$1400 Electric Bill for 1 Bdrm Apt (HELP)

The ac, whats the details? I was reading a thread where one dude was running a huge ac but exhausting the room 24/7 and then wondered why his ac didn't shut off.

tiered billing is a motherfucker and can be offset a little by using a little common sense to run room days at night. 1400 seems harsh though.

agreed the only way thats possible other than a reader error
is your AC is being vented out and doesnt shut off

You also come here saw your replied to your ic post

the electric bill is full of shit . I run 12 600 hps . and 2 1000 watt mh and mini split up stairs to keep me cool . im 1100 a month. you need to call them !

With smart meters they can check on the computer if they got it correct.
Call them and ask why it's so high.
You are just a customer like everyone else. Maybe someone is using your power too.
do you live in an apt building or attached town homes.
Sometime an outlet can feed into another unit.
I had the problem in a building I owned, it was easy to fix but I had to refund the tenant, not the electric co.

my last power bill was 500.00 (avg 400-550). I run a 600w 12/12, a 600w 18/6, 8000btu ac for 12/12, 8" 750cfm fan 24/7, 8" 440cfm 24/7, 4" 250cfm 24/7, 8" 440cfm 24/, 6" 440cfm 12/12, 6" 440 cfm 12/12 and 6" 440cfm 18/6, 18" oscillating fan 24/7, 24" box fan 24/7, 6 5" clip fans 24/7, PLUS my household power usage including 2 laptops, 64" plasma tv, fridge, lights, a/c when needed. my lights are on a 110v plug. ill be moving soon and will be switching them to 220v to save on power consumption. my grow runs from-- veg 5pm to 11am and flower 7pm to 7am. ill also have the power company install a smart meter as well as putting me on the "night usage saver" program, or what ever they call it.

What you will likely find out happened is your electric company didn't read your meter for a few months for whatever reason and they were estimating your usage low for that period of time..even if the bill would have been 250 bucks if they were estimating it at 100 a month that's 600 bucks plus the current month that's already 850...it seems really high anyway but that's the only thing I can think of

The thing is I was only running one of the 600s and a 400 for this billing cycle. The AC was on often, but nowhere near all the time and I was not venting out the AC. I ran the light at night and kept the AC off most of the day. The previous billing cycle I had both 600s on and the bill was only $600. So this is bullshit. All of our AC units are on the roof so they may have me paying for a neighbors AC or something.

The question now and what I could really use some advice on is dealing with this. The bill is due in 10 days. I want to avoid the power company coming into my apartment at all costs. I will tell them I'll be out of town or unavailable if they try that. Should I wait until the bill is due to call them or do it asap?

Another point worth making is I have a poor relationship with building management and have been using some of their power to wash my car haha. Not sure if they're shady enough to steal some of my power or try to screw me though..

2 600W is the equivalent of running a space heater or 1 window AC unit, here in the Midwest it amounts to about an additional 50-75 bucks/month at 12 hours daily.

You all out west must be paying much higher base rates?.

The main reason is probably your AC but the lights can also easily add an extra $300 to your electric bill. Just try to be as conservative as possible to get you into a lower tier

if you turn everything off your meter should just barely tick
if its moving at a fast pace it has a load from somewhere else

Your being cheated somewhere....

You are being charged for 2 months, so thats only 700$ per month which is feasable with your setup. The tiered rates will KILL you.

Check your grounds

think about it logically man...if you call them and ask them about your bill they arent going to want to send someone out, they are either going to break it down for you and it will make sense or they will say the usage went up and that will be that. id call them and just simply ask if they can look and tell you if their is an obvious reason why your bill is so much higher this month (meaning reading error or whatever not that your growing pot lol)

highbrid1 said:

Hey guys - long time reader, first time poster here... I just got the worst bill of my life and I'm trying to figure out if it's legit or there's some sort of mistake here. I live in a 1 bdrm apt and run 2x 600w digital HPS in flowering and sometimes a 400w digital MH for veg. It is a medical grow and within the legal guidelines, but I still strongly prefer the building owner and electric company do not know what I'm doing. The bill was over $1400 total for August and September. It was the hottest 2 months of the year and I had the AC on a good amount, but still do not see how that justifies a $1400 bill. I work full time, am gone all day and do not consume much power at all outside if growing. I have a laptop computer, fridge and big screen TV that is on avg of 3 hours a day - that is it. I also run a 6'' vortex 24/7 and have a few other fans running most of the time. Also, for this billing period, I was only running one of the 600w HPS, not both. Before this, I was running 2x 400w on old school coil balasts and my bill was never over $400 for two months.

I live in SoCal and they have this tiered billing system where the more power you use, the more expensive it gets. Here are how my numbers appear on the bill for two months:

Total of 6700/kwh
Avg of 108/kwh per day

I ended up using most of my power in the expensive tier where electricity runs 20 cents per kwh.

Does this sound right for my situation? I did the math and it doesn't add up at all.

If it's not legit, how do you recommend I contest the bill without setting off any alarms?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Power bills are determinded from Kilowatt Per hour or KWH...

Find out what your KWH x kilowatt used...thats your power bill...

If u dont know you KWH check your bill or call ur company...

IMO i think that your electric bill is BS because u most likely live in an apartment and the management
uses there own KWH and ends up screwing you...

You need to make sure that someone didn't tap your line...like one of the apartment employees. Turn everything off and check the meter. Happened to a friend, but he made the mistake of hitting his circuit breakers which also killed the tap into the thieves apartment...just turn off your major appliances and check out the meter.

I cant help but chuckle some. Here in the midwest The EPA is going to close down 5 coal fired power plants and energy costs are expected to go way up.
Most of the people who live in California are bat shit crazy.
Im sure the situation in CALI is untenable. Not only do you have to put up with a federal EPA you have your own EPA that is worse. Seems they like to loot and regulate energy companys..well most in Cali forgot the first rule of plumbing..shit runs down hill.Would you all like to guess where it is going to land?
These people you keep electing to help you..well they are..they are helping you out of your money.
Politicians screw with company=companys lose money=companys raise prices=pass the bill to YOU.Hence=politicians screw with YOU.
When a power company has a sliding scale like yours does ,. they are forcing people like you.(the rich) to pay for those who cant afford to pay the full amount on their bills.
There is a golfer who lives in cali who just won a couple of major tournaments . His tax bill federal and state came to 62% of his income right off of the top.
If he won ten million dollars he would only get to keep 3.5 million just mostly for the great honor of living in california.Why? because he is subsidizing everyone else who lives their.They are living off of his talent and hard work.
Do you wonder why allot of the major companys and rich people are fleeing california? Its because you are making slaves of them to feed the rest of the population and pay the bills of a corrupt state government.You wonder why they legalized marijuana in cali? Its because you were the last people left with change in your pockets to loot.