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Default High electricity usage in office!

Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. This is more than what I am using in my house! I called
the electric company and they said they'll send some one to read the
meter and I should call back in few days. I called back and they said
everything looks OK and nothing more is to be done. They were terrible
on the phone, extremely rude and they basically said, go F yourself.

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using 22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.

All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service you
can go somewhere else"!!

I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.

BTW, I am in Toledo, OH and my "****ty" electric is Toledo Edison.

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wrote:
Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. ...
the electric company ...said everything looks OK ...

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using 22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.

All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is going
on? ...


Sounds like more than you is on the meter to me most likely. Are you
supposed to have a meter serving your space only? If you turn
everything off and unplug the fridge for a moment and look at the meter,
is it still running? Bet it is...

Do you have access to the leadin and breaker panel to investigate
where/how wiring goes? Might give a clue as to what/who else is on the
service.

Isn't unknown for somebody to tap in illicitly, either...that's
something to at least check for -- in a commercial building, perhaps an
unscrupulous other tenant has done something untoward...

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Find the panel your meter is hooked to and switch the main breaker off.
Then see if the meter is still turning or advancing in the case of a
digital. Also, if someone else is on your panel, then pulling the main
should make them holler.

--
Steve Barker





wrote in message
ups.com...
Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. This is more than what I am using in my house! I called
the electric company and they said they'll send some one to read the
meter and I should call back in few days. I called back and they said
everything looks OK and nothing more is to be done. They were terrible
on the phone, extremely rude and they basically said, go F yourself.

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using 22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.

All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service you
can go somewhere else"!!

I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.

BTW, I am in Toledo, OH and my "****ty" electric is Toledo Edison.



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Some landlords [not telling the tenants] put their yard lights on their
tenants meter. I'd investigate. And if I still couldn't justify the
electrical use, you might see about the state's [your state that you live
in] Departments of Weights and Measurements. They handle meters and the
like. You could file a complaint with the Public Utility Commission, but
that's usually a very very slow train.

--
Zyp

wrote in message
ups.com...
Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. This is more than what I am using in my house! I called
the electric company and they said they'll send some one to read the
meter and I should call back in few days. I called back and they said
everything looks OK and nothing more is to be done. They were terrible
on the phone, extremely rude and they basically said, go F yourself.

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using 22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.

All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service you
can go somewhere else"!!

I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.

BTW, I am in Toledo, OH and my "****ty" electric is Toledo Edison.



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wrote:
Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. This is more than what I am using in my house! I called
the electric company and they said they'll send some one to read the
meter and I should call back in few days. I called back and they said
everything looks OK and nothing more is to be done. They were terrible
on the phone, extremely rude and they basically said, go F yourself.

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using 22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.

All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service you
can go somewhere else"!!

I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.

BTW, I am in Toledo, OH and my "****ty" electric is Toledo Edison.

Air conditioning?

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .


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Default High electricity usage in office!

My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. This is more than what I am using in my house! I called
the electric company and they said they'll send some one to read the
meter and I should call back in few days. I called back and they said
everything looks OK and nothing more is to be done. They were terrible
on the phone, extremely rude and they basically said, go F yourself.


Disconnect everything and check the meter to see if it's still spinning...
Might want the power company to come check the meter at this time as well.

Don't threaten the landlord to move out, threaten him to withhold rent. Make
sure you can prove that something is going on.
Send your complaint via a registered letter.


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CJT wrote:
wrote:
... the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

....

Air conditioning?


OP wrote "... the AC is still off, no need for it yet." ???

--



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wrote:
Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. This is more than what I am using in my house! I called
the electric company and they said they'll send some one to read the
meter and I should call back in few days. I called back and they said
everything looks OK and nothing more is to be done. They were terrible
on the phone, extremely rude and they basically said, go F yourself.

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using 22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.

All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service you
can go somewhere else"!!

I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.

BTW, I am in Toledo, OH and my "****ty" electric is Toledo Edison.


It certainly sounds as if someone else could be tapped into and using
your metered power. It is easy enough to find out though: go into your
office and turn off / unplug everything and then go to the meter and see
if it is spinning. If it is, somebody else is benefiting from your
charity. You may want to try this several times at different times of
the day but I'd not tell anyone about it until you know something.

