Is Your Power Company RIPPING YOU OFF? Find Out!

[@kuhrd]

I added 7.5KW of solar along with a 12KW inverter and a 46.5KWh battery bank and took the water heater plus a majority of my house off of solar except for the input to the inverter, the natural gas boiler and a couple lights that are usually never on and I was able to nearly zero my electric bill in the summer months along with a $30-40 bill in the spring and fall and the winter is usually around 65-85 depending on how much snow and how many solar days we have. Before I added the solar my electric bill was right around 90-115 every month. Because of this the power company came out twice to check the meter was working and even inspected the outside disconnect panel and wiring along with replacing the meter and was a bit confused that I was not using any power in the summer but the window AC was running. I came home from work and noticed they were there and I explained to the technician that most of the house was on a transfer switch and being powered by the inverter solar and batteries.

[@capriracer351]

About 5 or 6 years ago, our electric bill suddenly skyrocketed to $400 per month. It had previously been $75 to $100. Did quite a lot of checking to make sure I did not have an appliance that was going bad. I did not. Monitored the whole house electricity for a week and verified that my useage was no more than normal. Kept calling the electric company telling them that something was wrong with my meter. They denied it and said I had a problem in the house. Then suddenly, I had a new meter. My Bill has been normal ever since. They denied the entire time that there was a problem and refuse to give me a refund, the Bums.

[@electronicsNmore]

Nothing worse than people that don't admit fault. I'm not surprised, our totally compromised and corrupt government is the perfect example.

[@Conservator.]

@@electronicsNmoreIf you pay them peanuts you get monkeys.

[@unaffiliated_x9279]

It's literally theft...white collar theft

[@john-smith.]

@@electronicsNmore I agree FL needs a new Governor.

[@kennixox262]

@@john-smith. Florida for some reason keeps electing corrupt Governors like Bush, Scott and now DeSantis. The people of Florida seem to be OK with this. I'm a native of Florida.

[@ProjectFarm]

Fantastic video! Now I've got some work to do. Lol

[@WontSeeReplies]

Two of my most helpful KZbinrs!

[@sola2140]

​@@WontSeeRepliestwo biggest weapons***

[@Eduardo_Espinoza]

ditto! @WontSeeReplies 😁

[@tedlahm5740]

Very informative as usual. Never saw a smart meter that was that informative. Actually showing amps being drawn.

[@electronicsNmore]

They're very common in Florida, and I'm sure in many other states as well. If it doesn't show the power consumption, then you'd need to connect a single load for one full hour and compare it to what the power company says was used during that hour.

[@USA-GreedyMenOfNoIntegrity]

My typical usage was 1500 kWh. I went 100% off grid with two Sol-Ark 12K’s. Now my typical usage is 1000kWh. Yes, our power company was ripping us off. Every time our meter was replaced to “upgrade”, our power consumption increased. My power consumption off grid is back down where it used to be!

[@electronicsNmore]

Big initial investment, but it will save you money in the long term. Thanks for watching!

[@Conservator.]

Are you sure you didn’t save on power after going off-grid because that made you very aware of your power consumption?

[@USA-GreedyMenOfNoIntegrity]

@@Conservator.I run the same hvac and water heater set points. Our biggest loads.

[@Conservator.]

@@USA-GreedyMenOfNoIntegrity Ok, tx for letting me know. Merry Christmas!

[@holyhummer7951]

Excellent content and information! Thanks for sharing. Greetings from Central California 👍🏼

[@audiophileman7047]

This is a very good video, but did you consider power factor in your calculations? Don't mean to get in the weeds on this, but power factor can make a difference in some cases. Is the utility bill a customer receives based on "apparent power" or "true power"? This has to do with the electrical efficiency of all your electrical devices under the electrical service. It looks like you used 1.0 as your power factor. That may be good for a residential home, but in the case of a business (esp. a large business with large demand) power factor may be used in the calculation for billing. What are your thoughts on this billing point?

[@JT-lq4yd]

Nice video! It was also good that both meters were very close in the numbers once the math was done. Your meter accuracy is now "validated" against the utility's meter.

[@DG-od4si]

nice video next... how to calibrate the meter for low consumption

[@electronicsNmore]

LOL

[@jimmio3727]

Easy! Pull the meter, tamper with it, do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to jail.

[@thisoldjeepcj5]

Not for everyone but good video and accurate information.

[@Homer19521]

Add safety glasses to your recommendation

[@igotyourback209]

Ty for that info im going to have mine tested. My bill is at 700 a month in summer and in fall its 400 not much savings and its a mobile home. Ty 👍👍👍

[@erictrippe2778]

Electromechanical meters can be "calibrated" in the field or in the shop but digital meters can't. I have only come across one digital meter that was out by more than .5% in the last 21 years as a meterman. It was recording at over 1200% of the load so it was easy to see that there was a problem. I still have it today for demo purposes.

[@sapelesteve]

Very interesting video eNm but I would never try doing this myself. Guess that we will just have to live with our electrical system and hope that it's fairly accurate!

[@electronicsNmore]

Thanks for watching steve!

[@Conservator.]

If you don’t want to do it yourself, you can ask someone else to check it for you.

[@trench01]

Would calling the electrical company to test it out help? So can the technician adjust from the meter how much it reads or does it have to be swapped?

[@electronicsNmore]

The only problem with calling the power company is that there's a chance they can end up charging you for a service call if nothing's found. They may not send a person if they see nothing unusual about your monthly bills.

