The Strange Case of the Peekaboo Power Bill

Roughly 9 years ago it was easy to pay the Washington Island Electric Cooperative.  On the 20th of the month: go outside, read the meter and then calculate your bill using the supplied form and then send it in.

Then the Co-op installed these plastic power meters:

http://wb9kzy.com/power.htm

Here is a Youtube video:

source: https://youtu.be/PkVXOwrIVD8

The co-op eventually went to automated billing.  But this month one of the gears in the billing machine must have been broken because here is the first sighting of the bill this morning on USPS Informed Delivery:

sent 1-29-2026, it won't arrive until 2-3-2026 at the earliest

Yes, they do have a website but nothing updated as of this morning since the bill due on 1/1/2026.

Both the USPS and the Co-op had working systems in the olden days.  Now the USPS sends local mail down 180 miles to Milwaukee and back and the Co-op waits until the next month before delivering the bill.  Is this yet another clue to the way things will be in the future ?

BTW, "they" finally "perfected" TV with 8K but apparently no one wants or needs 8K per this report:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/lg-joins-the-rest-of-the-world-accepts-that-people-dont-want-8k-tvs/

Update 10 AM: the bill was finally posted:

 

update 2, 2026-02-03: got the paper copy of the co-op bill in the mail today. 

 

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm