[Podagrower]

The last three complaints of high electric bills I have looked at were people who have their AC set to 72, in Florida, in August. I can not help them.

In PA, probably not the same problem. Around her, the power company will not change out a meter without testing calibration first, and that is like getting teeth pulled. Maybe they are more friendly up there.

A 4000 sq foot house is going to eat up some KW, depending on how many toys are installed. My suggestion would be to pull the panel covers and use an amp probe. Time consuming, but you may find an old circuit shorted to ground.

 

[user4818]

Did you take any measurement? Do they have well water? Electric water heater? Sump pump running constantly? Those are things to check.

 

[jhall.sparky]

I received a call from a woman today who is being charged $1200 a month for her 4000 square foot home (we are in small town Pennsylvania). She said they've had the house rewired from knob and tube to either a 100amp or 200amp service (for a house that size, I'd have installed a 400amps service, and divided the load equally into (2) 200 amp panels) She also said that the electric company has changed her meter out 3 times, and it's still the same high bill. I think it may be that she is just overloaded and the meter is flying, but I'd appreciate any other ideas/suggestions to look for from anyone who has dealt with a similar situation.
Also, on a side note, she said she has some software on her computer that tells her how many amps are being used in different rooms at any given time. Last week during hurricane Irene when her power was out, she was still drawing power according to the software. I know of no way to be pulling power if the grid is out. Any electrical related ideas on that issue, or are we into ghostbusters, etc on that one? :wallbash:

i have a watt clock and its VERY VERY VERY unreliable this software is a failure..................


.......................and another thought .. if the grid is out why does the computer work?

 

[HW&Electric]

No measurements yet and I'm not sure what all they are running. The appointment is for next week, so I'll know more then. I just thought I'd get suggestions before heading over.

 

[drsparky]

Clamp on an ampmeter and check. How hard can it be to locate a circuit drawing big time power?

 

[HW&Electric]

I was assuming a charged laptop. I'm not sure how the software works. Would she need to have internet access to use it?

 

[Edrick]

Sounds fishy to me even if the laptop was on there's no way for her to be getting these reports as her network equipment would be down.

 

[636Sparky]

They make meters that can verify power consumption. We have a Fluke 435, though it is a very pricey instrument.

 

[Meadow]

Checking the draw of each circuit and connected appliance while making sure its in range.

Ask and check that the AC is serviced yearly, check well pump, fridge, water heater ect. There will probably be a 50% chance some appliance is drawing to much.

One of my memorable calls was for a bill of $1400 a month for a 1500 sq house. The owner tried everything to lower the bill new water heater, CFLs, insulating further, ect. Poco said it the owner was just wasteful plus it was an all electric home "what do you expect" During an amp reading in the panel I was getting about 17 amps on the outdoor unit and 48 amps on the furnace Turns out the AC tech miswired the new thermostat causing the backup electric heat to come on as well during the summer. :no: And I thought it would be noticed, even eluded me at first.

 

[captkirk]

Did you take any measurement? Do they have well water? Electric water heater? Sump pump running constantly? Those are things to check.

ditto...does she have kids that leave the fridge door open, lights on, stuff like that..
Is the attic insulated properly, is the cool air from ac leaking out somewhere.... There are so many things to check..

 

[RIVETER]

I received a call from a woman today who is being charged $1200 a month for her 4000 square foot home (we are in small town Pennsylvania). She said they've had the house rewired from knob and tube to either a 100amp or 200amp service (for a house that size, I'd have installed a 400amps service, and divided the load equally into (2) 200 amp panels) She also said that the electric company has changed her meter out 3 times, and it's still the same high bill. I think it may be that she is just overloaded and the meter is flying, but I'd appreciate any other ideas/suggestions to look for from anyone who has dealt with a similar situation.
Also, on a side note, she said she has some software on her computer that tells her how many amps are being used in different rooms at any given time. Last week during hurricane Irene when her power was out, she was still drawing power according to the software. I know of no way to be pulling power if the grid is out. Any electrical related ideas on that issue, or are we into ghostbusters, etc on that one? :wallbash:

My house is 4000 square feet and my electric bills are not near that. BUT, I made...and installed a power factor correction device. But, don't pay any attention to me.

 

[Speedy Petey]

Also, on a side note, she said she has some software on her computer that tells her how many amps are being used in different rooms at any given time.

I'd love to see what this is.
Do the circuit breakers report back to the PC or does each circuit have CT's:whistling2:

 

[Big John]

I'd love to see what this is....

It's a multi-point wireless digital power monitor, duh. I think I saw them on clearance in Walmart.

-John

 

[BrianA]

One of my memorable calls was for a bill of $1400 a month for a 1500 sq house. The owner tried everything to lower the bill new water heater, CFLs, insulating further, ect. Poco said it the owner was just wasteful plus it was an all electric home "what do you expect" During an amp reading in the panel I was getting about 17 amps on the outdoor unit and 48 amps on the furnace Turns out the AC tech miswired the new thermostat causing the backup electric heat to come on as well during the summer.

I just found pretty much the same thing a month ago on a 900 sq ft house with a $1200 bill.
The furnace fan was running constantly and when I went in the crawl to check the water heater I laid my hand on the duct work and it was warm.
Strip heat was running 24/7 battling the condensing unit on a heat pump.

 

[Speedy Petey]

I just found pretty much the same thing a month ago on a 900 sq ft house with a $1200 bill.
The furnace fan was running constantly and when I went in the crawl to check the water heater I laid my hand on the duct work and it was warm.
Strip heat was running 24/7 battling the condensing unit on a heat pump.

So in the end you are saying it was actually the customer's fault and not the POCO?
How is that possible? :whistling2:

 

[RIVETER]

It's a multi-point wireless digital power monitor, duh. I think I saw them on clearance in Walmart.

-John

Then you know they're good.

 

[BrianA]

So in the end you are saying it was actually the customer's fault and not the POCO?
How is that possible? :whistling2:

No. I'm saying it was a HVAC malfunction.
The homeowner had no idea.

 

[Speedy Petey]

No. I'm saying it was a HVAC malfunction.
The homeowner had no idea.

I mean it was on the customer's end, not the POCO's.

Customers are all too quick to blame the POCO if their bill is even slightly high.

 

[den]

the poco is usually first to get blamed many times but in reality it usually not them. If they changed the meter 3 times and is still the same bill then things need checked very closly. The only time we had a real problem where we had random meters read high was when some type of new flat panel tv ( i don't remember the brand) would screw with our electronic meter's but an add on capacitor fixed that.