A decent electrician who knows what (s)he is looking for could probably
open the panel(s) and probably find any misdeeds but I wouldn't advise
you to do it. You might also want to check the seal on the meter housing
to see if it has been removed -- inside that housing would be an
excellent place to tap in for power.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com
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Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet.


I moved into a new 4-office building once and the meters were switched
around on everyone's bill. I got billed for the much bigger space next to
me until I figured this out. Trace your wires. Shut everything off and
see if "your" meter still spins.


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On Thu, 7 Jun 2007 16:51:07 -0500, "Steve Barker"
wrote:

Find the panel your meter is hooked to and switch the main breaker off.
Then see if the meter is still turning or advancing in the case of a
digital. Also, if someone else is on your panel, then pulling the main
should make them holler.


All this on the fairly good but tentative conclusion someone is
stealing your electricity:

Hmmm. I was going to agree with you 100% but now only 90. The other
guy might be smart enough to keep his mouth shut. So the OP or his
friends should go office to office (right?) after the power is off, to
see which office is dark. Although it might well not be the whole
office which is on the OP's ciruit. Maybe some high-current room or
some high current device.

And it could even be that the other party sneaked in between the meter
and the OP's breaker/fuse box, although usually they are very close
together.

OP, you might want to test your disconnecting for a second or two
before you bring in your spies. To know you can do it and how. If
there are any clocks on the ohter guy's circuit, having to reset them
a second time might bring more whining when the spies are there.

If you have cartridge fuses in your main cutoff, you might be able to
pull that out, remove the fuses, and put the black thing back in.
That will slow down their finding the problem, and the bad guy won't
suspect you. Even when they find the problem, you can play dumb.

Tell people that your power is off too (and it will be) to give the
bad guy the feeling that .

BTW, the other guy might possibly be your landlord.

Finding the extra wires might not be so easy.

When I was in college, I lived in a fraternity that had been a big
house built around 1900. I had a tiny room and when I moved the small
set of drawers, I found a phone had gone to my room. Maybe from after
WWII, when we had a lot of grown men living in the frat going to
school on the GI Bill. I went to the basement and found the other
end of the wires, disconnected from everything. I don't remember the
thought process, but I decided to connect my wirres to the pay phone's
wires (we had two pay phones, one in a closet on the first floor and
one in the hall on the second floor. I chose the second floor one
which got used a lot less, usually only when one of the 18 guys living
there was on the closet phone.)

I used three wires from my line, cutting the pay phone line right
where it passed over a 1 or 2 inch pipe, so the splice couldn't be
seen while standing on the floor. (Probably 8 foot ceilings.)

I used 3 of my wires. I cut one of the two pay phone wires and just
spliced into the other one. I bought a bag of some switches at Olsen
Electronics, and a little scrap wood, and put in a switch to open the
line to the pay phone and connect me. Voila!

Later, even though one of two wires was cut, someone could hear my
voice on the pay phone, they even came and got me. I should have said
I heard the voice too, but like a fool I said i didn't hear it.

So I took two 110 to 35 volt transformers ,put them in series to get
about 12 volts, and used the same DPDT swtich to run 12 volts through
the pay phone whenever I cut its line to the phone co. with the same
switch. Then whenever I was on the phone they'd hear a 60-cycle hum
in the pay phone around the corner from me about 30 feet away. (I was
at the end of the hall. When they complained about this, I always
volunteered to call the phone company and report it. This shows how
sneaky thieves can be.

Everything went fine for several months, maybe 5 phone calls a week,
until one time I was yelling at a friend of mine (who could be very
annoying. ) And my friend Rich who lived next to me came and
knocked on the door and said "Do you have a phone in there?". I
thought of saying I was just yelling at myself, but Rich was a good
guy, and I couldn't lie to him singly. I guess everything worked
until I moved to an apartment in July.

I think I soldered the two wires together and taped everything, behind
the dresser. But I dont think I soldered the wires in the basement
because I was trying to finish quickly, and they were only an inch or
two below the ceiling and above a pipe.

A few years later I heard that the there had been trouble with the 2nd
floor pay phone, and the phone man couldn't find it, so he had run a
new line from the ingress to the phone (through the laundry chute I'm
sure where the first wire went.) I felt bad about that but not bad
enough to confess.
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On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:48:42 -0400, John McGaw
wrote:

A decent electrician who knows what (s)he is looking for could probably
open the panel(s) and probably find any misdeeds but I wouldn't advise
you to do it. You might also want to check the seal on the meter housing
to see if it has been removed -- inside that housing would be an
excellent place to tap in for power.


