ridiculous power consumption. anybody?

[blooper]

need some help figuring out what is going on here. i moved into a new house about a year ago a few miles from my old place and haven't been growing indoor because outdoor has me set for medicine for a while. a few weeks ago i put my mother tent back together to get ready for outdoor and today the power company called to say that we are pulling 5x what our neighbors are pulling and need to come do an inspection and check the outlets and main appliances because we've already drawn 600$ of power this month.

at my last place i ran 1300watts including lights and fans and the power bill was about 100 bucks on top of the normal 150-200 for usual utilities. fine, no problem considering the math adds up and it's a pretty good rate.

i know it isn't just the tent because it's the same power company in the same town and i'm running the exact same setup. the only difference is on this property there is a 'caretaker' who piggybacks on our power and has outlets jerry-rigged all over the property going through multiple garages, pump stations for a large outdoor hydroponic operation and multiple greenhouses. i have no idea what he has running or where a bunch of power might be going as i'm not the main renter and generally keep to myself but the other tenants insist that he isn't doing anything illegitimate and seem to think the 20-30$ he gives us as payment is fair and it's definitely my grow room despite me doing the math and explaining how to roughly calculate the monthly cost of any appliance.

does anyone have any idea why the power consumption would skyrocket like they are saying it is? it was about 200 a month the entire time we've lived here. i tried unplugging everything but the meter was still spinning like crazy even after i turned off the main switch at the box.

 

[St. Phatty]

Sounds like someone is stealing your electricity.

Or the other guy is a REAL heavy user.

 

[Mr Blah]

The piggy bag guy is taking more than he is saying he is.

Or someone is stealing power.

 

[mowood3479]

I'd take down ur room for the time being and get the power co out to diagnose the problem.
if that is unacceptable I think there are tools u can buy that will tell u how much amperage is being used on a circuit.. U may be able to find the issue on ur own if u do some legwork.

 

[mowood3479]

Also, u may wanna ask rives (a real electrician) here on ic, but I'm fairly certain the meter shouldn't be spinning at all if u shut the main off...
it doesn't at any of the places I've had anyway.. But there are a lot of different meters so idk for sure

 

[atk7]

If the meter keeps spinning with the main off then that may be all the farther the power co will probably need to go as that would indicate a faulty meter . But as mowood said I would shut the tent down for the day when they come to be on the safe side. I would get a watt minder to put on the line your other tenant has plugged in so you can see how much usage there really is but not sure how he is "tapped" in look these Aeon Labs Home Energy Meter - DSB09104. Or Kill A Watt Meter 716450 both are less than 50 bucks and gives hard proof of what uses watt .

 

[blooper]

yeah, i figured someone is being dishonest. bummer. the power company should be here in the next couple days so i guess we'll see what happens. i'll keep the mothers under t5's for the time being until this mess is sorted. thanks for the input everyone!

 

[Granger2]

Blooper,
Report back and let us know what you discover. Thanks. -granger

 

[blooper]

just spoke with the power company rep and he seemed to be an honest fella. said the meter is fine, it's not illegal what's going on but the guy riding piggyback is probably lying about his usage which to me equates to stealing from the rest of us. thing is, he's a much older man and has very poor manners and seemingly no respect for us or the owner of the property and i suspect he has little to no money. must be an old friend of the landlords family or something. at this point all i can think to do is either confront him about his power usage or go straight to the landlord and explain whats going on and hoping he might cut us some slack on rent or something considering i have no idea why this guy even lives on the property and gets a free ride to boot. seemed like an alright guy and then he gave my barking dog the finger and suggested throwing her under a lawn mower so i have little to no patience for his nonsense. if he can't figure out how to make nice with a tiny, frightened animal, well...i just don't think i can trust him but as far as power consumption goes, i can probably get it all accounted for if i just go tell him how it's gonna be but i REALLY dont like confrontation and this guy is about as shifty as they come.

 

[Dirty Harry]

If I read this right, your paying the bill from a meter others are also pulling from? You need to have a meter installed, just for your place and only for your wiring. There is no way to know what everyone else is using. Even if you are dividing the bill, there will always be someone using less and over chipping in and someone using more and is actually paying less.
If you disconnect from the power, zero power to your property, and the meter is still spinning, billable power is still flowing somewhere. You said the caretaker has "Jerry-rigged" wiring from said meter? If the buildings are connected, his rigged wiring could burn his and everyone elses place to the ground.

