What is the problem with the people from the electric company here? Those who bring the quarterly bill....
For the third consecutive quarter, the guy turned up at the gate at 10am on Thursday. No one was at home but the gate boy, so he disconnects the electricity and stuffs the bill between the gates.
The housegirl - who has been in Libya 9 years, and knows the score with them - takes the bill and just leaves it on the kitchen table, without bothering to tell either of us about it!
By the time Mrs S gets back home, it's 5pm and the electric co. guy is long gone.....and a weekend without power or water.
Along with the pi$$ poor driving, this issue with the electric company is my biggest gripe with this country! 
Rant - electric company
Sandman6
23 May 2010 09:38:31
1863
Siddiqui
23 May 2010 11:30:09
245
Yup, that happens........... by the time the bill shows up at the door it is already past the due date.
They normally pull the circuit breakers out, you should keep a spare set of them at home and use them next time while the bill payment is sorted out.
A couple of our friends' had this while they were away on vacation............ you can imagine the mess they walked into when returned from the holidays........... Not a pretty sight, I tell you!!!!!
Sandman6
23 May 2010 12:12:26
1863
Siddiqui wrote:They normally pull the circuit breakers out, you should keep a spare set of them at home and use them next time while the bill payment is sorted out.
I did think of that option Siddi....but the meter is one of the new anti-tamper type 
I heard from a colleague at work this morning that some of the electric co. offices open up on Fridays and Saturdays, to offer an "expedited" service to reconnect you. Costs an arm and a feckin leg to do it though.
What really got my goat this time was that the bill was dated 16 May - several days before they disconnected us. We used to have the same problem happen all the time in Lagos and was quite quickly solved once they got round to installing pre-payment card meters.
Horizontal Harry
23 May 2010 13:48:56
143
Sandman6 wrote:Siddiqui wrote:
I did think of that option Siddi....but the meter is one of the new anti-tamper type
They're not as tamper proof as you think....
Siddiqui
23 May 2010 14:58:51
245
Our new one still goes through the same old junction box so nothing is changed, no need to tamper with the meter........
Tea 2009
23 May 2010 19:50:39
0
I do not mean to laugh at you misery - I thought it was just me!!!
I found my Nov-Jan bill wet and filthy on the road on a Tuesday - our Accounts paid Wednesday and the electric company disconnected the power on Thursday "due to non-payment". I had to get private guys to fix it up but they could not tap the outside meter so they picked up an electric company worker and he was able to connect it by 23:30 that night, cost was LYD 40.
A local colleague told me to find a way to the number of the electric company guy (any electric company worker for that matter)- or ask you house girl to find out - he can reconnect it for you right away, within a few hours or atleast the same day for LYD 20. Its a sideline. I've done it 2x - done it last thursday, in fact.
It sucks to tolerate corruption and promote moral regression but we gotta get around it!
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