In the dark

Since sometime last week we have had a power problem at the new house. As in, half of the house doesn't have power. The weird thing is that it's the back of the house, both floors. And every once in a while the power flickers on for a few seconds and then goes out again. Because the lack of electricity means the first floor thermostat isn't working, we have had to turn the first floor boiler off since it couldn't regulate the temperature. Now the first floor is pretty cool, although we still have heat on the second floor.

I talked to the electric company's repairman, and it looks like we have a problem with our meter base (where the electricity comes into the house). At some point (we don't know if it was the original intent or not) the house was a two-family, divided by floor, and there was one meter for the first floor and one meter for the second floor. Then it was converted to a one-family and one of the meters was circumvented, meaning all of the electricity for the house was going through one meter.

According to the repairman, something has been burning behind the meter base. Basically at some point there was way too much electricity going through the meter base. It's not something we've caused, as we don't have any appliances hooked up yet, but it's something we've got to deal with if we want power (and for our house not to burn down--that's sort of important to me ;)).

I'm tired of spending money just to get the basic necessities for this house. I want to paint, and put up curtains, and get moved in! Every "new" repair means less money for the adoption. That's where I get discouraged. I know God will provide, although I am baffled as to how He is going to do that. :) We do have a life insurance policy we are holding in reserve that will help pay for part of the adoption. We're not cashing it in until we need it for the adoption so we make sure it doesn't get used for anything else.

Thankfully, we have an excellent electrician whom we really trust. He's coming out tomorrow to take a look at the meter box and see what needs to happen. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll have restored power again!

Updated at 10:45pm: The electrician (whom we love!) was able to come out today and replace the meter base (I don't really have any idea what that means; that's just what I was told). I called the electric company at 4pm and they are supposed to be turning our power back on so that our pipes won't freeze tonight. Mark has just gone over to the house to see if the power is on and to relight the boilers if it is.