Electricity meter 3 phase, 600v

[girl]

nobody took electricity meter readings in the past 5 months.
todays readings are astronomical compared to the previous readings and customer says it's wrong, it's to much because it's very unusual from last year although there were not any additional instalations to cause such high consumption of electricity.
Meter is 3 phase, 600 Volt, for an OLd Age Home.
Is there a way and how and who can test this hydro meter?
what and could readings be wrong?
Please help me, advise me, guide me in this dispute.

Thank you all.

 

[lakee911]

I would expect the meter reading to be 5x the previous reading, assuming it had been read monthly. Why the lapse?

I don't think I've ever seen a meter at 600V and 3ph and I'm very surprised it would go to a home...let alone an older home.

What is a hydro meter?

 

[BJ Conner]

What do you mean by "hydro meter"?
Is 600 volt the voltage class and not the service? I would assume it to be 120/208 volt.
Where is the utility? Have they been asked avout the meter?
Has the occupancy of the home changed? More people means more hot water is used, more food is cooked etc etc.

 

[augie47]

I don't of any POCO that does not have a means of testing the accuracy of their meters and do so at customers request.

 

[rcwilson]

What is a hydro meter?

What is a hydro meter?

I'm guessing the OP is in Canada where 600V three phase service is comon and is supplied by the local utility: Hydro One, Hydro Ontario, Hydro Quebec, etc. In Ontario, until a few years ago the "Hydro" utility also did all electrical inspection and some installation. Anything electrical was provided by Hydro XXX.

In that area of Canada, "hydro" seems to be synonomous with "electric utility" or "electric power system". A hydro meter is a utility meter supplied by Hydro One. "Hydro lines" are transmisssion and distribution lines owned and operated by Hydro T&D.

Power rates in that area have increased in the past year. That could explain the apparent high cost. See if the utility will check the meter.

 

[girl]

I'm guessing the OP is in Canada where 600V three phase service is comon and is supplied by the local utility: Hydro One, Hydro Ontario, Hydro Quebec, etc. In Ontario, until a few years ago the "Hydro" utility also did all electrical inspection and some installation. Anything electrical was provided by Hydro XXX.

In that area of Canada, "hydro" seems to be synonomous with "electric utility" or "electric power system". A hydro meter is a utility meter supplied by Hydro One. "Hydro lines" are transmisssion and distribution lines owned and operated by Hydro T&D.

Power rates in that area have increased in the past year. That could explain the apparent high cost. See if the utility will check the meter.

You are right and I do apologize to all of you that I did not mention I am in Canada and Hydro meter is Electrical meter, meter that measures electricity consumption. Utility doesn't want to test it since it is not their property because the meter in question is measuring electricity consumption supplied from one establishment to another one which happen to be an Old Age Home= Retirement Residency.

Because of the management change meter readings were forgoten for the past 5 months. And, now the problem is: why such a big diference in the amount of electricity spendings although nothing changed except power rates and that still could not increase so much.
Example: last year's monthly power consumptions were 166KWH and this year for the same month 1250 KWH.
We don't know did somebody read the meter incorrectly for the past years or is meter faulty or? we don't know.
To verify meter accuracy who and how to do it in Toronto?
Thank you all

 

[BJ Conner]

1250/5= 250 KW month.
Was the average last year 166 KW/month?
Survey your loads.

 

[zog]

I'm guessing the OP is in Canada where 600V three phase service is comon and is supplied by the local utility: Hydro One, Hydro Ontario, Hydro Quebec, etc. In Ontario, until a few years ago the "Hydro" utility also did all electrical inspection and some installation. Anything electrical was provided by Hydro XXX.

.

I wish people would put thier real location instead of BS so we did not have to all play the guessing game every other thread. Sure would help in answering questions.

 

[ptonsparky]

Okay okay.

 

[BJ Conner]

On further review going from 166KWH to 250 KWH per month is an additional 84 KWHs per month.
Two 60 watt light bulbs if left on all month are:
(2 x 60watt x 24 hrs/day x 30 day/ mo) x ( 1 KWH/1000 Watts)= 86.4 KWH
Maby some of the old people are reading more.

 

[topgone]

I don't of any POCO that does not have a means of testing the accuracy of their meters and do so at customers request.

True. But there's a workaround on this one! You can always report to the POCO that the meter is rather slow and you need their help and calibrate your meter so that the energy measured will be correct, you intended not to short-change the POCO! I know they will act on it fast, I did it once!

 

[SAC]

You said "this year for the same month 1250 KWH", so it sounds like you divided the last reading by 5 - but it isn't really clear. You should clarify if the meter reading was 1250KWh since the last reading (taken 5 months ago), or if the 1250KWh you reported was the average monthly use over the last 5 months (difference since the last reading, divided by 5 months). Big difference.

You may also want to compare the sum of the 5 months from last year to the single reading taken this year that covered those same 5 months. It may not be true where you are, but in this area the summer months tend to have higher electrical usage than the fall months. Averaging over the summer months and then comparing to a single fall reading may be misleading.

 

[Jraef]

nobody took electricity meter readings in the past 5 months.
todays readings are astronomical compared to the previous readings and customer says it's wrong, it's to much because it's very unusual from last year although there were not any additional instalations to cause such high consumption of electricity.
Meter is 3 phase, 600 Volt, for an OLd Age Home.
Is there a way and how and who can test this hydro meter?
what and could readings be wrong?
Please help me, advise me, guide me in this dispute.

Thank you all.

girl,
This is not something to be taken on lightly by amateurs. You need to call in professionals to help you, look for companies that call themselves Electrical Testing Agencies. They will have the proper calibration and testing equipment. Normally I would recommend a NETA certified testing company, but apparently there are none in Ontario. Maybe because "Hydro" does it themselves? You may have to call an Electrical Engineer, or call a local electrical wholesaler and ask them who they would recommend.

But before I would go to that expense and if I had to guess, I'd say that someone has been reading the meter incorrectly up until recently. The average residential household in the US uses 920kWH per month*, so I seriously doubt that the 166kWH figure has ever been correct. I'd wait another month and see what happens.

Click here for spreadsheet by state from the US Dept. of Energy. Canada may be a little different, but not THAT much.