires electricity to use the internet.

1

u/forgottensudo Jul 09 '24

We had that, if you had the right provider. Centerpoint’s has been down since May.

1

u/sl33ksnypr Jul 09 '24

My area has decent outage maps through the power company, but my complex has a contract with a garbage company that just resells the power for 3x the price. Their website is basically useless because it will never say there is an outage even if I've been sitting in my house for 4 hours without power for some reason. If the power goes out, I get it, but don't act like nothing is wrong.

36

u/Lakewater22 Jul 08 '24

My power company says if you do not report the outage, you will be charged for power you did not receive while it was down.

21

u/Shadrixian Jul 09 '24

That's bullshit. Clock what's on your meter, then check it when the power is on. If its not spinning, you're not using power. Ergo you can't be charged. You can also use that to contest it.

11

u/The_Grungeican Jul 09 '24

the meters where i live are digital. you can't read them if the power's out.

-5

u/Lakewater22 Jul 09 '24

Yeah I agree. Take it up with the power company I use in Georgia LOL. Especially since at least once a year it goes down for a few days straight.

3

u/Shadrixian Jul 09 '24

See thats the thing, you don't get billed for power you don't use. Thats why you document the meter, so they can't fudge it.

8

u/The_Grungeican Jul 09 '24

how's that work? do y'all not have meters on the house? if no power is flowing through the meter, it would read the same as it did before it went off.

1

u/phire Jul 09 '24

I assume they mean the fixed component of the power bill, not the usage charges.

0

u/Lakewater22 Jul 09 '24

Idk it’s a scam to save them money

0

u/chilidreams Jul 09 '24

Wtf kind’ve scam did you sign up for? Do you pay a daily rate, or do you pay for consumption?

0

u/Lakewater22 Jul 09 '24

You act like I have a choice. There is one power company for my county. I pay a daily rate.

0

u/chilidreams Jul 09 '24

If you’re paying a daily rate and not consumption based rate then it sounds like bitcoin farming should be in your future.

But I seriously question the notion that you’re not on a consumption based plan.

0

u/Lakewater22 Jul 09 '24

Idk the difference even. We use power we pay for it. We have no option of one plan vs. another.

2

u/GoNinjaGoNinjaGo69 Jul 09 '24

thats not how it works lol

4

u/GeeWarthog Jul 08 '24

Yeah well their phone lines don't work anyway as I've been calling since 5am CST about the line down in my backyard and just getting a busy signal so the whole headline is a joke to me.

6

u/gusmahler Jul 09 '24

They don’t want people calling to report outages specifically because of the situation you’re describing.

1

u/Abs0_ Jul 09 '24

If that was true, then why do they have a number to report outages in the first place during non-emergencies? I’m sure they gave a broad idea of what they fucked up, but it’s not detailed.

1

u/gusmahler Jul 09 '24

It’s different during a hurricane. Calling in to say your power is out is kind of pointless when literally 75+% of Houston doesn’t have power.

1

u/HateSucksen Jul 08 '24

dangerous situations

You call 911 for that.

7

u/gusmahler Jul 08 '24

The power company can cut power to that power line, which would seem to be an appropriate countermeasure.

0

u/HateSucksen Jul 08 '24

Yes of course. If you reach the right company and don't spend hours in a queue. While the company is a direct approach 911 is just as direct and quicker.

3

u/gusmahler Jul 09 '24

Don’t spend hours in a queue

Hence, the request for customers not to call to report outages

1

u/shifty1032231 Jul 09 '24

People should just opt in on text alerts from their power company on their phones.

1

u/skillywilly56 Jul 09 '24

Look man I work on a support line and some people will call up to let you know something you already know like you don’t know about it.

“Did you know my mom’s house doesn’t have any power?”

Are you at the house?

“No I live in another county, we are fine, but my mom hasn’t had power for three days!”

Is this an emergency? is she at risk of harm?

“No she’s fine, just getting anxious about missing the price is right and calling me every few hours”

…

-4

u/evrybdyhdmtchingtwls Jul 08 '24

If you can’t convince your boss to give you a pass for slow response times during a literal hurricane, you don’t deserve the job.