What Preps are you doing this week? Part 12

[Yorkshire Andy]

Never expected my preps this week to be as they are
Have 3 adult children 1 well into the prepping as I am 1 literally just got into it (got two small toddlers and fear of war ) and one with 3 kids who thought up to yesterday we were all crazy !
She had smart meters fitted in June in all fairness her old meters both showed error and in went the smart meters
Electricity meter showed error from start
Rang up made appointments for engineers the utility company cancelled all 3 appointments on the day they were due
Bills paid on time ( £303 in credit )
Yesterday all Electricity off in 28 degrees
After checking the boards rang supplier..cut off ..remotely
That answers one question I had ..yes they can
No prior warning no communication just off
Her partner in for heart op today and youngest same problem so they're on priority list
3 kids under 11
8 hours of horrendous phone calls where the company said its a terrible mistake on their part they are very sorrry but need a engineer out to activate it and yes shes in credit doesn't owe anything and protocol not followed
Me ..you cut them off remotely switch them on
By then daughter amd kids all crying
Other daughter is in Wales on the top of a massive hill
She said we could probably survive 15 yr here with what we have she can't survive 15 mins ....
True she didn't even realise the gas shower had a electric socket next to it
Out came all my jackerys ( thank you Pseudonym)
Out came the phone power packs ( thanks YA )
9 last night the engineer came he hadn't been told until 8
Again fault by utility company
He ripped the smart meter off the wall and put in a bog standard electric meter and said ring up pay bills with meter reading and put his own complaint in ..never heard of that before either ! He was fuming that someone with 3 kids had been left like this ..loved the power pack set up too and said he has his own ( but mine better )
Daughter said to me this morning show me where I can get the jackerys and teach me what you know
Anything can happen anytime but seeing your own family in pain isn't nice ..those poor kids in that heat too
Shes ordering the power stations and the power packs now
And looking at long life food and storage
Out of the bad comes the good
A few choice words have been sent to the company and the CEO ..wont make a difference but makes me feel better

That's the flip side of the deal like us having free electricity since last January to March rest assured I have had any compensation you get worth out of the greedy baskets our boiler stayed off bar hot water and we burned out a electric radiator


Loss of power dead meter ring 105 and talk to northern power grid they don't mess about sod the useless providers

People still don't believe about the smart meter remote disconnect... there's a ruddy great contactor (switch inside) I've seen the inside of one

Bang on
Anyone can Google smart meter remote disconnect tells you there and then ...supposedly for those in debt not 300 quid overpayment with 3 kids and a ruddy heart op !
Sounds like you had a bit of fun there YA would have loved to see it
Northern Power grid ... I'll remember that ! Thanks

To say we kicked the backside out of it was an understatement tumble drier didn't stop either

[diamond lil]

I'm way behind with reading posts but I would like to say re water storage, ladies and wrinklies need to be careful about the weight. I nearly pulled an arm out of its socket trying to lift a big container from amazz. Stupidly saw the delivery driver (who was about 21, 6ft 9" and a champion weightlifter) carry 2 of them up a flight of stairs to my door, and didn't thinK, just picked one up. Briefly. Then yelped and dropped it.
GG I'd be plastering that post re the elect co, all over Twitter and FB!! And get the daughter to request a refund, I can do that anytime from Octopus, I don't let the credit balance go very high.

[Frnc]

You buy water of Amazon? How big are they? I just buy empty containers and fill them. 5 litres is a good size. I do have some 10 liter containers full as well. You have to be a bit careful with those. I do have a 25, but it's empty. That one is very tricky to handle when full. I swap the water out once or twice a year.


frnc our water in these flats is horrible, comes from a tank in the roof space. Always warm.

[GeeGee]

I'm way behind with reading posts but I would like to say re water storage, ladies and wrinklies need to be careful about the weight. I nearly pulled an arm out of its socket trying to lift a bit container from amazz. Stupidly saw the delivery driver (who was about 21, 6ft 9" and champion weightlifter) 2 of them up a flight of stairs to my door, and didn't thinK, just picked one up. Briefly. Then yelped and dropped it.
GG I'd be plastering that post re the elect co, all over Twitter and FB!! And get the daughter to request a refund, I can do that anytime from Octopus, I don't let the credit balance go very high.

Can you let the very fit young delivery man go now please hes needed elsewhere where
In all seriousness I hope your arm is ok ...

[Frnc]

Got the front and back doors open. Air coming in is slightly cooler downstairs, but my bedroom window's giving me nothing. Expecting 30° today. My room is 27.1 already. Could be worse - Spain recorded 45.5 yesterday. Portugal and France not much cooler. Must dig out my cooling towel and stay hydrated.

[Arzosah]

Good grief - I'm behind on coming onto this thread, though I'm here nearly every day. Horrific, GeeGee! Obviously, I'm with everyone else about compensation from the firm, and I'd also say, don't accept their first offer, challenge it quickly. I suppose the only positive to come from all that is that your daughter has the strength to realise what's going on on a wider scale, and come to you for help, that's a big deal.

Lil - I'm with you on the weight of a filled water rank. I confess, I just use 2 litre bottles from the supermarket. I'd love something like the ones on that website (tanksdirect) but weight is a deal-breaker for me too. And to be honest, I'm trying to minimise the amount of plastic stuff I buy. Plus I have an unused plastic water butt on its side lying in my garden

[Yorkshire Andy]

The bigger tanks are static and you use a pump to extract saves any heavy lifting eg

It's all about making your prepping as unobtrusive as possible and utilising dead space to maximise your storage options

[pseudonym]

The bigger tanks are static and you use a pump to extract saves any heavy lifting eg

Screenshot_20250813_102058_Chrome.jpg

It's all about making your prepping as unobtrusive as possible and utilising dead space to maximise your storage options

I have a couple of these, alongside a 20 litre Military water canister.

You can get battery operated ones but I wanted the manual style

[Mad Scientist]

GeeGee that’s a terrible thing to happen! Squeeze the life out of them! Lots of luck with everything, what a tough time for you all. Very well done for being so organised.

[GeeGee]

GeeGee that’s a terrible thing to happen! Squeeze the life out of them! Lots of luck with everything, what a tough time for you all. Very well done for being so organised.

Thanks
They rang daughter today and apologised and asked can we close the case
The answer was a definite NO
Want the money at least back for what she's spent on the jackerys etc
She was the only one who really thought ..things will be ok ...they wont do things to people with kids ....
She isnt that person since Monday ..
Already has a prepping cupboard taking it slowly and adding as she shops ...