Question regarding electricity consumption.

[Aeroguerilla]

Old Utility Bills Aid in Otis Marijuana Bust

WRITTEN BY JENNIFER OSBORN
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2010 AT 3:24 PM
ELLSWORTH — Dead men may tell no tales, but old electricity bills do.

Utility bills for an Otis residence were subpoenaed by Maine Drug Enforcement agents to obtain a search warrant for the property, a move that helped them break up a marijuana growing operation last week.

Two dozen marijuana plants were seized along with 2 pounds of the drug, according to a copy of the search warrant affidavit.

As a result of the investigation, Levi F. Dam Jr., 54, and Keely L. Dam, 46, were each arrested on one count of drug trafficking.

The utility bills showed that electricity usage at the Pyle Road residence has spiked each May since 2007, Special Agent John Wardwell stated in the warrant.

During 2007, the average monthly kilowatt hours used was 857, which increased to 1,160 during May 2007, the warrant stated.

During 2008, the average power usage in kilowatt hours was 901, which spiked to 1,158 that May.

During 2009, the residence used an average of 951 kilowatt hours per month with a spike in May 2009 of 1,465.

“Based on my training and experience, I know that indoor marijuana grows require high-intensity lighting to cultivate the plants,” Wardwell stated. “These lights draw a substantial amount of power and will increase an electric bill.”


just fucking great.

 

[Balarama67]

So the fact that the period also covered winter didn't factor in at all....?

Those judges are so damned thick - and the reporter should have been
disciplined and fired for inaccurate reporting, and not giving the poor grower
a chance for his/her side of the story.

2 sides to every coin, and don't you believe a word of the LEOs.

 

[White-rhino]

Old Utility Bills Aid in Otis Marijuana Bust

WRITTEN BY JENNIFER OSBORN
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2010 AT 3:24 PM
ELLSWORTH — Dead men may tell no tales, but old electricity bills do.

Utility bills for an Otis residence were subpoenaed by Maine Drug Enforcement agents to obtain a search warrant for the property, a move that helped them break up a marijuana growing operation last week.

Two dozen marijuana plants were seized along with 2 pounds of the drug, according to a copy of the search warrant affidavit.

As a result of the investigation, Levi F. Dam Jr., 54, and Keely L. Dam, 46, were each arrested on one count of drug trafficking.

The utility bills showed that electricity usage at the Pyle Road residence has spiked each May since 2007, Special Agent John Wardwell stated in the warrant.

During 2007, the average monthly kilowatt hours used was 857, which increased to 1,160 during May 2007, the warrant stated.

During 2008, the average power usage in kilowatt hours was 901, which spiked to 1,158 that May.

During 2009, the residence used an average of 951 kilowatt hours per month with a spike in May 2009 of 1,465.

“Based on my training and experience, I know that indoor marijuana grows require high-intensity lighting to cultivate the plants,” Wardwell stated. “These lights draw a substantial amount of power and will increase an electric bill.”


just fucking great.

+/- 300KW/hrs is a spike? Mine varies 1000 in any given month throughout the year and that was before growing.

 

[Aeroguerilla]

dude my electric bill right now. close to this area. is 5000kwh 5x what theres was. im outta here after 6 months lol giving them no time to make a case. took them 3 yrs to bust thos dudes

 

[Aeroguerilla]

my meter is years old and theres no clip on it

 

[250wscrogger]

I'll be runnin like 2000 kwh/month soon...guess I shouldn't stay in one place for too long.

 

[Molson]

“Based on my training and experience, I know that indoor marijuana grows require high-intensity lighting to cultivate the plants,” Wardwell stated. “These lights draw a substantial amount of power and will increase an electric bill.”

LOL. Virtually every indoor search affidavit says this.

That's not to say you can't have an above average electricity usage and still remain under the radar. You're not doomed to get caught once you start using more and more juice. The point is... once you're under investigation high electricity usage just confirms their suspicions, and thus is one more piece of "evidence" they stick in their affidavit.

Perhaps it depends on the utility company and whether they are in bed w/ local LE or not, but like I said there must be other factors (trash, frequent traffic, snitch, etc) coupled w/ high leccy usage before they kick down your door. IIRC, high leccy usage alone is not enough to bust you and I'd be very surprised if you can find a case where a judge signed off on a warrant based on that ALONE. And shit, even if that did happen it might (probably will?) get thrown out in court.

 

[donny darko]

I did not see any smart meters in a 100 or so house I looked at up there. It looks like those guys in that article were getting plants ready to go outside and slipped up on the outside end or the police were tipped off by a neighbor or someone else that they told. Did not follow rule one. If you are good on that rule and don’t leave anything else lying around for them to produce probably cause they won’t have shit. I would definitely pay with a business check to keep from arousing suspicion at the electric company.

