Anyone Else Sin Luz?!

[Rich One]

What has that got to do with it? It's not the building its 20 blocks! And move?! Gimme a Break!

jjaajaj Suggest that to Ceviche, the one that Proposed Better Buildings ..! mine was a tongue-in-cheek comment . You didn't get it :wub: One should move to Ceviche's building.?

 

[Ries]

Sorry, but you're not just a little bit wrong here, you're totally wrong. I just Googled the number of electricity providers here in Houston. I knew there were several, but was astonished to find that there are several dozen! - in my zip code alone! In spite of the recession, Houston's still growing but, to my knowledge, has never had a demand overload outage, and all the thousands of new houses get electricity when they need it. The fact that they all don't string their own lines doesn't preclude healthy, non-monopolistic competition.

The baloney's not on Thorsten's plate this time.

You need to dig a little deeper.
Houston "deregulated" electricity.
Which means you still have ONE power company that owns the wires, vaults, transformers, and substations, and is responsible for paying for, and maintaining, the infrastructure- exactly like in Buenos Aires.
Then, there are a variety of financial firms, many of whom do not even generate electricity, who are paying that original utility, in Houston, I believe its Reliant, to use its infrastructure.
The city of Houston has to require Reliant to keep up that infrastructure, exactly the way the city of Buenos Aires does with Edenor, or there would be blackouts in Houston too.
The other players are all riding on that infrastructure.

The basic rule- that the main utility MUST provide enough infrastructure to cover needs, is exactly the same in Houston, or Germany, or Buenos Aires.
And in Buenos Aires, the failing is ALL with Edenor, and Edesur, not building enough infrastructure.
In most cases, the only way a government can ensure that this is done is by passing laws requiring the monopoly utility to do so.

So- the problem in BA is shared- the capitalist owners of the utility didnt invest enough, because the K's didnt force them to.
In Houston, or Germany, the government requires the incumbent utility to do this investment.

In a way, you guys are right that lax government oversight, by K's or Macri, and cronyism, is the problem- but a responsible modern corporation, like the ones in Houston or Germany, would realize you get more customers, and make more money, when the power is working than when its not.

 

[EJLarson]

In a way, you guys are right that lax government oversight, by K's or Macri, and cronyism, is the problem- but a responsible modern corporation, like the ones in Houston or Germany, would realize you get more customers, and make more money, when the power is working than when its not.

We agree on almost everything here, but I hope you see the contradiction in the above quote. Too much (opposite of "lax") government oversight (synonym: intervention) can kill a company's will to do the right thing quicker than poison - even if they'd prefer to do it right. Absent crippling government controls, you're much likelier to see them opt for "you get more customers, and make more money, when the power is working than when its not."

In other words, the customers regulate the business. Won't work every time, everywhere, but in general it beats the hell out of socialistic/fascistic government clamps in the name of populism. And would anyone suggest, today, that Argentina's major problem is lack of government regulation?

 

[Noesdeayer]

Ries:
"lax govermnent oversight" synonym :intervention was twisted to its utmost populist degree by the Ks to mean standing up to money grabbing capitalist foreign utility companies.Like when Nestor,in France itself,told the French water company with the B.A.concession,"Don't even think about a rate increase".They later just walked away from their contract.Who in their right mind is going to invest in infrastucture in a country with close to run away inflation?




ce again it was look to the central gov't for everything Big Brother will take care of all your needs.
Even if it causes you to endure 30% yearly inflation

 

[mikic007]

@EJLarson

Generaly I would agree, but for example in former Yugoslavia we lacked many things, but never ever electricity. And it was completely under communist control. Now we have similar system as mentioned in Houston and Germany and still there aren't any unscheduled blackouts, because companies take this seriously.

If you will give the companies here complete liberty, it will be disaster, as we can see with trains and such. Also, price of electricity must be regulated, since it's not something you can choose to have. But I agree Argentina would already have sufficient production, if prices would be similar to the ones in Europe and USA..

As far as I know, new buildings are paying connections on the network, but this money never ends in improvements, obviously.

 

[Ceviche]

jjaajaj Suggest that to Ceviche, the one that Proposed Better Buildings ..! mine was a tongue-in-cheek comment . You didn't get it :wub: One should move to Ceviche's building.?

Ok. You guys can make fun of me. But i never had power cuts or loss of water or gas supply or a planned robbery in my building since 2009..i live in this building.

But i empathize with people suffering from power cuts. I grew up in Congo with dailyyy power cuts and mosquitos buzzing in the ear in hot weather. So i am glad to get a reprieve now. Have already faced my share of hardships - not born in a first world country.

 

[Rich One]

Ok. You guys can make fun of me. But i never had power cuts or loss of water or gas supply or a planned robbery in my building since 2009..i live in this building.

But i empathize with people suffering from power cuts. I grew up in Congo with dailyyy power cuts and mosquitos buzzing in the ear in hot weather. So i am glad to get a reprieve now. Have already faced my share of hardships - not born in a first world country.

You can send via PM your address so I can share the joy of your Building...?

 

[Johnny]

I log in to BAExpats for the first time since I left in October and this is the first thread I see. This was exactly the big issue(or one of them) when I left. The more things change...

 

[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.

4 days later...

I knew I shouldn't have said anything. Multiblock apagón here last night.