Electric Bill Problems

[jeffca]

i've had my 600 watt hps on for about 2 weeks i think now, and i am wondering how much the bill will be. i k now that it depends on the company you go through, but i mean what's the average or what am i likely to pay a month? i am in sf, ca

 

[Pothead420]

what am i likely to pay a month? i am in sf, ca

it shouldnt be to bad at all i got a 400MH a 600HPS multiple fans, timers, and multiple air pumps and when i started it back up i didnt notice a increase if you look at your bill you can figure it out just check they usualy charge by kilowatt hour this mite help but you need to know what there charging you per kilowatt hour

How much electricity costs, and how they charge you


What the heck is a kilowatt hour?

Before we see how much electricity costs, we have to understand how it's measured. When you buy gas they charge you by the gallon. When you buy electricity they charge you by the kilowatt-hour (kWh). When you use a 1 kilowatt appliance for 1 hour, that's a kilowatt-hour. If you used it for two hours that would be 2 kWh. Most things don't draw an even kilowatt, though. A typical central AC draws about 3.5 kilowatts, so in an hour it uses 3.5 kilowatt-hours. And a 100-watt light bulb uses 0.1 kW, since 1000 watts = 1 kilowatt.

 

[jeffca]

thats what i heard and thought, but my room mate who used to grow said he was paying about 250 per 1000watt hps he had, and since the elec bill came on an off day he said it was 90 more than usual and it had only been a week.

 

[Pothead420]

thats what i heard and thought, but my room mate who used to grow said he was paying about 250 per 1000watt hps he had, and since the elec bill came on an off day he said it was 90 more than usual and it had only been a week.

sounds to me you have a liar as a roomate trying to get money out of you

 

[thc is good for me]

A 600 watt HPS will cost about $25-$35 a month tops.

I had a 400 watt HPS and a bunch of timers and fans and a heater and some other random crap in my grow and my bill only went up $20 a month.

 

[bizzy323]

i got 400 and 1000 and a/c running 24/7 my bill went up like $200

 

[Firepower]

Check out this calculator:
hxxp://www.hydroponics.net/learn/hid_lamp_op_cost.asp

this should give you an idea, you can also get an electicity meter for your grow room, it plugs in to the wall and it measures how much electricity is used from that socket, use it for 30 days without telling your roommate and see whos right.. they arfe rather cheap nowadays and you can get at lowes, home depot, ace, and some pharmacies. good luck.. :aok:

 

[jnyce1320]

Thats not as bad as i expected.......

 

[papabeach1]

600 hps, 2 fans running, organic soils. timer.. less than 250 a month, its okay

 

[4u2sm0ke]

600 hps, 2 fans running, organic soils. timer.. less than 250 a month, its okay

yeah ...and the pay off at the end is well worth it...just think how much you will save when you dont have to purchase from the street..I did some Math on my last year grow..the money I spent on my electric bill..to the amount of weed I produced...I paid about $100 an ounce..now where can I buy good quality stuff at that price?...you can't Grow on my friend

KEEP M GREEN



420

 

[POTUS]

I've had my 600 watt hps on for about 2 weeks i think now, and i am wondering how much the bill will be. i k now that it depends on the company you go through, but i mean what's the average or what am i likely to pay a month? i am in sf, ca

If you want to know EXACTLY what you'll pay, spend the $25 bucks and get yourself one of these:

KILL A WATT METER

Features:
Connect Kill A Watt to household appliances & machine will assess how efficient they are to cut down on excessive electricity bills

Large LCD display counts consumption by the kilowatt hour

Calculate electrical expenses by the day, week, month or year

Check the quality of power by monitoring voltage, line frequency & power factor

You simply plug any device into the meter and the meter into the wall. It will tell you exactly how many KWH's that device uses within a given time period. If the usage is timed and a constant, then just multiply the meter reading after 24 hours by the number of days you wish to know.

The KW charges in your area are on your bill. It's usually so much for the first 1,000 KW and then slightly more for any KW over 1,000 used within the month.

 

[jeffca]

how do i go about finding out my electric company in the house im renting a room in. and how much they charge so i can make sure im not being ripped off by my landlord? im paying about 300/month for a 600 (or i was and theres still one more bill coming)

 

[Runbyhemp]

Thanks Stoney, I'm gonna get myself one of those. I want to test my old
600W magnetic ballast against my new digital ballast to see if there's much of a (if any) difference between them.

 

[POTUS]

how do i go about finding out my electric company in the house im renting a room in. and how much they charge so i can make sure im not being ripped off by my landlord? im paying about 300/month for a 600 (or i was and theres still one more bill coming)

That sounds like it's about a third too high at first glance.

Electric Stove?

Electric Water Heater?

What other kind of high wattage stuff do you run each month?

I've had a couple landlords who "gave" me that cool deal of sharing their meter.

Both of them were dishonest. Both let me pay part of the electric they used.

That meter works real, real good. You can get it down to the last watt.

Call the electric company and ask them if they provide the power for your address. Tell em you're a renter paying part of the electric. If so, (they probably won't), ask them if you can get copies of the last 12 months bills sent to one of your friends house.

You got em by the bits then man.

 

[Alistair]

In California the electric company (Edison) makes provisions for those on a low income. A $400 watt plus fans and other appliances cost about $45.00 a month. A 600 watt would be a bit more expensive. Does Edison serve northern Cali too?

 

[jeffca]

dude i dont even know. but in total im paying $200 for less than a month with 1 inline fan, 1 regular fan, a 600watt light, and that's it. but even if im being ripped off a little bit by my land lord. should i say something or just assume that he's charging extra for letting me do it in his house?

in other words, should i bring it up or not?

 

[thief]

to bring it up could cause one to need to find a new address in a short time. or it could make one look foolish if it was all accurate. me i woodnt trust any landlord i ever had.

 

[Blend No. 420]

Those Kill-a-Watt meters are friggin' awesome. I found some good deals on them using (price grabber . com). The only stores i found that carry them in-stock are Home Depot, Radio Shack, Best Byte Computers, or ElectronicsPlus. Also if you search p3 international they have info on their other Kill-a-Watt products. They also make a power strip model that looks to be very useful in a grow room.

 

[POTUS]

Those Kill-a-Watt meters are friggin' awesome.

I love the one I bought. No more wondering how much anything you use costs you each month. Plug it in for 24 hours and do a little math. Or just run it though it for the entire month if your power stays on.

My power cuts off about once a week for at least a minute or two. That is the meters only problem. If it loses power, it resets to zero on everything.

I use it for 24 hours and then just multiply by the number of days.

Very good device for taking the question out of power costs.

 

[mistisrising]

I found this formula recently, I don't remember where...

watts used (including all the gadgetry) times hours used, times the rate per kwh (watch now, the rate will vary depending on peak or off peak usage) divided by 1000. So, watts x hours x price, then divide by 1000, and viola. You may have to break it down separately since the fan may be running 24 hrs, but the lights only run 12, or 18.