I forgot about that. ARound here, the seals are those plastic label
tags with the wire coming out and in. One can cut one of those, do
what you want, and then stuff the stub back in and it will look as if
it hasn't been touched. DAMHIKT. So you'd have to pull on it sopme
to see if it has been tampered with.


BTW, the point of my tapped pay phone story was to show how hard it
can be to find a tap. Not that the phone guy couldn't have found it
if he had tried harder, or if he hadn't thought it was a broken wire
inside insulation where he couldn't see it.

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Don't discount those plastic meter seals too fast. My utility used
them for years. We also paid the meter readers a bounty for each
broken seal they found. That's why they tugged just about every
plastic seal each time they read the meter. Each broken seal was
reported and our security team checked them out. Best catch was a
motel at the seashore. We had to put in a second meter (up on the
pole in a fake transformer can) to catch them red handed. Fines,
interest, penalties, costs of the investigation and of course all the
stolen energy.

In most cases high bills in a commercial location with multiple meters
is a mismatch between customer and meter. Second choice is
misinstalled wiring for loads such as outdoor lights, hall lights,
basement, back to back receptacles (now in different offices) or just
a landlord that doesn't know or care that subdividing space requires
new wiring.

My son had a similar problem in an apartment in NYC. Con Ed (and the
landlord) couldn't care less after he found out that an adjoining
apartment had some of his wiring. So he carefully explained to Con
Ed's legal department that his father was an expert witness for
utility operations and they had a talk with the landlord and stopped
hounding my son for back bills.

On Jun 7, 8:03 pm, mm wrote:
On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:48:42 -0400, John McGaw
wrote:

A decent electrician who knows what (s)he is looking for could probably
open the panel(s) and probably find any misdeeds but I wouldn't advise
you to do it. You might also want to check the seal on the meter housing
to see if it has been removed -- inside that housing would be an
excellent place to tap in for power.


I forgot about that. ARound here, the seals are those plastic label
tags with the wire coming out and in. One can cut one of those, do
what you want, and then stuff the stub back in and it will look as if
it hasn't been touched. DAMHIKT. So you'd have to pull on it sopme
to see if it has been tampered with.

BTW, the point of my tapped pay phone story was to show how hard it
can be to find a tap. Not that the phone guy couldn't have found it
if he had tried harder, or if he hadn't thought it was a broken wire
inside insulation where he couldn't see it.



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I had a big customer a department store that downsized and their bill
went up.

seems a electrician made a mistake and hornes was paying for much of
the malls electric I heard about this when doing some unrelated
service.

they found it by sending store employees all over the mall and cutting
their main power a few minutes before the mall opened.

half the mall went dark.

it appeared to be a honest mistake but was a big hassle to fix.



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On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:42:57 -0700, Howard
wrote:

Don't discount those plastic meter seals too fast. My utility used


I was only saying that for the benefit of the OP, who might not notice
tampering when he was looking around.

But even though I said Don't Ask Me, I'll tell you how I know that.
It was only because I had my electricity disconnected for non-payment
(had the money, just didn't have the energy) and after I had actually
paid the bill, in Baltimore one has to be home when the guy comes to
reconnect. Or it was the end of the day and I wasn't sure he was
returning. So U took off the tag and reconnected it myself. I was
depressed and reckless.

He did come back that evening, maybe around 6, and I told him someone
else had been there and reconnected it, but something he said led me
to conclude he was the only with that job in my area, and he knew no
one from the electric co. had been there.

them for years. We also paid the meter readers a bounty for each
broken seal they found. That's why they tugged just about every
plastic seal each time they read the meter. Each broken seal was


If he had wanted to, what would they have done to me? I didn't steal
any electricity, just took off the plastic shields.

What he actually did was put a good tag on and leave. I'm sure he
knew why my power was out, and gradually I realized he knew what I had
done.

reported and our security team checked them out. Best catch was a
motel at the seashore. We had to put in a second meter (up on the
pole in a fake transformer can) to catch them red handed. Fines,
interest, penalties, costs of the investigation and of course all the
stolen energy.


