It's good discussion, I am greatly interested in hearing all opinions on the two related topics from the standpoint of electric companies, but in general location and protocol would be the main determining factors, before any variable amount of kwh. Perfect example would be a google search, see how many arrests were tipped from electricity companies to seize ops that held less then 10k in yield values...I don't think you have to be paranoid too much though, I myself don't like to be in harry situations, I'd probably never exceed few plants at a time once I do get used to growing efficiently. I think some areas (geographically) and some areas (population to power availability wise) or familiar with illegal growing crops could be under higher risk categories in general. My brother actually just graduated as electrician this year, but unfortunately there is only one state owned/funded company that services here; and they are not hiring so he has to scout for apprentice job somewhere else around the US, not really knowing where he will be in 5 years but I guess that's life.
I dig the train of thought you're on. If you don't mind, I'd like to build on the ideas you tossed out on the table.
I also think location and protocol would be the main factors and also the wild cards in determining your risks concerning a large grow op. Where I'm at, we are on a relatively small cooperative utility system. Smaller numbers equate to easier audit when it comes to time spent by employees looking at any given account. I would guess that at a much larger utility, the employees in charge of looking at consumption anomalies would have a much larger work load to deal with than my wife does, when it comes to that task. Here a person would have time to ponder the reason for the high usage. In a bigger office it may be that the decision is just made on a "our problem" or 'not our problem" basis, because of time constraints. I think it's a plausable scenario, but not a completely safe bet. A larger utility could have that job staffed at a level at least somewhat similar to the level of the utility my wife works for, based on work load per employee. What I mean by that is, if here a person can look at 500 accounts per day, it would be roughly that per employee anywhere. Just more employees at the bigger utility.
That leaves protocall. Our local utility lets LEO stop by, but they do not make helping them a priority. If an employee wanted to report something suspicious, they wouldn't stop them, but they aren't asking them to.
my dear wife (bless her kind heart for all the local growers) has no interest in my horticultural activities. As a matter of fact, i'm sure given her choice, would rather I didn't, but she also believes it's a free fucking country and marijuana doesn't belong on the list of narcotics. Therefore, she never "notices" the twelve hour ebb and flow of power consumption. There are local growers here who will never know that they owe her a thank-you.
The difference between getting noticed by LEO and not getting noticed, can be the result of details one might never even consider. That's why anyone who is considering a large, less than legal grow op needs to make peace with the idea of arrest. It is not a profession without penalty if you fuck up on the details.
