# High light bill



## rookie sparky (Nov 6, 2014)

Briancraig81 said:


> Before anyone jumps to conclusions, im not a troll and yes I am an electrician been on this site for years and have 16 years in the trade with a mix of residential and commercial. With that being said, ive got a problem ive been asked to investigate and im having some trouble. Here it goes:
> 
> My landlady lives in a 1200sq foot house by herself. Electric stove, water heater and Heat pump(?) /all electric heat. For the past year she has been having a really high light bill, atleast $300. Ive been over there and cant find anything wrong. Pulling 2 amps on one leg and .8 on the other. Nothing on the neutral. Some of the old cloth insulation in the panel is starting to deteriorate but I don't know if that could cause high power bill. Only serious thing I saw was #10 on 45a breaker going to the HVAC unit.
> 
> Is there something im missing or should be looking for? Im kinda stumped


The number 10 on a 45 is probably correct for that unit.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

First thing I look for is the anniversary or roll-over date on the budget billing. Maybe it's time to pony up the difference between what was budgeted for billing purposes and what was actually used.

Some people think when they go on budget billing, they can use as much electricity as they want and it won't cost them any more. Well, it doesn't........ until the last bill of the annual cycle.


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## Black Dog (Oct 16, 2011)

Briancraig81 said:


> Before anyone jumps to conclusions, im not a troll and yes I am an electrician been on this site for years and have 16 years in the trade with a mix of residential and commercial. With that being said, ive got a problem ive been asked to investigate and im having some trouble. Here it goes:
> 
> My landlady lives in a 1200sq foot house by herself. Electric stove, water heater and Heat pump(?) /all electric heat. For the past year she has been having a really high light bill, atleast $300. Ive been over there and cant find anything wrong. Pulling 2 amps on one leg and .8 on the other. Nothing on the neutral. Some of the old cloth insulation in the panel is starting to deteriorate but I don't know if that could cause high power bill. Only serious thing I saw was #10 on 45a breaker going to the HVAC unit.
> 
> Is there something im missing or should be looking for? Im kinda stumped


First, are you an electrician?:blink::laughing::laughing: Just kidding

Who is the POCO? Are they one of the big company's? they've racked up the rates by 35% or more up here, so many people are getting $300 electric bills without using much power.

You should rent a meter that will give you the power consumption over 24 hours.

Is the meter to the service a new electronic type?

Again in some of the city's and towns here the rates are through the roof!





> *“How does a 61 percent increase come out of a 29 percent increase?” asks Parker, who said she’s watched the monthly electric bill for her 2,400-square-foot, 1840 farmhouse house go from $187 in December to $242 in January and to $319 in February and over $300 again this month.*


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## Rollie73 (Sep 19, 2010)

480sparky said:


> First thing I look for is the anniversary or roll-over date on the budget billing. Maybe it's time to pony up the difference between what was budgeted for billing purposes and what was actually used.
> 
> Some people think when they go on budget billing, they can use as much electricity as they want and it won't cost them any more. Well, it doesn't........ until the last bill of the annual cycle.


I've come across that as well but that only accounts for one bill. The OP said his customer has been having high bills for the past year.

Having said that though.....my first thought as well, was that the devil was calling for his dues and the customer didn't realize that this was their anniversary bill.


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

I get the complaint all the time

Our poco will make site visits w/EE's, and the state efficiency people will also do energy assessments.

My advice pales compared to those _'expert opinions' _

~CS~


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## Rollie73 (Sep 19, 2010)

The only thing I can ever offer them is to trade utility bills.......mine usually hovers between 300 and 400/month as well.:blink:


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

Because i'm _(town i reside in)_ electric , i get these old birds who call and think i'm the poco wanting to quack about the bill 

Always when i'm hard at work doing something important like burying beer cans in the garden 

When they finally find out i'm _just the electrician _ , it's off onto what i can advise them to do to save energy:whistling2:

I'm always civil , but i do need a better place to stash the beer cans.....

~C:laughing:S~


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## Briancraig81 (May 25, 2007)

Digital meter, they have been out to check it and say its fine. Power company is Duke power, which mergered with progress energy, which used to be CP&L. I know she was on equal pay a couple years ago but I think shes been off of it since 2013 but I will ask


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## RFguy (Sep 11, 2013)

Ask for monthly usage (in kwh, not$) for the last 3-years and compare.


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

rent a recording meter and leave it on there for a couple weeks, or a month, compare to the poco meter.

some women (like my wife, for example), like it to be 78 inside in the winter and 70 in the summer. It was a cold winter, so the bills are naturally going to be higher this year. Of course, if she spends most of her time inside, she isn't going to know that lol. (except for higher power bills)


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## Rollie73 (Sep 19, 2010)

RFguy said:


> Ask for monthly usage (in kwh, not$) for the last 3-years and compare.





wildleg said:


> rent a recording meter and leave it on there for a couple weeks, or a month, compare to the poco meter.


