Another thing you could do is check your monthly KWH usage from a time you thought it was "normal" and then look for when it started trending upward.

I have done this...I have a spread sheet with the kilos readings, the billed amount and the cost per kilo going back to 2004. It was in 2005, 2006 when the pole to our house was replaced that the numbers began to steadily increase....but this so far has not helped me find any answers with the power company...they claim they are 'perfect'

 

You said that lights frequently dim and that they sometimes also are extra bright. That is a good indication of a poor neutral connection. As the load on one side of the line increases, without a good return to neutral, the extra load current will find its return through the other side of the line.

 

You said that lights frequently dim and that they sometimes also are extra bright. That is a good indication of a poor neutral connection. As the load on one side of the line increases, without a good return to neutral, the extra load current will find its return through the other side of the line.

The tech from the power company said when I asked him about this 'neutral' idea I had read about..that caused these symptoms (dimming and burning out a lot of bulbs) as well as resulted in higher bills. He looked on the readout that he had on the monitoring that there were 'none' showing. Now does that mean that there were none at a moment in time or none ever???These are the questions that I keep having...the more I get into this the more I doubt their honesty..they have disqualified 2 techs already that had stated that they felt there was definitely something wrong.

Please tell me, are these poor neutrals on the outside of the house? What portion of the line? How can I get more evidence for or against this theory??

 

The tech from the power company said when I asked him about this 'neutral' idea I had read about..that caused these symptoms (dimming and burning out a lot of bulbs) as well as resulted in higher bills. He looked on the readout that he had on the monitoring that there were 'none' showing. Now does that mean that there were none at a moment in time or none ever???These are the questions that I keep having...the more I get into this the more I doubt their honesty..they have disqualified 2 techs already that had stated that they felt there was definitely something wrong.

Please tell me, are these poor neutrals on the outside of the house? What portion of the line? How can I get more evidence for or against this theory??

Also, when you say that the extra load current finds its way to the other side of the line, does that mean it builds up on the inside of the house then 'overflows' when there is a call for energy? Can a 60 watt bulb take in more than it needs to burn, without blowing, but cause the meter to spin more???

 

A typical home has 240VAC available. That is derived from two 120VAC lines that have their voltages 180 degrees out of phase. Think of two 12V batteries in series to give 24v. House power also includes a neutral, which is at a zero volt level due being tied to earth ground at the transformer and also at a driven ground rod near the entry to the home. Using the battery analogy, if a 5 watt bulb and a 1o watt bulb were connected in series, without a neutral and connected to the 24v, the 5W bulb would see a higher voltage across it than the 10 watt bulb. That is basic voltage divider math. Now, connect the neutral wire between the midpoint connection of the two batteries and the midpoint connection of the two lamps. Each lamp will now see the proper 12V.
If you see some lights get brighter when, for example the refrigerator comes on, I would bet that those lights are on the phase that is opposite the one feeding the refrigerator.

 

You really need to post your kWh consumption detail. Check with your power utility. They may be able to provide you with detailed power usage.

Here is an an example hourly consumption record. Our baseline is under 0.5kWh.

 

You really need to post your kWh consumption detail. Check with your power utility. They may be able to provide you with detailed power usage.

Here is an an example hourly consumption record. Our baseline is under 0.5kWh.

I have this from the monitor they hooked up at my pleading to the meter outside..I asked for 30 days...they gave me 5, then I begged for another week. I received this today, I will try and post it...may take me a bit of time..

 

 

What does it all mean????

 

I have this from the monitor they hooked up at my pleading to the meter outside..I asked for 30 days...they gave me 5, then I begged for another week. I received this today, I will try and post it...may take me a bit of time..

I posted the reports...can you see them?

 

There sure does seem to be a lot of noise in the "max" current graph. Can you display only the average current?

 

There sure does seem to be a lot of noise in the "max" current graph. Can you display only the average current?

I can only call the power company and request individual views (tomorr0w).....this is all they gave me before I practically hung up the phone on them today....I can't manipulate the graph at all....thoughts?? No, we are not growing pot or building jet engines....just a family in a 1800 sq foot home doing life. No other electronics besides laptop, 2 tv's and charging phones and tablets. No games or major computer systems...

 

Here is the spread sheet I did of our kilo and $$ correlating with cost per kilo -

never mind...it isn't pdf and I have no idea how to get it to attach...

 

View attachment 86002 View attachment 86003 View attachment 86004 View attachment 86005 View attachment 86006 View attachment 86007

Both the Energy usage reports also have Reactive power results that didn't show up on the bottom of each sheet:
-35.741 Channel one and -72.040 Channel 2 for Jan 28 - Feb 4
-30.254 Channel one and -63.775 Channel 2 for Jan 22 - Jan 28

Why are these negatives? Isn't reactive supposed to reflect Real Power?? Or a combination of Apparent and Real???
The power company couldn't or wouldn't explain this, they just said that they only 'read the Real Power' in kWh.

Are they hiding something?

 

Looking at accumulated power Kwh 167+238 = 388 Kw for 7 days. Multiply the 388Kw with the dollar rate per Kw= what your cost is for 7 days. You seem to use a lot of power.

 

Looking at accumulated power Kwh 167+238 = 388 Kw for 7 days. Multiply the 388Kw with the dollar rate per Kw= what your cost is for 7 days. You seem to use a lot of power.

This being the problem/mystery...we don't know where or how we are using this power. Everything, everything plugged in, checks out normal per breaker checks, line checks - all add up on paper to be about half or a third of what our meter keeps telling us/them. So overwhelmed!! The usage and cost continue to climb. From $60 - $150 (prior to 2005) or so to $120 - the latest of nearly $400 (370 ) over the last 10 years. No correlation to weather or activity in the house..

 

This being the problem/mystery...we don't know where or how we are using this power. Everything, everything plugged in, checks out normal per breaker checks, line checks - all add up on paper to be about half or a third of what our meter keeps telling us/them. So overwhelmed!! The usage and cost continue to climb. From $60 - $150 (prior to 2005) or so to $120 - the latest of nearly $400 (370 ) over the last 10 years. No correlation to weather or activity in the house..

Our costs almost double in one year (2005/06) and have since climbed every year since...

 

It seems to me that your baseline current at CH2 is rather high, seems like 3-4A on average even in the quiet periods and with a lot higher peaks which seems odd. I suggest you focus on that, you could try borrowing a clamp-on current meter and see if you can find similar figures.

 

Was there any good reason why you ignored my post 40?

 

You have a load, I've highlighted below, that is drawing power on both graphs, which means it is a 240V load. This load is drawing about 25-30A as best I can tell. 25A-30*240V = 6,000W-7,200W. As best I can tell, the graph ends @ midnight, so this load appears to come on in the middle of the day. Therefore I assume it is your Air Conditioner. According to this page, a typical central AC consumes about 3,500W, or about half of yours. Considering the largest consumer of power in a typical home is AC, if your AC were consuming twice the amount it should, it could very easily double your bill. You might want to investigate your AC. If the radiator isn't kept clean, it will draw extra power.