Reason for increase in my POCO bill

Status
Not open for further replies.
growler said:
I would look closely at the bill to make sure all the charges are for power use and not some other type of charges.

I would think that if there was a significant amount of resistance then you would have had a large voltage drop and equipment such as AC units or refrigerators would not work very well.

You can always question the power company. call and talk to one of their engineers.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
mivey said:
What is your soil resistivity? Rod length? A one ohm rod is pretty low. Not impossible but still...
Click to expand...

We did not measure soil resistivity. Galvanized iron pipe 1.5" dia, 15' long used. Soil treatment with common salt and charcoal. Standard Public works department method.:)
 
I keep coming back and re-reading this thread.

The fault condition lasted no more than 24 hours. The OP stated the bill was 3x the normal BI-monthly charge. So if I'm interpreting what was written, in 24 hours that meter passed 4 month's normal power consumption.

I don't see any way that would be possible. I suspect a billing error, or a meter failure.
 
Sahib said:
We did not measure soil resistivity. Galvanized iron pipe 1.5" dia, 15' long used. Soil treatment with common salt and charcoal. Standard Public works department method.:)
Click to expand...
What method did you use to measure the rod resistance?
 
Craigv said:
I don't see any way that would be possible. I suspect a billing error, or a meter failure.
Click to expand...
Without the details, I could see it if the hot conductor was earthed past the meter without being "hard-wired" to the grounded conductor.
 
Besoeker said:
- post#44.
Anyway, it doesn't explain the vast increase in the POCO bill.
Click to expand...
Ah yes. The old I know it is so because I feel it in my bones method.:D

The one ohm curiosity doesn't really address the bill but was an interesting aside because it is such a low value for a single ground rod. I suspect something is wrong with that number but wanted more data to see what might be the cause. Mis-use of clamp meters often give these fractional values.
 
mivey said:
Ah yes. The old I know it is so because I feel it in my bones method.:D

The one ohm curiosity doesn't really address the bill but was an interesting aside because it is such a low value for a single ground rod. I suspect something is wrong with that number but wanted more data to see what might be the cause. Mis-use of clamp meters often give these fractional values.
Click to expand...

I'm betting he was measuring something besides the road, like a water pipe parallel to it.
 
His past emphasis on importance of low resistance in grounding electrodes and fault clearing abilities of grounding electrodes for low voltage systems leaves me not surprised to see a really low resistance electrode. It seems likely he has more then just a single 8 or 10 foot rod.

Where this electrode is connected in relation to the meter and how does his metering operate - could be a factor into whether any neutral current from other users found a way through his meter, especially if his grounding electrode does have a really low resistance. But at same time if there is a pretty low resistance path and the metering does monitor the grounded neutral - he may not have ever had an accurate reading in the past as some of what should have been metered found another path to the source.
 
Sahib said:
The trick is soil treatment with common salt reducing soil resistivity, but at the risk of corroding the electrode.
Click to expand...

Sahib, can you take pictures of this instillation and the ground rod in question? I have a feeling that when you grounded the neutral, it was not just the rod that was involved in returning power to the POCO.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top