Saving electricity

[3930dave]

Thnx Mace. My familiarity is with the station side of things, so I do appreciate the field feedback and seat of the pants stats.

I have no issue with my insurance company, and wish to keep it that way. I'll run with your gut feel on this, as opposed to calling my insurance company. CTV did a good report a few years back, concerning insurance companies arbitrarily changing, or even cancelling insurance because of a call for information/clarification of coverage - no claim involved.

I agree, risks are higher inside a dwelling. As you are likely aware, those problems span all the way to the actual supply wiring. There is cable coming from "guess where", appearing to have all the certifications stamped on it, but is nothing but a low cost fake.

Rgds, D.

 

[Bird]

Young man from Oncor was just here about 10 minutes ago and replaced our old electric meter with one of the new "smart meters". So I hope we don't have any of the problems that have been reported with them.

I just got my new electric bill. It's for 705 Kwh in 14 days with the old meter and 847 Kwh in 16 days with the new smart meter. A grand total of $175.58 which is about 23.77% less than the $230.33 for the same time last year. Of course, it may not be a valid comparison since my 5 year contract expired last September and a new contract started that might be a bit better, but at least my electric bill overall for this year (first 6 months) is 28.05% less than last year. And for its first couple of weeks, I guess I really can't complain about the smart meter.

I did see a news article that the Texas Public Utilities Commission is "considering" allowing consumers to refuse the new smart meters and stay with the old style because the smart meter gives the utility company too much personal information.

 

[grsthegreat]

Ive been an electrical contractor and journeyman electrician for 28 years or there about. In all that time i have NEVER seen a meter melt down or catch fire. I guess it could happen...but don't see how. The transformers have fuses to protect the down line wires (at least here in Wash state and Idaho they do) . The meter itself is attached to a spring loaded base so it does not require inspection or retightening...as there is NOTHING to tighten.

If someone were to pop the meter out, there is a set of 4 (or 5) terminal posts and two of them WILL BE LIVE...and deadly of someone were to make contact with them.

In the past, all it has taken was a phone call from me to the utility to request permission to cut the tab lock. Its always been given over the phone UNLESS a service man was in the immediate area, in which case they respond. With that phone call I'm protected and so is the utility. Then again I'm a licensed , insured electrical contractor, so i doubt that they would do the same thing if a homeowner were to call in.

If i or a homeowner were to suspect that the wires behind the meter socket were loose, the utility company will always come out and check them FOR FREE. they will replace the de-ox compound and re-tighten as necessary. Again, i have requested this service many times over the years when there have been some unexplained surges in the system, and i have yet to actually find a loose wire. I have found several rusted out and rotted aluminum feeders in the past. I agree that not having to have the utility company remove the meter would save time, but its a safety issue for them.

You, as a homeowner, may in-fact own the meter socket, but once they install the meter, its under their jurisdiction to prevent electrocution. Its in all the paperwork you sign for new service. If you don't agree, they wont power you up.

Those meter socket post/terminals are protected with a 200 amp fuse at the transformer....200 AMPS WILL reduce a person to a burnt out shell.

 

[Bird]

In the past, all it has taken was a phone call from me to the utility to request permission to cut the tab lock. Its always been given over the phone UNLESS a service man was in the immediate area, in which case they respond. With that phone call I'm protected and so is the utility. Then again I'm a licensed , insured electrical contractor, so i doubt that they would do the same thing if a homeowner were to call in.

It's probably different out in the country, but when I bought 10 acres with a mobile home, the Electric Co-op required meters to be installed on a 16' pole set 4' in the ground. The existing pole was getting pretty rotten and the "master" breaker below the meter was a 100 amp breaker. I'm not an electrician by any means, but I do know how to do a few things. So I bought a new pole, a 200 amp breaker panel, etc., set it close to the old rotten pole and called the Co-op office to tell them I was going to need to pull the meter on a Saturday to move the meter base to the new pole, and the lady told me to just go ahead. Fortunately, the wiring above the meter was already the proper size for 200 amp service.

 

[DKCDKC]

For those who are comparing electric bills year to year, you can get the number of heating or cooling degree days for your area from the National Weather Service so you can compare apples to apples in comparing a month to a previous month. I do it annually to just check on things, and to make sure my geothermal heat pump is still working at peak efficiency.

 

[KTurner]

two of them WILL BE LIVE...and deadly of someone were to make contact with them.

Those meter socket post/terminals are protected with a 200 amp fuse at the transformer....200 AMPS WILL reduce a person to a burnt out shell.

