Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
"Steve IA" wrote in message
...
xposted: alt.energy.homepower,alt.home.repair.misc.rural

Our average electricity usage for the last 6 years for December is 653 kwh
with a range of 120. December 07 our usage was 682 kwh. This would not
have
been unusual except for the fact that, due to an ice storm, we had NO
electricity for 6.5 days. Billing cycle per the bill was 31 days. I was
expecting a bill 20% lower than the average bill and was dismayed when it
was actually higher. So far this month of January, we are using at the
about average rate (22kwh/day) as we did in December, the only odd thing
is
that we had NO power of nearly a week in December. I've spoken with a few
neighbors who also lost power and 'come to think of it' their bill went up
or didn't go down as much as they would have expected for a 20-25% time of
no usage. I ask the REC and they said we 'just used more'. They also
tried
to blame 'recovery usage'. I'm not buying it. They claim they didn't
estimate the bill and when I received the bill I immediately checked and
the
meter reading seemed in line with normal. I'm talking KWH her not $$ which
can be affected by rate changes, surcharge and taxes etc.

Facts:
During the ice storm we used a gas generator intermittently during the
daylight to power the freezer, tv, occasional PC and a few lights .
We relied 100% on wood heat, never falling below 60F.
For the entire billing period we did nothing that we can think of unusual
that would increase the consumption over the previous December. No extra
Xmas lights, no 'recovery' usage after power restoration other than 1
refrigerator .
Normal is LP furnace supplemented by high efficiency wood fireplace.
Gas water heater and stove.
Elec clothes dryer.
1 powered outbuilding.
We live ¼ mile away from nearest neighbor so no chance of somebody running
an extension cord and stealing from us.

After receiving the bill, I shut the power off below the meter and it quit
turning. We've done some other testing by turning off house circuit
breakers
and watching the meter but have isolated nothing unusual yet. With all
house
breakers off the meter stops. I have purchase a Kill-a -Watt and have
begun
looking for the energy thief. I've found nothing yet, although the KAW is
fun and interesting.

Where would the electricity go?
When reconnecting the lines, can a 'surge' spin the meter forward?
Previously we had 2 lines coming into our neighborhood, both lines fell
but
only 1 was reconnected to restore power. Can this have any bearing?
What am I missing?
What other testing can I do?

Your thoughts and comments appreciated.

Steve IA

Another key parameter you need to share but did not is the average
temperature over the billing period. My utility company provides this, as
well as the number of KWh and days.

Is it possible the avergage temperature was colder than the same month one
year earlier? This could explain a higher usage even with 6 days of no
usage.


It was colder, but very little of our usage goes to heating the house.
Certainly not cold enough to mitigate the days of 0 use.
We installed a new fireplace in November and our LP usage has dropped so
much that I chased the tank wagon away the other day as we had used less
than 150 gals between September and jan 10th.