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wrote in message
ups.com...
Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business
so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a
PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent
lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously
on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is
gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using
22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That
adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly
used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.
snip
All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is
going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last
time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service
you
can go somewhere else"!!

I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care
of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.

snip

First, I'd talk to some other tenants in the complex of offices and
find out what their bills are running,

Second, turn off or unplug would be better, everything (includes
unplugging electric clocks). Wait for a couple minutes and check
your meter to see if it is turning.

Third, Talk to power company and landlord again and if that us still
unsatisfactory, then I'd talk to the city (don't know your city
departments) and to your states utility commission.

Bob-tx


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On Jun 7, 11:01?pm, mm wrote:
On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:42:57 -0700, Howard
wrote:

Don't discount those plastic meter seals too fast. My utility used


I was only saying that for the benefit of the OP, who might not notice
tampering when he was looking around.

But even though I said Don't Ask Me, I'll tell you how I know that.
It was only because I had my electricity disconnected for non-payment
(had the money, just didn't have the energy) and after I had actually
paid the bill, in Baltimore one has to be home when the guy comes to
reconnect. Or it was the end of the day and I wasn't sure he was
returning. So U took off the tag and reconnected it myself. I was
depressed and reckless.

He did come back that evening, maybe around 6, and I told him someone
else had been there and reconnected it, but something he said led me
to conclude he was the only with that job in my area, and he knew no
one from the electric co. had been there.

them for years. We also paid the meter readers a bounty for each
broken seal they found. That's why they tugged just about every
plastic seal each time they read the meter. Each broken seal was


If he had wanted to, what would they have done to me? I didn't steal
any electricity, just took off the plastic shields.

What he actually did was put a good tag on and leave. I'm sure he
knew why my power was out, and gradually I realized he knew what I had
done.



around here tampering with utlity shut off for non payment is crininal
offense. they can take you to court, fine and threaten jail time.

just imagine your name in the paper. once that meter is unsealed its
really easy to steal power.

but i have pulled meters a few times so i could safely work in
breaker / fuse boxes.

i called the next day telling them what i did, the first time a fuse
broke apart in the box, like a light bulb where the glass seperates
from the base.

they thanked me for calling and said no problem.....

after that i felt confident to do it again, not to steal power but do
necessary repairs.

DONT do this unless you really know what your doing. it can be
dangerous

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Does your rent include hot water? Your energy usage sounds like an
electric water heater. Go look at your breaker box.

Dave M.


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"Noozer" wrote in message
Disconnect everything and check the meter to see if it's still spinning...
Might want the power company to come check the meter at this time as well.

Don't threaten the landlord to move out, threaten him to withhold rent.
Make sure you can prove that something is going on.
Send your complaint via a registered letter.


Careful! If the landlord is not part of the problem, you can cause legal
problems by not paying the rent. Find out the cause before you take the
wrong action.




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Default High electricity usage in office!

On Jun 8, 12:53 pm, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:
"Noozer" wrote in message
Disconnect everything and check the meter to see if it's still spinning...
Might want the power company to come check the meter at this time as well.


Don't threaten the landlord to move out, threaten him to withhold rent.
Make sure you can prove that something is going on.
Send your complaint via a registered letter.


Careful! If the landlord is not part of the problem, you can cause legal
problems by not paying the rent. Find out the cause before you take the
wrong action.


Id keep trying the electric co till you find someone ok, they dont
like meter theft. Get an electrician out also. Get to your meter at
say 10am and pull the main fuse and see who comes out suprised.

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Bob wrote:

wrote in message
ups.com...

Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business
so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a
PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent
lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously
on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is
gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using
22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That
adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly
used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.
snip
All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is
going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last
time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service
you
can go somewhere else"!!

I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care
of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.


snip

First, I'd talk to some other tenants in the complex of offices and
find out what their bills are running,

Second, turn off or unplug would be better, everything (includes
unplugging electric clocks). Wait for a couple minutes and check
your meter to see if it is turning.

Third, Talk to power company and landlord again and if that us still
unsatisfactory, then I'd talk to the city (don't know your city
departments) and to your states utility commission.

Bob-tx


First, turn off your main breakers and see who squeals.

