After having no power all night, I turn on the computer and the first email message in my Inbox is:

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Subject line: SDG&E My Account: Bill Ready Notification

From: "[e-mail]" <[e-mail]>
Re: Bill Account # **********
Amount Due: $31.47
Payment Due Date: Sep 28 2011

Dear *****,

Your current SDG&E bill is now available to view online at http://myaccount.sdge.com.

You can also view this month's bill inserts at http://www.sdge.com/customer/billInserts.shtml

Through My Account you can:

* View, print or save your bill
* Pay online (if no automatic payment is currently scheduled)
* Sign up for one of our convenient online payment options if you haven't already

Providing online account management is one of the ways we're working to provide exceptional customer service.

SDG&E, A Sempra Energy Utility
http://www.sdge.com

You think they might have waited a couple of days just for the sake of tact?

[trumad]

1. Irony...at its best

[Iggo]

2. That is so cool.

:rofl:

[Kber]

3. Irony, thy name is SDG&E!

Maybe someone there has a sense of humor?

[JayhawkSD]

4. Well, I Think it's computerized, but....

I laughed my ass off when I read it.

When the power first went off I thought it was just another example of what I have begun calling "The Baghdad Power Company" at work. My neighborhood has experienced four outages lasting 12 hours or more in the past five months before this happened. No explanation has ever been forthcoming, and their recorded telephone message merely says "a combination of factors has caused problems with the overhead power lines." There are no overhead lines within several miles of us, so that explanation is a bit odd, and somethimes the explanation says "underground lines" instead.

[begin_within]

6. Yes, it's an automatic notification, we get it once a month, but it's dated today, and

you would think just for the sake of PR that they would have delayed the email messages a couple of days. There's another message from them that was sent last night - apparently they are wired enough to send out email even during a blackout - advising what to do during the blackout, but the bill message definitely arrived in my email this morning, after the blackout ended. I'm still pretty disappointed that their distribution system is set up in such a way that it's possible to have an 8-hour blackout, for 3 million people, and not as the result of an earthquake, fire or other natural disaster.

[snooper2]

11. That probably would have taken a couple conference calls, then get with the Server Admins

Then have them do a maint. window...

Jeez, you can't just flip a switch

Besides, it's only $31 dollars, I'll trade you :rofl:

[Shagbark Hickory]

5. What a co-inky-dink.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Well, they have to pay for those repairs somehow!

Ya can't pay the bills with tact, ya know!

And just to be safe: :sarcasm:

[muffin1]

8. I get where you're going with this, but

your power bill is only $31.47????? :wow:

[begin_within]

9. We have a window air conditioner but I have been using fans for most of the summer.

We only have one TV, one computer, an energy-efficient refrigerator, and a washing machine only. I have been hanging our clothes out to dry each time I wash for the past 30 years. In the summer we eat a lot of salads, which require no electricity to prepare. We are fortunate to live in San Diego, which sees very few extremes of temperature, and we are able to get by with only fans. There were a few days in August that I turned on the A/C in the afternoon, but it is a small Daewoo window A/C and is pretty efficient as A/Cs go. That is one reason why prices of housing are so high in San Diego - heating and cooling needs are not as intense as the ocean moderates the temperature. And, unfortunately, why SDG&E can get away with charging such high rates per kilowatt hour - the actual amounts of energy used are not that high, at least for us. But we get stuck badly on the water bills - July and August bills were both over $200/month.

[GeorgeGist]

10. TO begin_with ...

I don't give a SHIT.

[Dreamer Tatum]

12. Except the problem was with APS, not SDG&E. Heaven forbid you ever get billed.

Jesus.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

13. Well, their motto IS "Here for you every day." They didn't say nuttin' about any nights!

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. A $32.00 electric bill? WOW! I'd love that. My bill is never that low, even in the winter months.

My last bill was for $316.00. x(

[Curmudgeoness]

15. Why do you think they got that power on now?

They knew that you would have to have power to get the bill they sent today! Next week, who knows, you may be in the dark for days!

And this thread and the way it is being hijacked about the amount of your bill----this will show you to enter stars in the amount due section too.