California utility to cut power to 27k customers to reduce wildfire risk
Wow, is this forever or only temporary? I know just a few hours or a day without power is a huge downside for me... Sounds horrible.
I guess they are forced to get a solar setup or move somewhere else... Which if no power, probably lowers home values so moving is a hassle. Plus you got to sell your house, finding another house that you like and is comparable, moving your things... Some people live paycheck to paycheck so moving right now would be a huge pain.<p>I got a friend in Florida and we were talking about solar a few years ago. Apparently in Florida if you set up your house for solar and make enough and store it to power everything... You are still legally required to pay the utility company to be hooked up or the county can condemn your house and kick you out. Sure you might end up using zero kilowatt hours, but still, all these other fees tacked on. Also required to get permission and inspection by that same power company too. So the sunshine state isn&#x27;t friendly to solar, so ironic. I love Florida otherwise though, a bunch of nice places and things to do there.<p>I&#x27;ve been watching some full-time RV and digital nomad YouTubers on and off... Really makes me feel like minimalist and enough solar to be self-sufficient in an RV would be a great lifestyle. If you want to move you just have to put your things away, bring in the awning, slides, jacks then turn the key and go! I figured if I did it I&#x27;d try to stay in an area for a week or two though as I think moving every day would be annoying since I&#x27;d probably go for a bigger rig more home feeling. Probably private RV parks, national parks, state parks. Some cities and counties also have RV parks to try and attract tourists to their area. so mostly paid options, but then national forests and out west tons of BLM land to boondock on for free, however, some of these agencies do have some paid areas too.<p>Plus I kinda feel like you don&#x27;t even own your house truly. Some places are so picky you even need a permit to install a doorbell. Then HOAs are even more of a pain, I heard in some if your mailbox paint is chipping the HOA can fine you and even take away your house at some point. At least with RVs, they are considered vehicles instead so the local building code guy has no power unless you are parked someone that disallows RVs. Then I remember hearing about an HOA who was harassing a veteran for flying the American Flag.<p>If you decide to full-time RV since you no longer own a house or rent an apartment you can choose to be a resident in any state friendly to nomads, such as domiciling in South Dakota or Texas which each has their own list of pros and cons. Some people are even forced to change their residence anyways as their former state won&#x27;t let them use a mail forwarder. Was reading someone who formerly lived in Michigan changed their license and reg online to a mail forwarder located in the state as they wanted to still be residents there, and got a nasty letter with like only 10 days to correct their address or face suspension of their license and registration. I guess in a way RV people are considered homeless even if you have a half a million dollar RV that costs more than the house it&#x27;s parked in front of. I think states do this also to try to discriminate against homeless people&#x27;s voting rights too.<p>So forced to change their domicile to another more friendlier state or use a relative address. But I guess if Michigan doesn&#x27;t want full-time RVers to call them home, oh well as they can lose out on those resident income taxes since they no longer had a job in MI but being a resident still means all income is still taxable there even if they worked in no income tax Texas for a seasonal job they&#x27;d still owe back to MI even if they haven&#x27;t been there in over a year as they still claimed MI as their domicile. At least with South Dakota, you can spend only 1 night there at a hotel, rent a mailbox and be considered a resident. Then can register your car and RV without bringing it with you if you flew there on a short notice as given little choice. SD even allows you to register by mail too unlike some states that require you to physically bring it with you to be inspected. if SD was like that then you&#x27;d have to pretty much drive straight to SD before that 10 days was up, hoping you still have time left by time you even got the notice. So if you had to change things on short notice, South Dakota is a perfect state if your former home state you lived your entire life in decides to make you a refugee.<p>So I guess living in an RV would work out if you made enough money remotely or retired... Probably someone who lives in a big city with a 2,000 a month apartment would save a bunch possibly. However, while it has it&#x27;s pros, there&#x27;s also cons and challenges too like the whole where do you live on paper.<p>I know people are into van life too, but I don&#x27;t think I&#x27;d be comfortable in a small space, plus people try to just park and sleep wherever for free. Some are successful, some get woken up by the police at 3 AM in the morning. So wouldn&#x27;t want that stress, rather have an actual RV, and a separate car to explore away from it. For example people with a Class A motorhome tow a car behind such as a Jeep - what people call a &quot;toad&quot; in the RV community. If you went with a travel trailer or fifth wheel, unhook and leave that at camp and drive your SUV, van or pickup around.<p>As you don&#x27;t want to try and take the big RV to go shopping or checking out local attractions. Get the RV set up and don&#x27;t move it until your reservation is up. Be a nice lifestyle! I&#x27;m not too happy with where I am now, and I feel like there&#x27;s so much to do and explore around both the US itself and the world even that staying in the same area all your life from birth to death just sounds sad and is depressing.<p>Reading things like this just reminds me of how little control people have. Forced to have only 1 utility for power, for water, maybe 1 or 2 phones, tv and internet providers. Well, some areas 1 cable company, phone company offers fiber-based TV in some areas but of course, there&#x27;s always around 2 satellite options... but then again some cities and HOAs try to prevent people from using satellite even though that violates the FCC&#x27;s Over-the-Air Reception Devices &quot;OTARD&quot; rule. Some don&#x27;t like how they look I guess, some try to limit the number of dishes, etc. I was randomly searching and found there&#x27;s a bunch of cities that still have ordinances banning satellite TV completely... I guess due to giving the local cable company a monopoly as they profit from the franchise fees. Probably would win in court though due to the federal law depending on specifics as some restrictions are allowed to be regulated by the locals narrowly written such as not allowing changes to historical houses or drilling holes into the roof of an apartment building would be a no no as you don&#x27;t own it, etc type of restrictions but still a hassle. You risk getting a misdemeanor criminal record because you didn&#x27;t like the local cable company. I find satellite TV annoying when the weather is bad, but otherwise, I feel it&#x27;s a better choice. Like the boxes, UI feels so much faster. As far as I know, Dish makes their own software and hardware, while the cable company just buys an off the shelf box and installs premade Java-based OS called OpenCable.<p>I guess RV you are limiting yourself to satellite tv, and mobile internet plans - which is a whole topic in the RV community itself. Certain providers people recommend, with cell boosters, wifi boosters and repeaters and creating your own internal wifi network yourself... So you can have all your devices connect to your own router and then point it towards a cell modem or repeat the RV&#x27;s park Wifi. Useful too if you have like a TV, game console, and other devices... Can change the internet connection source without reconnecting them all to that new source individually.<p>Then some people bought a house in a rural area with their own septic system or well. Then when the city or county starts providing water and sewer you are forced to connect to their system instead of being self-sufficient using the existing systems you&#x27;ve already paid for and are maintaining.