Customer's electric bill spiked from 500 to 1100 bucks. There not sure why.

[zappy]

Is there any less obvious things to look for? Should I have POCO come out first, before I dive into this? Thank you for your help.

 

[emahler]

was this bill read or estimated? when was the last read bill?

 

[mivey]

Get a copy of the two bills. Look at the read dates and the meter readings. Using a daily average, read the meter today and see if the usage is still running high.

If it is still running high, take some load readings to verify the meter. The Kh value on the front of the meter gives you the secondary watt-hours per revolution constant. You will need to multiply the Kh by the CT ratio and PT ratio to get the primary Kh constant to get the actual watt-hours per revolution.

If the usage is still found to be high and the meter is reading correctly, start looking for some excessive current loads or loads that are not cycling off like they should.

Add: Loads that are not cycling off like a pump, heater, fans or other motors, etc.

 

[480sparky]

Never look at the dollars. Look at the usage.

 

[mivey]

Never look at the dollars. Look at the usage.

I thought we were supposed to watch the pennies instead of the dollars.

 

[AV ELECTRIC]

500 sounds high. is this an all electric appliance house or natural gas whats the square footage . does the heat come from the use of natural gas, Are they using space heaters . massive amounts of recessed lighting left on all the time . With that kind of bill that meter should be moving . If this is your basic house gas appliances with gas heater no space heaters throughout this bill should not be this high see if poco will put a new meter in and see what happens on the next bill .

 

[480sparky]

Another thing to look for is if this is the annual adjustment for the past year's worth of budget billing. The 12th bill can be a shocker.

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

Have your customer contact the utility company. If they are not satisfied with the answer, then you can start looking for issues. There may have been a rate hike, a change in usuage, etc... Maybe they did not pay the previous months bill, or paid it late and the payment was not applied before the bill was sent.

 

[zappy]

Get a copy of the two bills. Look at the read dates and the meter readings. Using a daily average, read the meter today and see if the usage is still running high.

If it is still running high, take some load readings to verify the meter. The Kh value on the front of the meter gives you the secondary watt-hours per revolution constant. You will need to multiply the Kh by the CT ratio and PT ratio to get the primary Kh constant to get the actual watt-hours per revolution.

If the usage is still found to be high and the meter is reading correctly, start looking for some excessive current loads or loads that are not cycling off like they should.

Add: Loads that are not cycling off like a pump, heater, fans or other motors, etc.

Part of what you said, shouldn't that be POCO's job to make sure there meter is working correctly? Just wondering. Thank you.

 

[Chenley]

I have wired an HVAC unit that was feed with gas, but had an emergency rollover to electric before. That could, maybe, possibly be it just throwing something out there for ya. Not sure that would explain a $500 difference.

Also have had one at a small industrial plant where there meter quit spinning and it took the PoCo three months to get out there to fix it (They didn't notify the owner about this either). They estimated the bills for the three months and adjusted the bill when I got a call about the bill being way too high. Not sure what happened to that situation, told the owner it was between him and the PoCo and that I was not going to get into the middle of it and choose a side.

 

[qcroanoke]

was this bill read or estimated? when was the last read bill?

That could be it.
Our local POCO just estimated a lot of bills because of weather and of course they estimated high in their favor. (a lot of people's doubled) and when they complained they were told in so many words to "deal with it, we'll adjust it next time around."

 

[mivey]

Part of what you said, shouldn't that be POCO's job to make sure there meter is working correctly? Just wondering. Thank you.

They test the big loads on a regular basis (I recommend annually). Medium sized loads are tested less often (I recommend every 2-4 years).

Meters for smaller loads are monitored through the billing system. I usually don't like to see those meters get too far past 15 years old.

A doubling of a bill should have flagged the billing system unless this load has had similar seasonal changes in the past.

I would assume the customer has already talked to the POCO before calling you because that is a free call. Never hurts to check.

 

[mivey]

Also have had one at a small industrial plant where there meter quit spinning and it took the PoCo three months to get out there to fix it (They didn't notify the owner about this either). They estimated the bills for the three months and adjusted the bill when I got a call about the bill being way too high.

I just cut off one of my water meters to avoid some freeze issues and found the cover broken and the hole full of dirt and roots.

I wonder how long they have been estimating that bill? I'm about to get my old bills out and verify the readings. A big adjustment may be in my future.

 

[RICK NAPIER]

One of the gentlemen I work with at his home was getting estimated bills for several months and when they finally read the meter it was a lot less than the estimates so the utility assumed it rolled over and hit him with a few thousand dollar bill. It took threats of going to the public utlity commission to finally correct the situation.

 

[macmikeman]

I would have sold him one of those power saver gizmo's that we all know to be baloney.....:grin: Sounds like an easy sale.....

 

[cowboyjwc]

One of the gentlemen I work with at his home was getting estimated bills for several months and when they finally read the meter it was a lot less than the estimates so the utility assumed it rolled over and hit him with a few thousand dollar bill. It took threats of going to the public utlity commission to finally correct the situation.

I had the same problem. My bill would be $120 for three months then all of a sudden it would be $500, then it would go back to $120 then I got a bill for $600 and I finally blew. Not sure if they all do it but our POCO has tiers and as your usage goes up the price goes up. The big bills were just the adjustments for when the meter reader was guessing.

I had them put in a digital smart meter that transmits the reading. I didn't have to pay my next four electric bills, because they owed me so much money. I've been in the house for about seven years and I'm thinking about going back and seeing if I can recoup some of my other big bills, since I now average out at about $130 a month no matter what.

Now many utilities have had some serious price incereases this year, so as someone else mentioned you might want to check the billing before you go diving into the system.

 

[wawireguy]

In Eastern WA for those with electric heat the power bill can triple sometimes in the winter. With a normal bill of $500 I don't see doubling it this time of year if they heat with electricity to be excessive.

 

[SeanD]

Zappy, your profile reads you are in CA. Many of the utilities in CA are installing smart meters and many customers are reporting dramatic increases in there bills afterward. People are even going so far as to sue utilities to stop them from installing smart meters. Additionally, some utilities have raised there rates recently (PG&E, certainly has).

I think the best advise has already been given. Get some bills and start crunching numbers and talk to the POCO.

 

[mivey]

Zappy, your profile reads you are in CA. Many of the utilities in CA are installing smart meters and many customers are reporting dramatic increases in there bills afterward. People are even going so far as to sue utilities to stop them from installing smart meters. Additionally, some utilities have raised there rates recently (PG&E, certainly has).

I think the best advise has already been given. Get some bills and start crunching numbers and talk to the POCO.

As you may be aware, smart meters have nothing to do with it. If changing the meter made a difference, any new meter would yield the same result.

If they replace an old electo-mechanical meter, it could show an increase as those meters tend to slow down with age (although I have seen some increase).

I doubt the rates have doubled, but it may be a combination of a higher rate and higher usage.

 

[One-eyed Jack]

Had a customer once that had 4.5 kw in Christmas lights. 12hr a day for 30 days equaled 250.00. Just a few lights times a lot of hrs = pile of money