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Broken/faulty electrical meter.

mowood3479

Active member
Veteran
So I have a house that has about 16x 600 watt running in it. I’ve had the house for 7 or 8 years
I’ve been noticing that the meter (old school analog meter not smart meter) doesn’t spin any faster when I turn on the lights vs off..
I spoke with my partner about it and he says he has been getting bills that range from $15 to $200.. most months tho it’s under $20. (Should be $500 or so)

He had mentioned something about the bills being surprisingly low some years back (I didn’t realize how low) and I just told him to pay the bills that come and to leave it alone... wondering If any of y’all have heard or seen something similiar.

Btw... I’ve checked the draw with my meter and everything seems right with voltage watts n Amps..
Wondering if I should add more lights as free power is pretty cool.. or if I should contact the power co and tell them I think the meter is faulty.. (so I can pay more each month)
Should I be paranoid? Still not completely legal where Iam.. the bill has been consistently low/wrong for 5 years now..
Seems like too long of a time to be some sort of sting.. n I’ve never heard of anything like that...
 
Hey mowood

I’ve worked in a few older houses where the water heaters at the time were owned by the power company and they were hooked directly to a transformer outside the house. We were running a generator for power during the reno, but when the electrical came to rough everything in, that line was still live, so things happen.

As far as the meter goes, around here the power company sends people around to check and see if everything makes sense power wise seeing the power is pulled from the grid.

It might be kind of alarming to the power company if your drawing 10000 watts and only getting charged for a fraction of that. Especially if your not a legal med grow.

If I was in your spot, and you haven’t done anything sketchy like bypass the meter I would just keep cropping, and keep that analog meter as long as you can :tiphat:
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Old meters were sometimes tested and reused. Most power companies won't use that type now though, so I hope have no interest in looking them over.

I used to make them boxes that zero meters (for a landlords private meters). They went back about 60rpm. You can buy a used electronic meter really cheap now though, so there is no call for them.


16 600s is a big load. Add some household use and you must be pushing the limit. Don't just add lights for the hell of it. Plenty of supplies melt at that load. Besides.. do you have your genes invested into needing the planet much longer? Don't take what you don't need to. It's suicide.
 

Dankwolf

Active member
I have had simaler issues in houses built in the 60s . I would guess that there is a bypass somewhere that you may not be aware of . any way I would not contact them . as you would more then Lilly get a smart meter up grade and have to stop growing there .

I had several freinds run into issues with smart meters and they where not pulling near what you are .
 

St. Phatty

Active member
Should I be paranoid? Still not completely legal where Iam.. the bill has been consistently low/wrong for 5 years now..
Seems like too long of a time to be some sort of sting.. n I’ve never heard of anything like that...


If it was YOUR power company, what would you do ?

Not many of us would let a stranger walk off with $200 or $300 a month in free electricity.

What would the bill be if it were charged at normal rates ?

I think the power company will be by eventually, and then your fate will be in other people's hands.

It's better to keep your fate in your own hands.

I would reduce the number of lights & the size of the grow.

Maybe take the money you saved & invest it when the stock market goes all 2009.
 

mowood3479

Active member
Veteran
If it was YOUR power company, what would you do ?

Not many of us would let a stranger walk off with $200 or $300 a month in free electricity.

What would the bill be if it were charged at normal rates ?

I think the power company will be by eventually, and then your fate will be in other people's hands.

It's better to keep your fate in your own hands.

I would reduce the number of lights & the size of the grow.

Maybe take the money you saved & invest it when the stock market goes all 2009.

Why would I reduce the size of the grow?
Open to thoughts, just don’t follow the logic... could u expand?
As I see it, If the power co. Somehow deems the meter faulty (when they visually check the numbers on the dial every **3rd month) they’ll replace it and I’ll pay the bill that comes...
** they only come every 3 months because they laid off most of the meter readers when they installed smart meters 5 years ago.. so now if u still have an analog meter they only come out every 3rd month to read it.

10k Watts is around $500 power bill in my area, not uncommon for people to be pushing 20k watts in a home/ outbuilding

I’m only running 5k at a time on a flip box.. so not anywhere near limit of the service (150amp)
 

stoney917

i Am SoFaKiNg WeTod DiD
Veteran
I wouldn't contact them if it's been yrs and yrs ... not sure where u are but had a similar situation happen to a friend was only 6 months but he got fucked good when they slapped him with the bill for what was owed sumthin around $8000 n change which he paid so I wouldn't call them unless you have an extra 20-30k to burn, just consider yourself blessed
 

Bgoat

Member
lol, just be quiet. cheap power in the states i take it... i get quarterly bills around $1,000 without any indoor grow going.
 

