Energy Bill HELP!

[Paycheck]

I am with the wrong meter group. But Bill is correct, an amp clamp on meter would tell you. I would do it on each wire at the breakers with everything turn off in the apartment. IF you are comfortable around electricity.

[captainsling]

We lived in an apartment where the meters were mixed up and registered to the wrong apartment number. We were paying almost $300 bill during the summer on a 1 bedroom.

[BlackHogDown]

Ok thanks for the ideas. I'll do some investigating and get maintenance involved. Will update once we figure out what's going on.

regardless of all the theories here.....if you are paying more than $160 for 1600kwh you are paying too much. Start there. Your plan is awful and the highest on the planet.

Yes, sir. I'm aware of my rate being high. Assuming there is something wrong, which it surely seems there is, I'd imagine they are on the hook for the excess energy costs. At least that was the case with my water bill a few years ago. I don't want to leave if they owe me $500 in energy. Maybe thats not the case but we'll see. Believe me... As soon as this is over, I'm switching. Also, I'm moving in two months so I'm not sure if new provider would charge to move service.

[BlackHogDown]

I am with the wrong meter group. But Bill is correct, an amp clamp on meter would tell you. I would do it on each wire at the breakers with everything turn off in the apartment. IF you are comfortable around electricity.

I'm not. My electrical experience is limited to a circuits course sophomore year of college ... But I know a master. I'll give him a call for some help. Honestly, I didn't realize there were this many possibilities to look into. Thought it was either a bad/incorrect meter or not.

Thanks, fellas.

[Arrowflinger84]

something is fishy I agree

[BlackHogDown]

Thanks to those who have reached out via PM, I'll give you a shout during business hours. Thank you!

[enewman]

Things that causes this.

Electric heat and a heat sequencer is stuck. So you have 3 to 5 kw coming on and off.
Water well short cycling
Electric water heater thermostat stuck
Dryer element on

That is the main loads that you won’t realize.
What sucks is with a digital meter you no longer can turn things off and find it easily. Next would be get a amp Meyer. Go to the electrical panel and take amp draw on these items. See if they are drawing anything. All of them are easy to test,other then water heater. Water heater you never know when it’s on doing its job. That one you would need to watch over time.

No one has taped into your meter. You would notice something different. I’ve never heard of them reading the wrong meter they are ID. not saying it can’t happen but I doubt it.
Old meters could go bad and they would speed up. Digital meter I doubt.

One thing you need to do for several days. Read your meter. In the morning. If posible at lunch. Then when you get home from work. Make sure everything is of. You should not see a big change in the reading. Ghost draws will make very little changes. Water heater if electric will be the only big draw.

[Pokes21]

Same thing was happening to me so I called and my promotion ended. Called another company and they disconnected from my previous provider for me and now Im saving $500-$600.

[Rwc]

Things that causes this.

Electric heat and a heat sequencer is stuck. So you have 3 to 5 kw coming on and off.
Water well short cycling
Electric water heater thermostat stuck
Dryer element on

That is the main loads that you won’t realize.
What sucks is with a digital meter you no longer can turn things off and find it easily. Next would be get a amp Meyer. Go to the electrical panel and take amp draw on these items. See if they are drawing anything. All of them are easy to test,other then water heater. Water heater you never know when it’s on doing its job. That one you would need to watch over time.

No one has taped into your meter. You would notice something different. I’ve never heard of them reading the wrong meter they are ID. not saying it can’t happen but I doubt it.
Old meters could go bad and they would speed up. Digital meter I doubt.

One thing you need to do for several days. Read your meter. In the morning. If posible at lunch. Then when you get home from work. Make sure everything is of. You should not see a big change in the reading. Ghost draws will make very little changes. Water heater if electric will be the only big draw.

This^^^^^^^ saved me lots of typing.

Good luck with your findings and hope you get it lined out.

Rwc

[BlackHogDown]

Things that causes this.

Electric heat and a heat sequencer is stuck. So you have 3 to 5 kw coming on and off.
Water well short cycling
Electric water heater thermostat stuck
Dryer element on

That is the main loads that you won’t realize.
What sucks is with a digital meter you no longer can turn things off and find it easily. Next would be get a amp Meyer. Go to the electrical panel and take amp draw on these items. See if they are drawing anything. All of them are easy to test,other then water heater. Water heater you never know when it’s on doing its job. That one you would need to watch over time.

No one has taped into your meter. You would notice something different. I’ve never heard of them reading the wrong meter they are ID. not saying it can’t happen but I doubt it.
Old meters could go bad and they would speed up. Digital meter I doubt.

One thing you need to do for several days. Read your meter. In the morning. If posible at lunch. Then when you get home from work. Make sure everything is of. You should not see a big change in the reading. Ghost draws will make very little changes. Water heater if electric will be the only big draw.

Thanks for the suggestions. Will look into those for sure.

There was a site that was suggested by the Stream rep. It showed my usage throughout the day in 15 min increments (or something like that). For the few days i monitored it, it looked as if there was steady draw throughout the day and spiking, as expected, in the evenings. When compared to that of the previous year around the same time, it showed the same pattern as far as usage throughout the day... Just much higher.

Update to include that I finally received my actual invoice. They are charging me for 1800kWh... For a month in which i was gone for an entire week and only used my AC/heat but 3-5 times.

[BlackHogDown]

Energy Consumption graph 1/7

This is the graph from Tuesday. Every day has the same trend. Spike in the morning when I'm leaving for work, spike in the evenings when i get home, and repeated peaks/troughs throughout the middle of the day.

Interestingly, there are some upticks in usage throughout the night. Up to 0.5 kWh.

On this day in particular, I had no AC on all day/night. Windows open.

[double bogey]

What enewman said. What does this graph look like when your main is off?

[BlackHogDown]

What enewman said. What does this graph look like when your main is off?

That has me worried. If it is something faulty in the apt, I don't have much confidence that they'll try to make it right. Although, I did mention to the manager in November the high electric bill. She was shocked as well.

I'll shut it down tonight for 15 min and check it out.

[Bill]

Shut off main breaker to your apartment and then go check the meter. If there’s no energy usage being displayed, the meters are not ‘crossed’.

Turn on breaker and turn off everything electric in your apartment, including heat and hot water temp to lowest setting. Unplug refrigerator, tv. Check meter. If zero or close nobody is tapping-in.

Get a six pack of good beer, drink one and call your electrician friend, say you have a problem and 5 beers left.


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[Bullseye07]

The graph looks like something is cycling on every 30 minutes from 9:45 to the rest of the day


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