Hit 28.9 KWH today as the sun is moving back into a more southernly direction I’m thinking my assumption will be pretty accurate for fall/winter months!
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how they keep track of the meters? You mean digital or analogue ones? Aren’t there losses in the grid or something which make it difficult to see if somebody is stealing?
That is exactly right… They wont bother you as long as the bill gets paid. I used to worry about the same damn thing until I went around to all my buddies grow houses. There bill’s were at least double what I’ve been paying! No problems whatsoever for any of them… “Life is too short”. Ease your mind. Stop worrying and start living. Good luck 
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Mostly with analog. It’s harder to steal electricity with the digital meters because they use a remote controlled breaker built into the meter (at least the ones I’ve had experience with did).
They keep track of how much power goes to a certain grid through substations and have stats on what their typical losses are, as well as how much electricity was metered legally on that grid. When that increases by a significant enough amount they send out technicians who basically run the circuit to determine the general area of the lost power. After they determine the area they go through a check list. Disconnected breakers, transformers, etc, until they find where the power is going so they can fix it.
A 5x 1000W running straight 12/12 in soil can consume over 1000KWH per month. This is more than 4 typical households combined. Even this level of consumption does not cause any notice when legally hooked up and regularly paid. A person with a home wood or metal shop can easily use this amount in a month.
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what is the remote controlled breaker for?
What exactly is there in a home wood or metal shop that is using 1000kwh or more per month?
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how high is the bills of you and your buddies?
The remote controlled breaker is so that they can turn the power on and off without sending a technician out. Simply push a button on the computer and a signal goes out to turn it on or off. The meters also report consumption readings so that they don’t have to send techs out to read all the meters, IE: they don’t have to pay someone.
As for using up that kind of power it’s more likely in a metal shop or home forge type setup. Things like power hammers, grinders, belt sanders, welders, etc., can use a lot of power. Someone who works from home building nothing but wood cabinets and chairs could probably rack that kind of usage up in a month as well, but are much less reliant on electricity than someone who works with metal.
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I agree for the most part…
however consider that the utility company in some cases may be owned by the city/county and perhaps the police have access to the info from those meters.
All it takes to find is checking for that oh so common 12/12 usage.
Edit: as a matter of fact…some places export that data for lookup if you know the address in question. I know this because I used to check the power bill; when I worked at a public venue, thru a web interface.
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how do the meters communicate (with the power company/substations/???)? What kind of protocol is it???
I love my solar, I generate about 30kWh a day for the year. In the summer it’s a lot closer to 45kWh and some days over 50. It cost about $27k to have installed. Paying cash instead of financing saved about $15k. Last September the inverter broke and I didn’t notice, I got hit with a $700 bill, which the solar ended up paying in the end due to the equipment failure. Not an issue since. I’ve been investigating batteries, but so far they’re just too large and expensive to get installed at my house. My electric meter uses some sort of RF signal that the meter reader can read from his truck on the street. The solar equipment has a Tmobile 3g cell connection.
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Good morning Sam and Max. Well, I have a rather large hot tub with a 5500 watt heater, and 2 shops, and a house with a thouie, a 600 watter, Grow accesories, AC, yada yada… Average bill, about 425 a month. Never had a problem. “Dont worry, be happy”
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I’ve never worked for the power company, and never really cared enough to research that part, so I’m not exactly sure how the meters themselves communicate. Could be an RF signal like @DrDoob has or could be a phone line or cell signal. I just know that when I last lived down in Southwest Florida they were able to cut the power and restore it remotely. Found out about it when I forgot to pay the bill. When I called in they told me about the remote cut/restore. Thought it was going to be hours or a day til the power came back on. Took 5 minutes after the payment cleared.
As for the substation, I would assume it’s the same technology they’re using for the digital meters. I had a friend who had worked for Pike for over 30 years explain to me how they track down the missing power. At the time they were still on Analog, so it was a technician going and reading the meters.
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Do you even make payments to the electric company anymore since install ? I’m getting close to 30 KW/ day and only have 15 panels how many panels are at your place then for 40+kWh generated? 20 perhaps?
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I had a $70 bill a couple months ago but that’s been it since last year. I have 28 panels but they don’t all get full sun at the same times all day.
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Incredible! Thats what i pay for just the taxes on my power bill!! Ok, I may be over overexaggerating a bit… 
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After spending most of my adult life under the “war on drugs” as an activist and a pot grower I say let that freak flag fly! Filters are for sissies!!! Why be average? Dont grow in it if you dont own it thats my rule…
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what is a thouie? 
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what you mean by own it? go directly to jail?
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would be interesting if the meters have permanent physical connection/communication or only radio frequency and what range. Also what information gets exchanged.
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