Power Surges

I know that many menopausal women use the figurative term "power surges" to describe their sleep-disrupting hot flashes. Let me tell you though, literal power surges can disturb sleep just as much.

Over the last few months, we've noticed that the voltage in our apartment does not seem to hold steady. The lights will dim for a few moments, or the stand fan will suddenly quieten. In recent weeks, instances of power surges have gotten worse. So much worse, that the constant raising and lowering of voltage has successfully managed to fry our satellite box, despite the box being plugged in to a surge protector. 

Additionally, our back-up generator has become quite confused. In the middle of the night, power will cut out, and the generator will automatically come on. Except then the power surges just a bit -- not enough to actually supply electricity to the house, but enough to make the generator believe that there is a sufficient power supply. So everything electric (fridge, fan, alarm clocks, stove, etc. etc.) turns off again until the voltage lowers and the generator comes on again and the cycle continues. 

The word on the street is that BVI Electric recently replaced a key component in their plant, but they chose the cheapest, worst-made version of the component that they could, and this is resulting in the power surges. Supposedly, the power surges will continue to worsen until the component wears out or something blows up, so we can look forward to another few months of electric futility.