I'm not sure I buy "they do it for your safety". The voltage/amperage available at the meter socket is the same that is available in the breaker cabinet, which they don't lock. And it's no more voltage than what's available at the socket you plug your oven/dryer/welder/etc into. I suspect they lock it so that you don't try to bypass the meter, nothing more. Ok, maybe you can say that increases safety a bit as they are removing the temptation of people trying to bypass the meter.

Just because its a 200 amp service doesn't mean 200 amps is going through your body if your body happens to complete the circuit. It's ~220v. It'll hurt some, but the voltage is low enough and skin resistance is *typically* high enough that not enough current will flow to do damage. Generally Speaking. Provided you don't have wet/sweaty/bloody/etc hands. The dangerous stuff is on the other side of the transformer on the utility pole. It takes something like a tenth of an amp to throw your heart out of rhythm (or stop it), but the voltage has to be very high in order (or resistance very low) to reach that number. It also sort of requires the 'flow' to be going across your chest to reach your heart, which is why they say keep one hand in a pocket. Your skin resistance is generally high, but I suspect there's a critical point where there's a high enough voltage that the skin starts to break down, causing the resistance to lower, current flow to increase and it starts a vicious cycle.

I've been zapped numerous times by a 120v 15a circuit, either accidentally or sticking my finger in the light bulb socket to see if it was on or not (one of those 'spin' type on/off switches). It tingles. I've grabbed hold of a vandegraaf generator putting out hundreds of thousands of volts, which literally made the (long) hair on my head stand on end. Enough energy built up in my body that it jumped from my foot something like 12-18" to the floor (was standing on an insulating platform). The current available was very very low. I'm still here. I also made a jacob's ladder out of an old 12kv 15ma neon sign transformer and some coat hangers. I'm extremely careful around this because I recognize it's capable of real damage.

Not suggesting that people be careless, just exercise the appropriate amount of caution for the situation. And, I'm not a medical or electrical professional.... Don't come haunting at my door if you read this, get careless and fry yourself.

Keith

 

[grsthegreat]

holy cow... it only takes a few amps to kill in the right situations.i personally know of an electrician killed by a 20 amp disposal circuit. to say 200 amps isnt deadly is just plain stupid and reckless.

an indoor panel has breakers that can be shut off to afford some protection. An open meter socket doesnt afford that protection.


Its all about safety and to prevent theft of electricity.

 

[chucko]

I never said I wanted to take meter mine out but THEY had a problem with THEIR meter it was bunt on the back bad I have pics somewhere lines had some down some big high transmission actually came down on to our street lines. I know this did it but when they turned on my power and the bill went crazy they said it was my fault their meter was burnt for not keeping up my box and I needed to pay the bill

 

[HickoryNut]

Meter box shorted out on one of my rental properties this past Christmas Eve. Insurance paid all but deductible for replacement and paid to replace the Federal-Pacific 100amp breaker box that was inside to a 200amp outside installation.

Fire melted the retaining ring holding the meter in allowing it to fall out, shutting down the fireworks just before causing a major fire.
It was a brand new remote-read meter that had been installed a month prior. First time the electric company, electric contractor, or the insurance adjuster had ever seen it happen.

 

[Mace Canute]

I never said I wanted to take meter mine out but THEY had a problem with THEIR meter it was bunt on the back bad I have pics somewhere lines had some down some big high transmission actually came down on to our street lines. I know this did it but when they turned on my power and the bill went crazy they said it was my fault their meter was burnt for not keeping up my box and I needed to pay the bill

If this was required, there should be documentation somewhere that spells it out in black and white that they can produce to prove it to you and it should be tied into whatever conditions of service they have that you agree to when you made application for power. What do they expect you to actually do to a meter box that's sealed, other than make sure it looks ok from the outside? They strike me as being dishonest, either through ignorance or through design.

Meter box shorted out on one of my rental properties this past Christmas Eve. Insurance paid all but deductible for replacement and paid to replace the Federal-Pacific 100amp breaker box that was inside to a 200amp outside installation.

Fire melted the retaining ring holding the meter in allowing it to fall out, shutting down the fireworks just before causing a major fire.
It was a brand new remote-read meter that had been installed a month prior. First time the electric company, electric contractor, or the insurance adjuster had ever seen it happen.

Wow! I have NEVER EVER seen a meter box fail that bad nor heard of it until now! It looks like it developed a high resistance fault that allowed a continuous arc to occur and turned it into a miniature electric furnace. Of course, any insulation material inside the box plus the meter itself would have been vaporized and added to the fire. Darn scarey and darn lucky it wasn't worse.