 

[Strainhunter]

I did not see any smart meters in a 100 or so house I looked at up there.
.......

There is such a vast variety of Smart Meters around, it is impossible for the untrained eye to detect those just by looking at them.

The only really sure way to know if a meter is a Smart Meter (AND is being used as such) is by calling the electricity company.

PS:
To make it even more difficult: A meter CAN be a Smart Meter but not being used as such.
Or in another instance some Smart Meters only submit how much electricity has been used but not the pattern of the usage.

 

[Aeroguerilla]

a smarter way would be to take down the meter model number, google, and go find it.

 

[Strainhunter]

a smarter way would be to take down the meter model number, google, and go find it.

Try that with any meter number, not gonna work.

Just because a meter is a Smart Meter it doesn't mean the electricity company is also using it as such.

And as I wrote before, which I am not quiet sure if you read that, there is such a variety of Smart Meters around - many with remotely programmable functions - unless you make that call to the meter provider in question in order to find out what kind of meter one has and how it is being used, you will likely NEVER find out for sure.

Unless it's an old mechanical meter...those have no remote link functions.

 

[BrotherBuz]

". . . unless you make that call to the meter provider in question in order to find out what kind of meter one has and how it is being used, you will likely NEVER find out for sure.

Making that call is just like walking into Home Depot and saying, "I'm wondering if you can suggest the best pots for my MJ grow.

 

[Balarama67]

Making that call is just like walking into Home Depot and saying, "I'm wondering if you can suggest the best pots for my MJ grow.

... and I'll bet that's happened a few times!

 

[gonzo`]

36kw in a residential dwelling is for sure going to get attention. You will need to phone them up and create a rouse about why you are consuming so much electricity. It's going to have to be credible because those lights are going to be on everyday for 12 hours a day. Only thing I can think of is 1kw computer servers and you have 36 of them...

No story = busted FOR SURE....

 

[ZENARCADE]

You would need to make sure the house had a big enough service coming in to run that kind of power. If it didn't you could always call up the electric co and ask to have a service upgrade. When they show up have some mig welders, pottery kilns, computer servers, whatever hanging around to back that up. Trying for a commercial rate plan might mess you up depending on where you live. It may work for some folks, but you've got to think about zoning, inspections, etc.

Depending on where you live you may get a call from the electric co. for running so much power, although the call might scare the shit out of you it is something they do sometimes to make sure its not a mistake (in the case that there was a mistake or problem the are simply trying to deal with it before you call and bitch at them). Have a story ready. People always say, "Just pay your bill on time, its all computers, no one ever notices." But 36k is kind of a different ballpark......
Good Luck!

 

[Balarama67]

If you want a simple way for a service upgrade, get 2 or 3 power showers and say you cannot install them until you have the upgrade, assuming you have the kind of house/apt that can accommodate such a thing.

Recently my leccy company downgraded everybody's service from 100Amps to 80.
Just a few years ago it was 120Amps. tbf I don't know that any leccy company is
obliged to upgrade you in a domestic setting.

 

[joe fresh]

hey aero....check out if you can find a guy called "BC Hardcore", great article about how this guy turns residential houses into 50-75 kw grow, every room in the house if filled, really somthing special, i tried to find it it was an article in canabisculture magazine, i found the link but when i click it just shows up as a green screen so they may have deleted it, but its a great article

heres what i could find....but the article is soo much better

Cannabis Culture magazine #47 and #48 ran extensive articles about the grow rooms of B.C. Hardcore, a professional grower working in British Columbia. These articles are well worth reading if one is interested in running a large scale grow operation. His grow operations utilize entire houses and are extremely sophisticated. From the pictures included with the articles, it seems that B.C. hardcore might be producing the best cannabis buds on the planet.

It is not uncommon for growers to convert a whole two-story home into a multi-room ganja factory. One house can accommodate 75-100 1000w lamps. To garden at this scale you first must totally overhaul the homes electrical, plumbing, and air conditioning systems. If you are willing and able to invest tens of thousands of dollars and lots of hard work then growing cannabis commercially could be a lucrative and rewarding career choice. A good grower should be able to harvest 2lbs per lamp every 10 weeks. At $2,500 per pound, a commercial grow could yield a profit of $1.65 million per year.

 

[joe fresh]

here i found it

first page http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/articles/3268.html

second page http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/articles/3368.html

 

[Aeroguerilla]

your the man. thank you

 

[clp]

Wow, how could you possibly fit 75-100 1000W lamps into a residential home? That would be crazy!
Thanks for the articles, grows this size are always of huge interest to me =D