they usually get people from tips from the power company about a spike in electricity usage
Biggest misconception in growing.
I worked for Southern California Edison for 5 years. Power companies do not give a flying fuck about high electricity usage as long as the account holder is paying the bill. It would make no sense to do so for a couple reasons. When you use a high amount of electricity, you dont pay what the average person pays per kilowatt, you pay a premium. There was a 4 tier system for pricing, obviously the users of the most electricity pay the highest price. If someones getting charged a premium and paying their bill, why would the electricity company put a stop to that. THATS THEIR INCOME. A business would never cut off their best customers. Thats counter-productive to the goal of any company...
PROFIT$
On the other hand, the electricity company does have a big hand in getting growers caught, but thats when electricity is being
STOLEN and most people steal electricity because the confusion regarding the misconception of the electric company tipping off the cops for seeing "spikes"
you should notbe worrying about it as it wont be much like a regular furnace heater uses more watts than a 400 people use that all winter.a/c use 1000 watts and people use that all summer you pay for it use it
a great point...theres no way to distinguish how electricity is being used. Wasing machines, dryers, space heaters, a/c units, dish washing machines, etc all use an amount of electricity comparable to lights used to grow (HPS, MH). Many single family homes (2 parents, 2-3 kids) use as much and sometimes more than your average hobby, personal growers op.
Im more worried about the DEA or the FBI monitoring this website. I often wonder if the DEA or the FBI can look up your IP address and bust you after seeing pics that you've posted of your grow operation on this website.
Wouldnt worry about that, the FBI/DEA doesnt have the time, man power, or money to go in on your average hobby grower (i consider a hobby grower as anyone who isnt making $100,000/year off their grow exploits). And as we inch closer and closer and and closer to nationwide decriminalization, the feds will become less and less and less interested.
As far as the original question, i wouldnt worry about it. Police budgeting doesnt allow for big general scans of an area using helicopters (not cheap to fuel those up and pay pilots) and a thermal reading (not cheap equipment). An area with a high volume of growing like nor cal will get more helicopter activity, but thats usually to spot illegal outdoor grow ops on public land. Whats more is that even if you are spotted with thermal, police still have to have more than that to have probable cause (high foot traffic in and out of your house, neighbor telling, etc) to enter. I say just lay back, take some rips, and enjoy growing.
