I'm paying for someone else's electricity!
Dave Bushong
I've been wondering for nearly a year why my electricity bill has been
so high - I live by myself, don't heat or A/C much at all, I'm not
home very often, but the bill is never under $45.
Then, last weekend I performed a test: I flipped all the circuit
breakers off, and looked at the meter. It was still turning!
I called the electric company, and the lady on the phone said that
their responsibility ends at the meter, and that I'd have to take it
up with my landlord. I live in a building where there are 30 units.
I'm renting one of these from the (condo) owner, who also owns one
other unit in the building. I suspect that I'm paying for some
hallway lights or something similar. There is no such agreement in my
lease.
Doing some rough calculations based on the consumption rate at that
time, it looks like I've had about $200 of electricity stolen from me
over the past year. It's not a huge amount, I guess, and even though
I'm not an attorney, something tells me that this is wrong.
How do I go about getting it fixed, plus being reimbursed the $200?
Dave
P.S. This is in the State of New Hampshire, in case that affects
the possible options I may have.
--
Dave Bushong, Wang Laboratories, Inc.
Jay Hennigan
>
>I've been wondering for nearly a year why my electricity bill has been
>so high - I live by myself, don't heat or A/C much at all, I'm not
>home very often, but the bill is never under $45.
>
>Then, last weekend I performed a test: I flipped all the circuit
>breakers off, and looked at the meter. It was still turning!
It sounds as if you may need an electrician, not a lawyer. According to
the National Electrical Code, if there are more than six circuits on a
service (meter), there must be a single "Service disconnect" or main
breaker. As there aren't many air-conditioned condos with fewer than seven
circuits, it might be in your best interest to find and turn off the MAIN
or service disconnect breaker, which is probably right at the meter panel.
Do this at night, and see if anyone else's lights go out.
The way you have described things is a bit unclear. If "all the breakers"
that you turned off ar located right at the meter, then the extra load is
coming from within the service panel, rather unlikely. If "all the
breakers" that you turned off are in a sub panel within your unit, then
either there is another sub-panel (perhaps in your unit), or some
appliances (water heater?) connected to the main panel at the meter on a
separate breaker at the main panel, or someone has tapped the feed between
the meter and the sub panel in your unit. In any event, locate the MAIN
breaker for your unit and see if that stops the meter from spinning. If
so, and you can stand to be without electricity for a while, leave it off
and see who shows up with a flashlight looking for trouble. If turning
off your MAIN doesn't stop the meter from spinning, then call the power
company back and ask to talk to someone handling energy theft cases.
These folks are generally a bit more helpful and better equipped to help
you than the front-line clerks. Do a bit more investigation, and you may
be able to determine what the cause of the extra current drain is.
Alternatively, if the breakers that you turned off are in your unit, and
the meter that you examined was located elsewhere (along with numerous
other meters), it is possible that you are reading the wrong meter, and
perhaps the meters are mislabeled and the utility is also reading the
wrong meter. Are there other meters that stop when you shut off your
breakers and then spin when you turn on an electric heater or a number of
lights?
This kind of situation happens a lot, and usually is a case of error on
the part of the contractor who wired the place or the utility reading the
meter, rarely theft. There are cases when someone in an adjacent unit
does some remodeling and "accidentally" connects an outlet to one of your
branch circuits, but in such a case your breaker would control the outlet.
In any event, you need first to determine the cause, then determine the
liability. Where the electricity is going is the first question. When
you determine that, then you can determine who (if anyone) to sue. It
could be the condo association, an adjacent resident, the utility, or
nobody if the load is indeed yours.
["Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not an electrician-uh-lawyer!" - Leonard
McCoy]
[snip]
--
Jay Hennigan | "I want to make it very clear that this middle-class tax cut,
j...@rain.org | in my view, is central to any attempt we're going to make to
Santa Barbara CA | have a short-term economic strategy." - Bill Clinton, 1/19/92
Joseph Ross
>I suspect that I'm paying for some
>hallway lights or something similar. There is no such agreement in my
>lease.