Gry

Well-known member
You have had a blessed gift for a long time,
the prudent thing may be to move on quietly.
Not sure that I would do that myself.
I would rent the place out to a company that I had set up and funded, so that it has a solid credit rating.
Would not change a thing other wise, and hope that the situation continues on.
I would rent it to a new company each year.
Logic being that if at some point it comes to their attention, they would not push for
recovery going back 7 or 8 years, but rather to the date the new account had been established.
Casa de karma.
 

mowood3479

Active member
Veteran
T

T

You have had a blessed gift for a long time,
the prudent thing may be to move on quietly.
Not sure that I would do that myself.
I would rent the place out to a company that I had set up and funded, so that it has a solid credit rating.
Would not change a thing other wise, and hope that the situation continues on.
I would rent it to a new company each year.
Logic being that if at some point it comes to their attention, they would not push for
recovery going back 7 or 8 years, but rather to the date the new account had been established.
Casa de karma.

Ya, I was thinking this.. the bill has never been in my name.. house either. Thinking I will probably transfer the account to my name and then inform them that I think the meter is broken...
I’ll end up having to pay for power again when they replace the meter... but it’s all the same to me.. I been paying my partner the full amount ($500 a month) for the entire time.. so he is really the one who made out ($) but I figure the house n elec is in his name so since it’s his gamble it should be his payout...
thanks for the input
 

mowood3479

Active member
Veteran
because the power company has all lot of info about your grow.

They just haven't put 2 & 2 together yet.

Depending on the power company to remain incompetent, is not a great plan.

Not sure what info a broken analog electric meter gives them? Perhaps I’m missing something?

Not really subject to prosecution in my state as weed is rec legal now...although admittedly I’d much prefer to not test that hypothesis...
 

redlaser

Active member
Veteran
Could see it both ways, it doesn’t seem like they check equipment in your area. And if they found an issue, it doesn’t seem like they would have any way to know what past usage was.

Likely you would be aware of the discovery and deal with it at the time, as far as future usage. But maybe not, and then you’d have to wonder if they would put forth the effort to see what your actual monthly use is, seems unlikely but possible,

Other side of course is you are already majorly ahead with the power company. Everyone dreams of this scenario. Your electric is actually pretty cheap as it is, .33 kwh over in these parts. Had .08 in Missouri, sounds close to what your paying.

I know a guy who used to put in smart meters full time when they first started coming out in California. He requests an analog meter wherever he lives both to not be monitored and to avoid the peak pricing tiers they have in California. It’s .23 off peak and .33 peak, but you get limited off peak like several hundred a month before they charge straight .33 for the rest of your month.

I’m not sure how much he saves, and I’m not sure what the kWh rate is with analog, be surprised if it wasn’t an average between the tiers. It costs an extra 20$ a month with analog, and they check every other month.
 

Shmavis

Being-in-the-world
As long as the meter hasn’t been bypassed or slowed down in any way, I see zero reason not to continue on as is. Especially after all these years. And I am not so sure they’d have a leg to stand on when it comes to retroactive usage being paid out - usage they can’t even measure. Again, if no shady attempts to alter readings of the meter were undertaken, then the faulty meter falls to the responsibility of the provider, not the consumer. You do not own the meter. I do not see an argument for accountability on your part. Furthermore, it’s analog. Someone reads that meter every month. Since there’s no red flags when reading the meter, I would think you have little to worry about. Just pay the bill as usual - getting paid is all they care about. Eventually they will come knocking, looking to install a smart meter. From that point forward you probably won’t be so lucky. And it would be at that point that a discrepancy in usage *might* be noticed.

I would also lean on my partner a bit for assurance that way back when he didn't tamper with it...

About two years ago I got a letter from the township saying they needed to replace my water meter. Going digital. Talked about how great it would be and that it would likely save me money because the old analog meters were inefficient and inaccurate so I was most likely paying more for my water than I should. The last two years I haven't seen a water bill any where near as low as before the new meter went in.

:laughing:
 

St. Phatty

Active member
Not sure what info a broken analog electric meter gives them? Perhaps I’m missing something?

Not really subject to prosecution in my state as weed is rec legal now...although admittedly I’d much prefer to not test that hypothesis...

You said 16x 600 watt'ers.

Un-announced, randomly scheduled & mandatory visits by strangers is a bad idea for us growers, is the basic idea I was going with.

The power company's system is (in a manner of speaking) leaking electricity. It's their job to figure out where the leak is. Which, obviously, can take some time. From the sound of it, it's a fair amount of electricity & money.

They could figure out ANY TIME that they need to investigate the leak.

It sounds like a sudden visit from a power company stranger wouldn't bother you. Times change, maybe they would see the situation, including the 16x 600 lights, and ask you to share some clones :woohoo:

Just because it looks like a security concern to me doesn't mean it's a security concern.

How about a pic of some buddage ? :peacock: You must have some primo genetics if you're running 9600 watts.
 
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