I would like to know how you can tell IF an electric meter is working properly?

Question

I had my electricity turned on and after 3 days the utility called me and told me the meter was spinning fast and did I want them to take out the meter. The meter was the one that my wallboard heaters are on, and also my hot water heater is on that meter also. I have 4 wall heaters on it and I presume that they were all on as I had not been in that house since winter. ( I had asked them to only turn on the regular electricity) However in the dead of winter in Minn, the highest my heat bill has been is $250-350. For 3 days the meter was running my bill was $165. I pay 4 cents a kilowatt, so I used 1375 kw per day! so how can I prove that the meter was not working. The heaters are not thermostatic controlled however they do put out a higher heat in the winter when the temps are colder. can anyone tell me how I can protest this bill? This happened one other time when I only had one space heater running and got a $650. bill for a different home, with the same utility in one month!!

Answer 1

Unfortunately, the utilities are required by the public service commission to keep the meter calibrated.  Every device you are talking about is probably a 220 volt item.  Large current users.  There should be a plate inside the wall heaters that say how much current they draw.  Go to your local big box and buy clamp -on ammeter.  This will show you how much current each heater is pulling.  The formula to figure out wattage is p=i x e.  An example is if you have 10 amps x 220 volts=2200 watts or 2.2 kw which would be 9 cents per hour times 24 hours.   I seriously doubt that the meter is bad.

Good luck.

Dave

http://www.single-family-home-remodeling...

Answer 2

stop all electric equipments and on one lamp (100 watt), read electric meter.

http://www.theclickinfo.com/cse:how_to_c...

Answer 3

1375000/24 = 57291 watts

57291/voltage =

520 Amp for 110v ALL DAY

260 Amp for 220v ALL DAY

I think the meters have it wrong. That is a huge current to be drawing for a house. You should be load limited so you can't possibly draw that much. Call the electricity company and tell them it isn't right. They have ways to test their meters, and you might get back pay from previous bills