>P.S. This is in the State of New Hampshire, in case that affects
> the possible options I may have.
You need to consult a local lawyer, preferably one with some experience
in landlord/tenant and consumer law. I know that Massachusetts has a
state regulation which makes the landlord responsible for paying for all
electricity unless the meter serves only that apartment. I don't know
whether New Hampshire has anything similar.
--
======================================================================
A. Joseph Ross, J.D. law...@world.std.com
15 Court Square 617/367-0468
Boston, MA 02108-2573
mv...@mvubr.att.com
>
>Then, last weekend I performed a test: I flipped all the circuit
>breakers off, and looked at the meter. It was still turning!
>
after I detected that the apartment above me ran its garbage
disposal off my kitchen cieling light circuit and my meter.
When I moved I turned off my main CB- I never heard the results.
This doesn't help Daves problem but is substantiation that such
a problem is not unique.
Ken-Have a good day
Andrew Laurence
>I've been wondering for nearly a year why my electricity bill has been
>so high - I live by myself, don't heat or A/C much at all, I'm not
>home very often, but the bill is never under $45.
>Then, last weekend I performed a test: I flipped all the circuit
>breakers off, and looked at the meter. It was still turning!
>I called the electric company, and the lady on the phone said that
>their responsibility ends at the meter, and that I'd have to take it
>up with my landlord. I live in a building where there are 30 units.
>I'm renting one of these from the (condo) owner, who also owns one
>other unit in the building. I suspect that I'm paying for some
>hallway lights or something similar. There is no such agreement in my
>lease.
>Doing some rough calculations based on the consumption rate at that
>time, it looks like I've had about $200 of electricity stolen from me
>over the past year. It's not a huge amount, I guess, and even though
>I'm not an attorney, something tells me that this is wrong.
>How do I go about getting it fixed, plus being reimbursed the $200?
I am ALSO not a lawyer, but I suspect that the public utilities commission
in your state might be able to help you. You might also contact the power
company again and hope that you get a different answer. I believe that my
local utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, AGGRESSIVELY investigates electricity
theft, which, after all, is a crime.
--
| Andrew Laurence Oakland, California USA |
| laur...@netcom.com Pacific Standard Time (GMT-8) |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Nevada is not a wasteland. |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
Lewis E. Wolfgang
>
>Then, last weekend I performed a test: I flipped all the circuit
>breakers off, and looked at the meter. It was still turning!
That happened to me once. Turned out that it was a defective meter!
All SDG&E did was replace the meter with a new one. The overage
in my case couldn't have been more than $20 or so, thus I didn't
make a stink about it.
Good luck,
Lewie Wolfgang
Al Sparks
> In article <CLA6E...@wang.com> dbus...@wang.com (Dave Bushong) writes:
> >
> >I've been wondering for nearly a year why my electricity bill has been
> >so high - I live by myself, don't heat or A/C much at all, I'm not
> >home very often, but the bill is never under $45.
> >
> >Then, last weekend I performed a test: I flipped all the circuit
> >breakers off, and looked at the meter. It was still turning!
>
> It sounds as if you may need an electrician, not a lawyer. According to
> the National Electrical Code, if there are more than six circuits on a
> service (meter), there must be a single "Service disconnect" or main
> breaker. As there aren't many air-conditioned condos with fewer than seven
> circuits, it might be in your best interest to find and turn off the MAIN
> or service disconnect breaker, which is probably right at the meter panel.
> Do this at night, and see if anyone else's lights go out.
The National Electrical Code, like many other national codes
(construction, fire safety, etc) is written by a private organization.
While I wouldn't be surprised if all 50 states have adopted most of
it, I would be surprised if all 50 states have adopted all of it, or
have adopted the most up to date version of it.
See a lawyer; but the idea of cutting the main breaker of what
ostensibly supplies your own unit and only your unit seems like a good
idea. === Al