These are your only good options to determine if the customer is really just using that power. 
Our POCO will do a dual socket meter test using your existing meter and a new meter fresh out of the box to verify the accuracy of your existing meter but its a fight to get them to do so.


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

I'm better off trying to prove AGW than blame the poco for_ anything _here.....~CS~:no:


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## Rollie73 (Sep 19, 2010)

chicken steve said:


> I'm better off trying to prove AGW than blame the poco for_ anything _here.....~CS~:no:


AGW??? My brain wont process that one at all.


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## readydave8 (Sep 20, 2009)

Rollie73 said:


> AGW??? My brain wont process that one at all.


Anthropogenic Global Warming? (According to the Google)


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Rollie73 said:


> I've come across that as well but that only accounts for one bill. The OP said his customer has been having high bills for the past year..........



Maybe it's because of their usage history. They got a low budget-billing rate for a few years because they weren't using much power, then bought a bunch of power-hungry stuff (like the grow-op in the basement). When it came time to renew the budget billing numbers, the POCO looked at the jump in usage and adjusted the bb numbers accordingly.

NEVER go by the dollar signs on the bills. ALWAYS look at the kw usage. THAT is what to look at.


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## Rollie73 (Sep 19, 2010)

480sparky said:


> Maybe it's because of their usage history. They got a low budget-billing rate for a few years because they weren't using much power, then bought a bunch of power-hungry stuff (like the grow-op in the basement). When it came time to renew the budget billing numbers, the POCO looked at the jump in usage and adjusted the bb numbers accordingly.
> 
> NEVER go by the dollar signs on the bills. ALWAYS look at the kw usage. THAT is what to look at.


 
That's something I've never thought of. Those darn grow-ops are a bit hungry.


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## RFguy (Sep 11, 2013)

Grow op? What grow op?


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

One of our local pocos lobbied the PSB for commercial rates in skibunnyville. based on spikes, as opposed to overall KW usage .

Basically, they fowarded 29 skier occupation of single fam rentals on weekends taxing the antiquated infrastructure as validation.

So now i'm getting more sobbing calls than ever, it's like i'm the friggin' Dr Phil of the trade here.

Now one could say, jesus Steve, wake t f up! , the green machine's a shoe in !:laughing:

Position any one of us between a confused and/or angry consumer , and a monarchical utility, and we're all expected do do backflips wearing our LED beanies to your door....:no:

But this is where we bow down to 3rd parties, traditionally via manufacturers sanctioned by state appointed green machine rebates and subsidies.

Being that i hail from a blue state lousy with _'save the planet'_ energy gurus on OUR tax dime i've has the pleasure of the inevitable result of their presence on the job. 

I'm still working on my latest AWG theory being they've _in and of themselves_, constituted the lions share of hot air...:laughing:

Most of them are old hippies that learned the prevalent trade buzz words , appearing to me like farm animals trained to wobble around on thier hind legs and articulate for a handout.

They've even legislated themselves privy to my personal electric bill, sending me monthly entourages of tree material that they claim they;re saving detailing how i'm an energy hog on their little libtard tax paid radars!

Little do they know i've retro'd my entire existence to their standards , much to my own education in the trade and it's cheerleading jackbooted green machine.

I'd feel _much better_ if i could chuck a few of these ers in a volcano , or maybe be witness to their spontaneous combustion in rainbow of led light....

Ergo, my advice has not changed all that much.......

*TURN SOMETHING OFF!*

~CS~


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## Rollie73 (Sep 19, 2010)

Wow chickendude......tell us how you really feel about it:laughing:


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## ponyboy (Nov 18, 2012)

chicken steve said:


> One of our local pocos lobbied the PSB for commercial rates in skibunnyville. based on spikes, as opposed to overall KW usage .
> 
> Basically, they fowarded 29 skier occupation of single fam rentals on weekends taxing the antiquated infrastructure as validation.
> 
> ...



Dafuq?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

ponyboy said:


> Dafuq?


:lol: 

Go back to sleep Pony....:laughing:~CS~


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## Pharon (Jan 20, 2014)

My electric bill doubled over the past few months, largely due to two things: (1) rates skyrocketed, and (2) refrigerator seal not very good.

It's amazing how much electricity refrigerators use, especially the inefficient ones that have poor seals and insulation. That alone could be the issue. Every fridge I power up adds about $30/month to my bill.


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## joeelectric (Feb 7, 2014)

Could it be because of the very cold months we have had? I have a customer here in Arkansas. She has a 1300 sq home and her bill was over $500.00. You could be looking for a problem that isn't there.


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