Electric bill increase after rain.

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electricalist

Senior Member
Location
dallas tx
A customer says if the ground is wet from rain the electric bill double. There are many unknowns I already know.
If there any way for her bill to go up because of underground conductors.
 

Jon456

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
A customer says if the ground is wet from rain the electric bill double. There are many unknowns I already know.
If there any way for her bill to go up because of underground conductors.
If there are buried wires and those wires have some damaged insulation such that the inner conductor is exposed, then electricity will be leaking into the ground and/or flowing between the wires (if there is damage to more than one wire). The more water there is in the soil, the more conductive the earth will be, resulting in an increase in current flowing into the ground or between the wires. If this is happening downstream of her meter, then the meter will record higher power consumption when the ground is wet.

I'd recommend performing a Megger test.
 

Jon456

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
Wow. Can I think it's a hot or two possibly and there's a chance someone could get the crud shocked out of them?
Power could be leaking from a hot leg to ground, or from the neutral leg to ground (when the neutral is carrying the unbalanced current from between the two hot legs), especially if there is a poor or failed bond between the neutral and the GES at the service entrance.

A person could be shocked from power leaking from any of the three legs.
 

Jon456

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
Yes the meter is on the poco pole by the street and goes approx 50-60 ft. Underground and comes up at the house.
I would start by disconnecting the two hots and the neutral at the service and at the house and isolating the ends of the wires in free air. Then perform an insulation resistance test (Megger test) at 1,000 VDC, testing from each leg to ground (EGC) and from each leg to each other leg. If you do not detect a fault, you should re-test after the ground has been soaked with water.
 

electricalist

Senior Member
Location
dallas tx
It's getting disconnected as soon I get there and build a overhead service and call the poco. There is a sub fed that is also underground to a separate structure, it'll be abandoned and fed overhead..
 

electricalist

Senior Member
Location
dallas tx
That's not my call and my guess is that it's the fastest sollution. Nobody knows where the service conductors or the feeders are underground. There's a few things growing on what would be a straight path.. It seems to be overall a good idea..
What precautions should I keep in mind?
I'm not familiar with voltage leaks
 

Jon456

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
That's not my call and my guess is that it's the fastest sollution. Nobody knows where the service conductors or the feeders are underground.
If the plan is to install all new wire, then it doesn't really matter too much where the old stuff is. Just cut a new trench and lay new wire. Conduit would be even better.

There's a few things growing on what would be a straight path.
Is there a possibility that whatever is growing could later grow tall enough to encroach on overhead wires?

What precautions should I keep in mind? I'm not familiar with voltage leaks
I assume by your question that the current wiring will remain energized until the replacement wiring is installed and ready to switch over, correct? If the buried wires really do have damaged insulation, I don't think there's much you can do to mitigate the power leakage while they're buried other than to take the wire out of service. Other than that, I would try to keep the ground bone dry. Obviously, you can't control the rain, but I'd ensure there's no landscape irrigation in the area of the buried wires. I also wouldn't want to dig anywhere near the wires unless they were first de-energized.
 

Sierrasparky

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician ,contractor
It's getting disconnected as soon I get there and build a overhead service and call the poco. There is a sub fed that is also underground to a separate structure, it'll be abandoned and fed overhead..

If its after the meter then why call the POCO? Why is it of their concern.
 

qcroanoke

Sometimes I don't know if I'm the boxer or the bag
Location
Roanoke, VA.
Occupation
Sorta retired........
Is there a main disco out at the meter? Seems there should be.

It seems that I have seen on here that you can go around the house 3 times if you want and no OCP is required until you enter the home.....
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
How much is a double bill?

I have never been around a residential faulted underground that was giving shocks to those walking above it. Not saying it could not, just haven't. Open neutrals cause grief and shocks from water lines etc, but they won't cause the billing to go up. Wet ground or not. Even 1 faulted hot won't pass that much current. Think ohms law. If a ground rod won't pass enough current to trip a 20 amp breaker, why would insulation failure do it? Once both hots fault you make glass but the lights should be going nuts by then.

Repairing those faults is not that hard, generally. Shovel or backhoe at the worst.
 

electricalist

Senior Member
Location
dallas tx
If the plan is to install all new wire, then it doesn't really matter too much where the old stuff is. Just cut a new trench and lay new wire. Conduit would be even better.


Is there a possibility that whatever is growing could later grow tall enough to encroach on overhead wires?


I assume by your question that the current wiring will remain energized until the replacement wiring is installed and ready to switch over, correct? If the buried wires really do have damaged insulation, I don't think there's much you can do to mitigate the power leakage while they're buried other than to take the wire out of service. Other than that, I would try to keep the ground bone dry. Obviously, you can't control the rain, but I'd ensure there's no landscape irrigation in the area of the buried wires. I also wouldn't want to dig anywhere near the wires unless they were first de-energized.
Correct they dont want the power off until the poco is coming to re connect. NO WATER atleast until its disconnected, and one maybe dumb but i have to ask,,,. When I build the new service should i leave the ground rod and cold water disconnected from the new service until the old service is disconnected..Driving a 8 ft rod right where there may be stray voltage seems like a bad idea,,,?
 
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