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Default High electricity usage in office!

ransley wrote:
On Jun 8, 12:53 pm, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:
"Noozer" wrote in message
Disconnect everything and check the meter to see if it's still spinning...
Might want the power company to come check the meter at this time as well.
Don't threaten the landlord to move out, threaten him to withhold rent.
Make sure you can prove that something is going on.
Send your complaint via a registered letter.

Careful! If the landlord is not part of the problem, you can cause legal
problems by not paying the rent. Find out the cause before you take the
wrong action.


Id keep trying the electric co till you find someone ok, they dont
like meter theft. Get an electrician out also. Get to your meter at
say 10am and pull the main fuse and see who comes out suprised.


So far there's been absolutely nothing I've seen in OPs post to indicate
theft, only that _perhaps_ more than his directly rented space is on the
meter for which he's getting billed...

Approaching the landlord to ask would be an appropriate first step if
the sanity of check of everything he can control still indicates usage...

--


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"CJT" wrote in message

First, turn off your main breakers and see who squeals.


It may also be a good idea to leave the breaker off a couple of nights, just
in case something is happening after hours.

Not mentioned is reading the meter itself. I'd read it every few days and
track the usage according to the meter. Check the billing/reading also.
Many commercial and industrial readings have multipliers for the particular
meter. IOW, you read the meter and from the start to present it indicates a
use of 100. There may be written on the meter a multiplier of say 10, 35,
70, etc and that 100 becomes 1000, or 3500, etc.

I've had numerous situations with incorrect readings for electric, gas,
water that amounted to thousands of dollars (in both directions) because of
errors in reading, missing a decimal point on a digital meter (shocking when
you get a $6000 bill instead of a $600 one)

Also, I just checked my home bill and last month is was 618kW and I run a
lot more "stuff" than the op has in his office. two computers for 12 hours
a day, TV, reading lights, two refrigerators, one freezer a few night
lights, etc.


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gee, I've heard that before somewhere.....

--
Steve Barker





"CJT" wrote in message
...

First, turn off your main breakers and see who squeals.

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years ago I installed a outside outlet then found my neighbor would
plug in our house outlet rather than drop a extension cord thru his
window.

So I added a master off switch inside our kitchen.

One day my neighbor knocked on the door, and asked my grandma to turn
on the power. she said sorry I dont know where the switch is, while
she stood right next to it...

That swich has been very useful for stuff like christmas lights.

I didnt mind the few pennies of power he was using, it was the
principle of the thing...

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In article . com, " wrote:
years ago I installed a outside outlet then found my neighbor would
plug in our house outlet rather than drop a extension cord thru his
window.

So I added a master off switch inside our kitchen.


Too much trouble, and *much* too kind. I would have gotten my axe out of the
shed, and severed the extension cord at the property line.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.
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Default High electricity usage in office!


wrote in message
ups.com...
Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. This is more than what I am using in my house! I called
the electric company and they said they'll send some one to read the
meter and I should call back in few days. I called back and they said
everything looks OK and nothing more is to be done. They were terrible
on the phone, extremely rude and they basically said, go F yourself.

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using 22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.

All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service you
can go somewhere else"!!

I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.

BTW, I am in Toledo, OH and my "****ty" electric is Toledo Edison.


It is possible that other tenants circuits are tied to meter. This happens
after a building has gone through many remodels over the years. As other
have suggested, I would try shutting off some of your circuit breakers and
see if someone complains.

Another possibility is that you may have a "Demand" meter. These are
different from residential meters. In addition to measuring consumption the
demand meter will also record your peak use for the billing period. The
power company will then charge you as if you used that peak for the entire
billing period. This can make your bill quite high even though your actual
consumption may be low. If you know where your electric meter is, go and
take a look at it. There may be an extra needle in the center.

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Default High electricity usage in office!

In article om, Howard
wrote:

Don't discount those plastic meter seals too fast. My utility used
them for years. We also paid the meter readers a bounty for each
broken seal they found. That's why they tugged just about every
plastic seal each time they read the meter. Each broken seal was
reported and our security team checked them out. Best catch was a
motel at the seashore. We had to put in a second meter (up on the
pole in a fake transformer can) to catch them red handed. Fines,
interest, penalties, costs of the investigation and of course all the
stolen energy.


Were they reversing the meter part of the time?


