Electric Bill went up $200 on a 400watt??? Help!

I got my electric bill today and for the month of Febuary it was $400 now its $600?
Ive added a 400watt MH and a Fan to cool it down thats all really.
How can this be? Im in the Orange County CA area
I was running my lights 20/4
I just switched them to a 400watt HPS for 12/12

The bill is causing people to question

thanks

$400 a month is alot, wtf you running over there?
I pay an extra $60 a month for 2 lights, 400 and exhaust.

DankyKush1 said:

I got my electric bill today and for the month of Febuary it was $400 now its $600?
Ive added a 400watt MH and a Fan to cool it down thats all really.
How can this be? Im in the Orange County CA area
I was running my lights 20/4
I just switched them to a 400watt HPS for 12/12

The bill is causing people to question

thanks

Click to expand...

Here's a really cool site with an electric bill calculator.
http://www.csgnetwork.com/elecenergycalcs.html

I went around my house and got the wattage off of all the things I use.
I was amazed at how much electricity I wasted.

Hey I'm new here but I gotta ask what does your utility charge per kwh?

this has to be coming from some other area in your home, but if you are set that it is your light , borrow an amp meter and clip it onto your ballast cord and do the math. You could have a faulty ballast but I highly doubt it. Something else is going on, a 400 watt light on 12/12 should be about 15 dollars.

look on your power bill-

likely if you live in a highly populated area you are on a tier system.
what is your price per kilowatt? the math is easy.

at .10 per kilowatt it would be about 20 bucks a month for 400W hid, at 20 hours a day.
if you're to lazy to look up the math(Ohm's Law), here's a calculator: http://www.electricity-usage.com/Electricity-Usage-Calculator.aspx?Device=hid+lightg&Watts=400&CostPerKWH=0.10&HoursPerDay=20

That's around 300 kWhs which means they are charging you ~66 cents per kWh. Pretty high. California is funny with its power in how quickly they step up the price per kWh based on excess use. You would have to look it up but pricing is something like the following:
First 500 kWh @ $0.10 per
Next 100 @ $0.14 per
Next 200 @ $0.28 per
Next 200 @ $0.44 per
...

So if you stay within the first allotment a 400w light on 20/4 costs you ~$24. If you've already used up the first three allotments though the same light will costs you, well up to $200 a month as you've seen.

the electric company questions whether or not you intend to pay them....or....?

You know what's funny? For a long time I was growing with one 600w in a closet setup with about 400 watts of veg lighting and maybe 200 watts of pumps fans etc...
When I started, my bill actually went down because I was so concerned about the bill I conserved elsewhere in the house. CFLs everywhere, cooking outside on the grill, fire in the basement....

It was awesome!

Orange county? Im guessing your paying alot per kwh. Still, it shouldnt be that high. Were you using space heaters or something else alot last month? Look on your bill and it will tell you how much kwh you are paying. In norcal, i pay $0.39 kwh but thats the highest tier on the bill

jack ripa said:

You know what's funny? For a long time I was growing with one 600w in a closet setup with about 400 watts of veg lighting and maybe 200 watts of pumps fans etc...
When I started, my bill actually went down because I was so concerned about the bill I conserved elsewhere in the house. CFLs everywhere, cooking outside on the grill, fire in the basement....

It was awesome!

Click to expand...

I did the same, CFLs everywhere, shutting off lights when I'm not using them. Unplugging the cellphone chargers when not in use, not sleeping with
the TV on, shutting the porch lights off, and being more careful with the heating and cooling. And, best of all, shutting my gaming computer off when
I do not use it. My bill dropped by over $40.