Utilities and Generators oh my!

Well as our consistent readers will know Roatan has a Utility company that operates with some controversy.

Back a couple of months ago the locals protested the high cost of electricity and got RECO to lower rates until a government audit could be performed to insure that the coop was being managed correctly.

Everything was fine for a while but starting last week RECO has started turning off all power for 3 -4 hours a day. Rumors abound but it looks like the reason for these organized shut downs (usually from 4am to 7am) are to save on fuel costs as RECO is cash poor operating at the new lower rates and does not have credit to purchase diesel. Others say RECO is doing this on purpose to posture for raising the rates in the future. Where is the truth I do not know.

I do know that we have a Diesel generator (we call it little Shaq) at the house and it has been coming on every night and our fans keep running and that's good for us. Yesterday Gene and I checked the batteries and put in some more distilled water (had to go to 3 places to find distilled water of course). We also decided to drain out the water from the water separators. Our generator has 3 inline and the first two drained just a little water flawlessly. The third drain plug / cockney valve broke off in our hands and we had diesel coming out slow but steady. We hooked up a quick funnel drain to a bottle system and Gene took off to look for a new plug as the fuel flowed.

Believe it or not the folks at the AKR engine shop (genes first stop) had a plug and we had the problem stopped in less than an hour. Good thing too as just like clockwork the power went off last night again.

As you can tell from the picture repair work in our generator shed is not cool island work. Take a good look at our glamorous island life above.