[@unaffiliated_x9279]

Our power comp. charges $300 for this service

[@konstantinusstoyanov9749]

Thank you

[@n1chr0me6]

Haha, I use so little electricity (comparatively) that a technician once came and replaced my meter -- the utility probably thought the old meter was under-reporting :-)

[@electronicsNmore]

I''ve seen them do that in the past. Thanks for watching!

[@kennixox262]

Here in Las Vegas, I'm a native of Florida; most homes here the power comes underground from the street but instead of a conduit on the exterior of the house, the conduit goes into the floor slab and then goes up into the inside of the exterior wall to the power meter and to the breaker panels. Yes, panels as most homes here, the 240v breakers are on the exterior and the 120v breakers are on the opposite side of the wall, usually the garage. Saying all that, some sneaky and stupid people will pull back the drywall on the inside of the garage, tap into the main power cable before it reaches the meter and then tap off that. Not only a fire hazard but a major safety hazard. I won't go into the legal aspects.

[@RandomBogey]

My meter doesn’t display the voltage. It’s just a single row lcd that cycles between a kW screen, and a kWh screen, and a screen with everything blank except for a “progress bar” that ticks along the bottom of the screen that I presume is the digital version of the old analog spinning wheel. There’s very clearly a “voltage” in the top corner of the lcd screen, like it’s an option to view, but it’s not on/doesn’t cycle through that screen. There is a single push button that may or may not show the voltage, but it’s all behind the acrylic dome…

[@cyberiusprime4855]

Thank you for the video! Please forgive me if I didn't comprehend something but during your dryer test, you showed the meter reading at 5,430 Watts, but later, when you showed your math, you had written the meter's reading as 5, 380 Watts. What accounts for the dissimilarity?

[@electronicsNmore]

There will always be fluctuations in the reading displayed on the meter. The readings I got were extremely close to what the meter was showing

[@slamdvw]

loaded circuit voltage vs unloaded. He measured volts with the circuit unloaded - measured current with it loaded.

[@tundramanq]

The difference in amperage on the phases is due to the drier motor and control circuits being only on one of them. The heater is a purely resistive load and the motor and any heater contactor relays are reactive loads that some meters will measure differently.

[@electronicsNmore]

Yes there's more of a load on one leg

[@WontSeeReplies]

Awesome

[@P.Trim69]

Yes

[@RichardKinch]

What if you are not allowed access to the meter? Such a condo where the HOA locks up the meter room from homeowners.

[@electronicsNmore]

Then you're going to have to call the person in charge so they can open up the door so you can look at the meter.

[@jimmio3727]

Yes, they are ripping us off. Not even by miscounting the power coming in, but by charging TWICE. A while ago, you used to be able to pay PECO for electricity. You'd get a bill from PECO, and you'd pay the rate they had. Now, you pay PECO for transmission fees, and a separate "generation" company for the power and gas, but at least PECO handles the payment to the "generation" co. Best part is very few of these other companies do any sort of actual generation; they mostly buy and sell it as a commodity... and the homeowner gets completely fucked as a result. Power rates are double what they were prior to this change, easy. Best part is so much has changed in the world, they'll find an excuse for it being fine and get away with it because they have the money to back themselves in court, unlike the homeowners who get fucked with cacti every month.

[@MAGAMAN]

Will this work if you have solar panels?

[@electronicsNmore]

I would imagine all you'd have to do is disconnect your solar panels from the grid, then perform the test as shown to see if the meter is accurate.

[@RotoRCol]

what if we don't have this type of meter from the company that shows the wattage ?

[@electronicsNmore]

If your meter does not display the wattage, then the other way to check would be to turn every breaker off except for your central AC. You will need to check how much current is being drawn by the AC system. Leave windows open so the system can continually run for one full hour. For example between 12 and 1:00 p.m. very important that the AC system runs constantly. You will be able to check later online through your account how much kilowatt hours were used between 12 and 1:00 p.m. You can do a comparison

[@P.Trim69]

Yes they are .

[@samash1704]

You lost me with the voltage drop discrepancy. 118.5 volts vs 119.5 volts. I didn't understand where those values came from.

[@electronicsNmore]

119.5 volts was the open circuit voltage. That means there was no load connected to the system. When you place a load on the power supply the voltage will drop. You need to calculate using the voltage of each 120-volt leg under load, or just use the voltage displayed on the meter divided by 2

[@samash1704]

I didn't know voltage dropped under a load. Thanks!@@electronicsNmore

[@audiophileman7047]

Voltage drops occur due to resistance in the devices in the electrical system. @@samash1704

[@P.Trim69]

Will u call i don't think they like me. Lol😂. Yes Sir good video.

[@dennisqwertyuiop]

good to watch the power co robbers,,they get too much

[@donalddaniels5848]

So if my meter is beating the pwr company i should also call them?

[@electronicsNmore]

:-)

[@P.Trim69]

Ok lets get um. Give our money back least 1/3 scratch that 1/2 .

[@thereissomecoolstuff]

Hate to be that guy. You have to tighten the shot after you pull the panel cover. You don’t want the average tuber messing around without absolute certainty. Great otherwise. You got project farm viewing and commenting. Congrats. That’s big time.

[@P.Trim69]

That's what electric company told me i called about my bill to hi. Said must left ur dryer on. On a timer how u going leave it on. Must be broke click. Hello hello electrical lady are you still lit. Huh phones broke to. Lol.