We are enjoying a few days up at Calypso Campo. A well needed respite from all the action in the Hood. Action and drama it is down there – read on.

Recently we learned that there are a number of folks in Poor Man’s Shangri-La that steal electric service. The apparent trick is to pull your electric meter out and turn it upside down – this makes the meter run backwards – a simple yet possibly dangerous trick.

Of course the ethics or lack thereof are evident when someone does such a thing. Then again there are good people here barely surviving.

Our next-door neighbors, a couple of gringos who have since moved on, actually had two separate meters and thus service connections to their one grand house as there is a harsh sliding scale for electric use above much more than a few light bulbs and a televisions worth of power consumption. Clever idea I thought.

Going back and forth between two houses gives us the same benefit – but we also augment our grid electric consumption with solar assist at both locations.

One good thing about the high cost of this service in the hood, if there can be any, is now that people are getting their bills (they come every 2 months here) there seems to be less LOUD sound systems blasting around the Hood. We figure that all those new boom boxes that were purchased with the new ‘buy on time’ programs have started registering on the electric bill – so 15 hours of non-stop 105 decibel Ranchera music has dwindled.

About 10 days ago while monitoring construction work progress in the yard I noticed the electric meter reader hombre at our meter. It is mounted on a cement pole just beyond our front fence. Then again yesterday the same meter man was taking a reading. At first this seemed strange to me – had he got an inaccurate reading at our meter 10 days ago?

Curious I walked up into the street to see if he was checking other meters – he was.

Now when electric pilfering in the hood gets as far as to this gringos ear it must mean everyone pretty much knows about it. The meter reader lives in the hood as most service representatives do. Surely he has heard the gossip. What’s more they must have a way of ascertaining that the billing is not meeting the demand, perhaps in a big way. I mean the meter reading hombre reads meters with a hand held computer device – they are not in the dark ages on light billing systems around here.

So I figure they came around again to see if people’s meters were charging ahead or whether there were some that might be reading very low usage or even less than the last time he came around. I am sure this will be a shock to many meter flippers. I have no idea what getting busted for stealing electric will get you in the way of punishment, but one thing is for sure, the heat is on.

Eventually I will hear the rest of this story. Stay Tuned!