 

[blooper]

yeah that's what confused me because i turned the house off and he still had power flowing but when the power company came out and turned it off when they took the meter apart to do their high/low test, he came out huffing and puffing because that actually turned his power off. the power rep said the piggybacked wiring from out meter isn't illegal so essentially its a work it out yourselves kind of situation. i have a friend who knows this stuff coming to help figure it out even if we have to step on some toes so i'll report back once we understand it better.

 

[Mr Blah]

yeah that's what confused me because i turned the house off and he still had power flowing but when the power company came out and turned it off when they took the meter apart to do their high/low test, he came out huffing and puffing because that actually turned his power off. the power rep said the piggybacked wiring from out meter isn't illegal so essentially its a work it out yourselves kind of situation. i have a friend who knows this stuff coming to help figure it out even if we have to step on some toes so i'll report back once we understand it better.

Can't you put some sort of meter after the piggyback connection?
Than you can see what is going on.

 

[MJPassion]

Dude is definitely using more power than he's paying for

I believe all electrical codes require all power be switched at the meter. Could be wrong.

If I were in your situation I'd find out what the deal is between the LL & this other Tennant. It might give you more ammunition to confront the dude with. I'm betting there's no free ride happening except on yall part paying for this dudes electrical use.

Also, if you have any electrician friends, ask them about the codes I mention above.

If the wiring going to dudes pad are warm it's a pretty good indicator of his power consumption.

I also suggest getting a Kill a Watt or something similar and checking actual usage of the various appliances in your place, as well as the others that are on the same meter.
Some libraries will check them out like a book.

 

[Useful Idiot]

It is time for you to step on some toes I'm afraid. Your lil dog does not like him....you know where I'm going with that one LOL. We get 2 letters every year from our power company for the last 6 years stating that we use between 370-410% more electricity than our neighbors. All we do is pay our bill on time every time. Good luck brother...let us know how ya make out.

 

[queequeg152]

if he is bypassing your MCB, then how is this legal at all? or does his connection have independent service cables?

the only think i can think of is the meter base terminals that feed your panel are double tapped, as in two service cables are on each lug going to each breaker panel. ive no clue if that's legal or not. it probably is based on your talk with the guy.

so one set of cables is probably feeding your MCB, and another set of cables is heading off somewhere else. simply find these cables, and attach your amp meter and record the current.

just get a decent clamp on amp meter... HD sells a cheapish fluke amp meter for like 80 bucks here... probably a similar situation where ever you live.

if you are a cheap fuck like me... look at the Uni-T meters as they will be like 1/3'rd the price if you get one straight from china... they are decent for hobby work, but not like, professional quality.

with money, you can get really fancy with Amp meters just as you can with multimeters... you might consider one that can data log via a remote 'coil' or split transformer or what ever they like to call them. basically an independent clamp on induction coil that picks up the current moving down the cable.

you leave that coil inside the cable trough, or cable raceway or conduit or where ever it is, and set your meter to record a data point every 10 minutes or what ever you want.

be careful with the amperage ratings. and keep in mind they are not 100% accurate... more like 95% maby.

there is also funkyness with induction loads and power factors... your meter may or may not be able deal with that, idk.

its not uncommon to have a residence with 2 power meters... lots of folks like to expense the electrical usage for his or her home businesses... welders, fabricators, wood shop guys etc.

problem is... each electrical connection has its own fees and shit. in some areas the fees and taxes are like 40 bucks a month alone. i lived in florda for a few years and there was a fee like... 12 bucks a month called the 'hurricane- something something'.

if you have overhead power nearby, it might not be a huge bitch to get a second drop to a second meter. if you have to trench out like 80 feet to a transformer pad somewhere, then its a different story.

i think it cost like 2 grand to have a meter and power pole sunk at this lift station site i worked on... but this was a 'co-op' power company, so they tended to charge much more.

 

[blooper]

honestly i think the power company was doing a knock n talk on behalf of police. i checked out the other guys operation and he was only running a couple t5's.

the electric company came out to calibrate meters and weren't leaving until they talked to me specifically. i explained that yes, i grow legally indoors, have my paperwork posted properly and i've done the math on every single appliance in the house and it still added up to about double what we should be paying.

i was very nice and honest with the guy and he seemed impressed i'd even think to add up wattage/hours of use and figure out the bill and as luck would have it, after a friendly handshake, with nothing changing far as power consumption, the bill was back to normal the next month. just checking in on us i suppose lol