Power

It was very encouraging to observed two Ameren (power company) trucks in the alley this morning. I kept watching to see if the electrical contractor (Rob) would show up since "Our" Mike said they would be coordinating the power line relocation with Ameren. Rob never materialized, but I soon learned why the survey company had remarked all the underground utilities last week. The Ameren crew started boring an 18" diameter hole next to the existing power pole. Spenser and I decided to investigate. Sure enough, the Foreman said they were going to replace the pole. When I asked why, he shrugged and said he was told to replace the pole. The old pole is at an angle, but I've seen much worse. The hole they bored turned out to be eight feet deep. The Foreman said we would be without power for a couple of hours. Not just us, everyone who pulls power off this line (probably everyone on the alley). He said he did not know if it would happen today, as he was not sure when the new pole would arrive. In response to my question about selecting the color of the new pole, the Foreman said "certainly, as long as you want wood grained".

The Foreman asked me if I thought our west neighbors would be receptive to allowing them to use their driveway to deliver the new pole. I told him that the neighbors have been very accommodating during our project, but he needed to get their permission.

Spenser and I wished the Ameren crew well and continued on our rounds. During that journey, we realized that neither of us actually knew whether or not these guys were going to reroute our overhead power line in addition to installing a new pole. Once we got back to the house, Spenser suggested I go back out and ask. I did and the Foreman said that "pushing" the new power line through the new conduit is part of their job scope, but he doubted they would get to that today. Therefore, we may have a couple of power outages this week.

Thinking back to a story "Our" Mike told us about when the power company replaced the pole in front of his house. The power company did their job, but then the phone company and the cable company both needed to move their lines over to the new pole before the old pole could actually be removed. I believe Mike told us it has been over two years now and those lines have never been moved. He still has two poles in front of his house.

When we left around 10:30 am to go out for breakfast and visit the store, the Ameren crew was waiting for the new pole to arrive. When we returned around 12:30 pm, our power was out, the new pole was in place and the crew was installing a new transformer.

Power was back on around 1:30 pm. It was probably off a couple of hours. They cut the old pole off just above the cable and phone lines. I bet it stays there a long time.  No word regarding when they will be back to "push" the power line through the underground conduit. Maybe tomorrow???

They left the old transformer frozen in a water puddle. I wonder if they did that to make it harder to steal? These guys did a nice job and obviously knew what they were doing.