--
charles
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On Jun 7, 5:06 pm, wrote:
Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. This is more than what I am using in my house! I called
the electric company and they said they'll send some one to read the
meter and I should call back in few days. I called back and they said
everything looks OK and nothing more is to be done. They were terrible
on the phone, extremely rude and they basically said, go F yourself.

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using 22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.

All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service you
can go somewhere else"!!

I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.

BTW, I am in Toledo, OH and my "****ty" electric is Toledo Edison.


I want to thank everyone who helped out. I am sorry this is a little
late but sadly, I forgot my Gmail password and I just had it reset.

Anyways, I am glade to say that we got to the bottom of this; one of
the other offices' heat and/or AC was running off our meter!!! The
landlord got that taking care of and I just got June's bill, it was
$35. We are still discussing how much they are paying me back for the
last three months of AC usage if any but I am not very concerned with
that. Again, thank you all and GOD bless.



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On Jul 3, 4:57?pm, "
wrote:
On Jun 7, 5:06 pm, wrote:





Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.


My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. This is more than what I am using in my house! I called
the electric company and they said they'll send some one to read the
meter and I should call back in few days. I called back and they said
everything looks OK and nothing more is to be done. They were terrible
on the phone, extremely rude and they basically said, go F yourself.


I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using 22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.


All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service you
can go somewhere else"!!


I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.


BTW, I am in Toledo, OH and my "****ty" electric is Toledo Edison.


I want to thank everyone who helped out. I am sorry this is a little
late but sadly, I forgot my Gmail password and I just had it reset.

Anyways, I am glade to say that we got to the bottom of this; one of
the other offices' heat and/or AC was running off our meter!!! The
landlord got that taking care of and I just got June's bill, it was
$35. We are still discussing how much they are paying me back for the
last three months of AC usage if any but I am not very concerned with
that. Again, thank you all and GOD bless.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Thanks for finishing the story and glad it worked out!

I think to be fair they owe you some bucks!

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If you would like to save alittle more money we sell a control that works with your thermostat but the company has a contest going on and cost nothing to enter.

Go to www.ThermoRider.com

--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texas
www.EnergyEqualizers.com
wrote in message oups.com...
On Jun 7, 5:06 pm, wrote:
Just rented this office space 2 months ago. It is a new business so I
don't really have much here that draws electricity yet. I have a PC/
modem/router, mini 1.7 Cu. Ft fridge, and 3 40W fluorescent lights.
The pc is on for 6 hours, 4 days a week. The fridge is obliviously on
24/7. the lights are hardly use. Did not use the heat but it is gas
anyway, the AC is still off, no need for it yet.

My March bill stated that I used 700KWH, April was 710KWH and May was
again, 708KWH. This is more than what I am using in my house! I called
the electric company and they said they'll send some one to read the
meter and I should call back in few days. I called back and they said
everything looks OK and nothing more is to be done. They were terrible
on the phone, extremely rude and they basically said, go F yourself.

I bought a kill-a-watt and according to it; the fridge is using 22KWH/
month, the PC is using 1.4KWH in the 6 hours it is on daily. That adds
up to about 42KWH assuming 30 days usage. The light are hardly used
but I'll give it another 20KWH.

All this adds up to 84KWH and I am paying for 700KWH. What is going
on? The electricity company is no mood of helping and the last time I
talked to a supervisor he told me, "if you don't like our service you
can go somewhere else"!!

I talked to the landlord and I told him if this is not taken care of
soon, I am moving out! is there something I am missing here? What
would you do? TIA and hope someone has some pointers.

BTW, I am in Toledo, OH and my "****ty" electric is Toledo Edison.


I want to thank everyone who helped out. I am sorry this is a little
late but sadly, I forgot my Gmail password and I just had it reset.

Anyways, I am glade to say that we got to the bottom of this; one of
the other offices' heat and/or AC was running off our meter!!! The
landlord got that taking care of and I just got June's bill, it was
$35. We are still discussing how much they are paying me back for the
last three months of AC usage if any but I am not very concerned with
that. Again, thank you all and GOD bless.

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On Tue, 3 Jul 2007 17:12:35 -0500, "Moe Jones"
wrote:

If you would like to save alittle more money we sell a control that works with your thermostat but the company has a contest going on and cost nothing to enter.

Go to www.Thermocrapper.com



Go away. Anyone who posts commericals where they aren't permitted,
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