Anyone Else Sin Luz?!

[Alicia karr]

BASTA! Even for BA this is very disappointing. No longer extreme heat (typical excuse) and here we go again without power. (Well at least I'm prepared now with all my recent experience.) From my Recoleta balcony it looks like this goes from Libertador to Las Heras. I had friends yesterday and today in Caballito and Quilmes without power for hours....I know that infrastructure stuff but it's beginning to sound like a whine. Do we need to start taking to the streets? I'm "mad and I ain't gonna take it no more". I hate feeling powerless, pun intended. Is the only option to "irse" which I'm already seriously contemplating?

 

[RodalfoWalsh]

I've got power thankfully we haven't lost power once this year.

 

[Ceviche]

Is the only option to "irse" which I'm already seriously contemplating?

No. you will be missed!

Consider moving to a better building which will probably be more expensive but then you don't have to leave. eg-I have never had a power blackout in my building.

 

[Silvie]

I had an outage yesterday for 1 or 2 minutes. I get this once in a while.

 

[syngirl]

Well the infrastructure stuff unfortunately isn`t a whine -- the system was already bad previous to the Ks and they didn`t invest so it really will take time to recover it. That said moving can help -- generally if you live near a commissaria your power tends not to go out. Or if you move to less dense areas (we are in Villa Urquiza and have had only a couple of outages and they last minutes) -- but it depends on your grid as well, in Las Canitas in 5 years in our place the power went out once (or once that was significant in my memory), but it was when it was over 40 degrees and it lasted a day and a half.

 

[gpop]

I lost power on Thursday for 4-5 hours, only my block was affected, (although on Friday and Saturday morning I noticed that many parts of V. del Parque were without stoplights and businesses were running on generators. Unfortunately this is now quite common for this area). Friday after the blackout I got a couple of butane lanterns and lamp oil to supplement my electric lanterns and flashlights (it's easier to find butane and propane than it is to recharge batteries- at least until I have a a solid solar system in place). I also changed all the light bulbs in my house to LEDs... it's been an expensive weekend but I have plenty of backups and have reduced my consumption quite a bit.
It is odd though; I wouldn't think that other areas were having power issues so something weird is definitely going on with infrastructure in the city - but hey - I roll with it.

PS, if you move, moving on the same block as a hospital is your best bet, parking would suck.... but well...

 

[thorsten]

For me this was probably the best year for power outs. Just had 4 each of which was max. half a day - way better than the last years. I guess they traded better electricity service for worse internet service as the quality there significantly decreased...

 

[AmigoArtistico]

This is the first time since arriving in 2004 that I've gone a year without losing power.

Now that I've said it, I wonder if I'll be able to finish this post before the power goes out.

 

[mikic007]

Hospital is good bet you won't have long outages, but this can change. In our block they were making some "improvements" and later we realized that all work was just to separate hospital from the rest of us. Now the traffic lights and hospital have electricity when we are without. Argentinian way to solve things, unfortunately...

 

[Ries]

Well the infrastructure stuff unfortunately isn`t a whine -- the system was already bad previous to the Ks and they didn`t invest so it really will take time to recover it. That said moving can help -- generally if you live near a commissaria your power tends not to go out. Or if you move to less dense areas (we are in Villa Urquiza and have had only a couple of outages and they last minutes) -- but it depends on your grid as well, in Las Canitas in 5 years in our place the power went out once (or once that was significant in my memory), but it was when it was over 40 degrees and it lasted a day and a half.

Since Edenor and Edesur have both been privately owned since 1992, I dont see exactly how you can blame the lack of investment on the Ks. I suppose if the K's had been MORE socialist, they could have either nationalized the power companies, or forced the private companies to spend their profits in the way the government demanded...

But, realistically, you can only blame good old private industry, rich investors, and capitalism for the fact that the substations and the power infrastructure has not been improved enough to handle the loads of all those new 7 story buildings on every block.