Solar Update: A test of my limited patience....
I love my solar panels. They were promptly and professionally installed in March, and then the city of Stratford and the helpful people at Next Step Living worked together to get the building permit filed and approved, and everything is done and ready to go. BUT.... But that was March 27, 2014, when we got the green light. Then, they said, all we'd have to do is wait for one visit from the electric company, United Illuminating, based in Orange, Connecticut. They said it should take 2-3 weeks. That was over TWO MONTHS AGO. Yes, I'm talking to you, UI. The UI guys were supposed to come and approved everything, then sign off to let us start generating our own power. But for some reason, they are dragging their feet. So I sent many emails to Next Step Living, and the folks there say this is happening to many of their customers. In late May we passed some sort of "official limit" to the foot dragging, but I don't know what that means, because nothing happened.
Curious. I can't imagine what the motive might be for UI to drag its feet. Because every day they wait, I have to pay them for power instead of generate it myself. So it makes sense for them to maybe assign one very slow, befuddled person to handle the task, to see how long they can string this along. I can't say I'm surprised, but I can say I'm disappointed, United Illuminating. I've got all my lovely generator parts and my fancy doodads, and they look cool, but right now, this is expensive roof jewelry. And we're paying on the bank loan while we're paying for power.
Hopefully my household horoscope will move out of Mercury Retrograde in the House of Getting Picky Annoying Stuff Done Within Capitalism's Clutches. What deity am I supposed to bury in my yard to make bureaucracies function? No idea.Update: The solar panels went online in July, and they've been great since they came online. We have a system to monitor the electrical production. We got an electrical bill in September for -$37! All looks like it's working the way it should.