How would you feel if you woke up, got into the shower, and there is no hot water? Your first thought would probably be something along the lines of your water heater must be on the fritz.  Check that, everything is fine.  Then you find out that it was the city you live in that has shut that down.  Is this crazy?

This is exactly what happened in the city of Barnesville.  If you are unfamiliar with where Barnesville is, it's just off I-94 near Moorhead.

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According to Valley News Live, there are some new energy-saving efforts that have been put into place.  This includes monitoring the amount of hot water residents are using- or in other words- monitoring the amount of energy being used.

The city’s utility manager said it’s part of living in Barnesville.

“It’s about keeping the rates down,” explained Guy Swenson, Barnesville’s utility manager.

The city controls the amount of energy used, and when it hits a threshold of usage, they have to cut back on power.

Apparently, the system will go with 45 minutes off, then 15 minutes on, and run in intervals such as this until the usage is below a certain threshold before it is turned on for a longer amount of time again.  The bigger issue is that there doesn't seem to be any sort of notification system in place, unless you are on Facebook, and you see a post that shows that the system has been activated.  If you don't happen to be on Facebook, or if you haven't looked to see if there is a notification, the only way you will know is if your water doesn't heat up.  Not a great system.  But, the city officials say that it will save people, and the city a lot of money in the long run.

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