if you are not using at least a cheap surge protector on anything worth 2 cents in your house, you are crazy. you can get really inexpensive ones with a guarantee for connected equipment like $15,000 or even more i guess. just make sure you hang on to your receipt. worse case is usually that the surge protector will fail, sacrificing its life for your stuff. buying another one is more affordable than new electronics... granted it is hard to put a surge protector onto your appliances, but they do make surge protector outlets... i have often thought about getting that surge protector put in at the pole, but we will be moving again, so i havent bothered.

the townhouse that we now own had this problem of lights getting brighter for a few seconds when something like the fridges condenser would kick on (or ac, etc.) and I had the old lady call the electric company to see what was up... i was nervous as anything about hooking up my audio gear. anyway it turned out that there was a bad splice leading to our house that they replaced for free, once it was replaced, presto no problems. they will do a free inspection if you are having problems, to at least determine where the problem lies, with their side or your home. we have progress energy (formerly CP&L). i just use inexpensive surge protectors with high dollar connected equipment guarantees. i do have a back-up UPS unit on my computer though, but after i got it on rebate it was a damn steal.