"Smart" power meters from utility co.

Hi all,

Southern California Edison is currently rolling out new "smart" power meters everywhere. They are digital meters that report power usage wirelessly so that they can monitor them easier/better I guess? So they don't have to come walk the property. Apparently they can report every 5 minutes, but will log data on Edison's server every hour or half-hour, instead of averaging daily. My question is, will the low/high demand cycle raise suspicion when the lights turn on/off? Should I be worried? Does anyone operating a grow currently have one of these digital smart meters? Does Edison or other utilities monitor power patterns looking for 12/12 or 18/6 loads?

Please advise if you any information.

Thank you!

Mr. Bond

Ive heard they do look for growers this way also.
But its after they are on to you an they are looking for evidece to support a search warrent.
They go check your power meter records.

Most power usage is during the day, so run your lights during the day.
If you usage is 1000w or below I wouldnt worry. A a/c or space heater takes that much power.
But if you got a 20,000 w grow, it could be scarry.

SCARHOLE said:

Ive heard they do look for growers this way also.
But its after they are on to you an they are looking for evidece to support a search warrent.
They go check your power meter records.

Most power usage is during the day, so run your lights during the day.
If you usage is 1000w or below I wouldnt worry. A a/c or space heater takes that much power.
But if you got a 20,000 w grow, it could be scarry.

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I agree with the part about not worrying if its around 1000w,
but hypothetically, wouldnt it make more sense to have your lights on at night? so that its a more even power usage throughout the day?

uaually noone lives in grow houses with 20k light so you dont need to waste electricity

my power company started using these smart meters over 3 years ago. i like them because it keeps the meter readers away.

As far as I know the power companies dont report the customers as long as the y pay for what they use . Cant garantee yours feels this way ... but most do . It is usually the police that are already onto you asking for the records when this happens . Myself .. i love the small watt cfls .. if your not trying to sell and just keep yourself in stash they are the way to .

They haven't installed them in my area yet but they are this summer. It also says if you let them monitor your power usage then you get the hourly rate...which apparently can be cheaper.

your power usage data is somewhat confidential. the electric co. isn't going to broadcast your usage to the cops without a subpoena. like has been mentioned above, its going to come down to your usage. a 1000 watts is a tv, amplifier, some lights, a/c, etc. if you are drawing a few thousand watts in a 1 bed apartment, the wrong people may take notice. you could take advantage of the meters by running your lights at off-peak hours to reduce your bill. then again, it might be harder to justify using a kilowatt at night when you work a 9-5.

I had one of these of 3 different grow house locations. Never a problem got one at my current location as well. been running 4500watts for 14 months now and never a problem from my electric company. I am legal tho so never really cared if i had cops show up.

Nyctophobia is no laughing matter...

ChubbySoap said:

Nyctophobia is no laughing matter...

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I agree thats why im running 3700watts of HPS

makinthemagic said:

your power usage data is somewhat confidential. the electric co. isn't going to broadcast your usage to the cops without a subpoena.

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Goddamn right. Read your Terms of Service, there's always a bit in there about when they give up your personal info to outside parties. Not sayin' they don't go through back channels but it's rare. Waaaay better chance of a vigilante meter-reader fucking with you than some bean-counter at head office looking at your file - the whole point of the meters is so they don't have to pay anyone to do anything. Kinda defeats the point of that if they're scanning like tea-leaf readers looking for signs of illegal activities, right?

Just pay your bill on time and you'll be fine.

Thank you all for your input and advice!!! I'm currently running just one 1000w lamp. Eventually I'd like to get a second one, but I'll probably run them in 220v to reduce power consumption. Thank you again.

Mr. Bond

hello, police?
yes. power company here.
we noticed one of our customers has suddenly started using more of our product at odd hours and yet continues to pay on time.
clearly he's illegally growing pot.
please arrest him before he uses more of our product and pays us more money.
thanks.

mr.bond said:

Thank you all for your input and advice!!! I'm currently running just one 1000w lamp. Eventually I'd like to get a second one, but I'll probably run them in 220v to reduce power consumption. Thank you again.

Mr. Bond

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Look. where i live they have installed them. They seem to be no problems that I have heard of yet. i would suggest going to 2x600w. The 1000w light is overkill for a 4'x4' area anyway. You only need 600w for that area.(that equals 400w wasted). You could run 2 600watt hoods and yield twice as much and only cost 20% more in power.
food for thought

Don't worry about it we don't care when you use it as long as you pay for it. The meters do a number of things as pointed out but the other thing they do real well is when the power company switches to time of use billing that's what you will see. We do it in Ontario Canada and we also have the ability to turn your air back a couple degrees during heavy power usage. You need to sign up for the program. Other than that everyone go back to growing and get ready for power prices to double during 7 am to 7 pm, ........... we don't go to the cops with info if you pay your bills, so get growing

r8rdrew said:

Look. where i live they have installed them. They seem to be no problems that I have heard of yet. i would suggest going to 2x600w. The 1000w light is overkill for a 4'x4' area anyway. You only need 600w for that area.(that equals 400w wasted). You could run 2 600watt hoods and yield twice as much and only cost 20% more in power.
food for thought

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Actually I was thinking 1000W on a 4'X4' was perfect... Thats what is recommended anyways isn't it?

I should try to get a job @ dwp for a month or two to really figure out how it goes down. Lol

For anyone even considering this theory, please, snap out of your paranoid state...........If you own an aquarium then its consumption hours would be of a similar period 12/12, 16/8, 18/6......what if you run a 2500w heater overnight while its winter, you wont get looked at if you pay on time, and have no other factors involving police or authorities.....