Campground Electric Question ....

[mayfair]

As some of you know, I'm pretty much seasonal at one spot only occasionally pullling out to go on a road trip. I've been somewhat seasonal for a little over a year now.

In July, my electric bill at the campground jumped from it's normal $40 a month, up to $100. When I questioned mgmt about it, I was told that the meter was working fine, and that my power cable was bad. When I checked my cable, sure enough, the ends looked kinda "cooked", so I replaced the cable with a new one from the breaker box all the way out to the plug itself.

Last month (Sept), my bill came in at $219!!

I camp only on the weekends, and I don't even think we used the a/c in September at all! When you look at the meter, it'll move somewhat normal, and then out of nowhere, it'll start spinning like a CD with nothing changing as far as power usage on our part goes.

So the question is ... What could be causing it?

The meter stops spinning when the power is unplugged, which is mgmt's proof that the meter is working fine. 

My neighbor on the same "leg" of power in the campground has also received a high electric bills, so I'm kinda happy to hear that it's not just me, but I'm still a little worried. I don't really know anything about how things are wired up from the power company, however I was told something like - If the voltage drops, then the amps pick up and as a result your meter would start spinning and things would "heat up", which would explain my cooked wires a month ago.

Any thoughts on this would be REALLY appreciated as I'm getting ready to re-up for next year, but not if I'm gonna be gettin $200 elec bills! 

 

[seilerbird]

I think the meter is defective.

If the voltage drops you are correct, the amperage goes up. But you are not charged for either voltage or amperage alone. You are charged for kilowatts, which is voltage times amperage. So if the voltage goes down and the amps goes up the total kilowatts remain the same. I have been sitting in the desert all summer running my A/C all day long and my 46 inch tv and DVD player. My highest electric bill was $100 for the month. It would be worth your while to hire an electrician and have him check things out, something isn't right.

 

[mayfair]

I think the meter is defective.

Thats kinda what I am thinking as well.

What confuses me a bit though is that my neighbor is also getting high electric bills, however we both have identical (style) meters. The campground has a couple of different meter styles. My neighbor and I both have the older style with a wheel that spins as well as arrows that spin to different numbers on the face.

http://www.pge.com/includes/images/myhome/customerservice/meter/smartmeter/electric-meter.jpg

Newer meters have numbers that spin.

http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/2x3730019/electric_meter_on_outside_of_house_42-18261171.jpg

 

[Kim (skyking4ar2) Bertram]

Are you sure the meter reader did not misinterpret the meter? That happened to me in my stick house and it self corrected the next month when it was read correctly, but I suppose it would depend on how wrong it was misread. When they went to a digital meter, that issue disappeared.

You can read the meter yourself and then check to see what numbers were recorded to prepare your bill. The discrepancy would be relatively obvious if the meter reading is the problem.

 

[tvman44]

"The meter stops spinning when the power is unplugged, which is mgmt's proof that the meter is working fine.  "
That is not proof the meter is working correct, only in their minds.
The cooked plug is an indication of low voltage causing increased amp draw or a bad receptacle.  Check occasionally if the new plug is getting warm.

 

[mayfair]

Are you sure the meter reader did not misinterpret the meter?

The meter was re-read and the reading was accurate. My argument was that the meter starts spinning like a top with nothing changing as far as power consumption goes somethings up!

"The meter stops spinning when the power is unplugged, which is mgmt's proof that the meter is working fine.  "
That is not proof the meter is working correct, only in their minds.
The cooked plug is an indication of low voltage causing increased amp draw or a bad receptacle.  Check occasionally if the new plug is getting warm.

Thats what I thought.
I've checked the receptacle where the plug plugs in and re-tightened the wires just to make sure.

Is there a meter available that I can plug my cable into and then plug into the campground meter, or would that read the same as well?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

If you keep your power draw low enough (15A max), you can use a relatively inexpensive Kill-O-Watt to measure your power draw. It will also verift vltage and frequency.

http://p3international.com/products/p4460.html

About $25 at Amazon and ebay.

If you want to be able to handle more power on a meter, it is going to be quite expensive.


Is it possible someone has plugged into your RV somewhere/somehow and stealing power?  Maybe your friend's too? Unplugging from the meter doesn't prove the meter measures right - it just proves the meter is measuring your RV. And you would have to leave it unplugged for a few days to make sure it measures ONLY your RV.

If two meters seem to spin erratically, I wonder if the frequency of the power (60 Hz) is right. I think the meter depends on the frequency staying at 60 to measure accurately.

 

[seilerbird]

I camp only on the weekends, and I don't even think we used the a/c in September at all! When you look at the meter, it'll move somewhat normal, and then out of nowhere, it'll start spinning like a CD with nothing changing as far as power usage on our part goes.

Stealing power is a problem that comes up from time to time. The first step I would take would be to watch the meter and when it starts to "spin like a CD" then turn off the master breaker in your RV. If the meter doesn't stop then power is being stolen. If it does stop then something in your RV is drawing the power. So turn the master breaker back on and start turning off the branch circuit breakers one at a time until the meter stops turning like a CD. The problem is obviously then on that branch circuit. It could be coming from an electric water heater or your refer.

 

[Water Dog]

It would take a considerable power draw to cause a meter to spin like a CD if you were being literal, and I doubt that there is anything in your RV that could consume that quanity...especially that you would be unaware of. Sounds like either a defective meter or power stealing to me.

 

[Spoonsize]

Possibly a dead short directly to ground that is intermittent? The cooked power plug smells of a short somewhere.

 

[seilerbird]

Possibly a dead short directly to ground that is intermittent? The cooked power plug smells of a short somewhere.

A dead short to ground would cause a breaker to trip. A cooked power plug smells like a poor connection at the power plug.

 

[Spoonsize]

A dead short to ground would cause a breaker to trip. A cooked power plug smells like a poor connection at the power plug.

Only if the power were going through the breaker, not if the short occurred before the panel box.

Steve

 

[geodrake]

If the voltage drops you are correct, the amperage goes up. But you are not charged for either voltage or amperage alone. You are charged for kilowatts, which is voltage times amperage. So if the voltage goes down and the amps goes up the total kilowatts remain the same.

Help me out: P=IE? If E< then how does I>?

 

[seilerbird]

Only if the power were going through the breaker, not if the short occurred before the panel box.

Steve

If the short occurred before the panel box there would still be a breaker upstream that would trip. The National Electric Code requires all circuits to be protected by breakers.

 

[seilerbird]

Help me out: P=IE? If E< then how does I>?

That is just the way electricity works. If you have a hair dryer that draws 1500 watts. It will draw 1500 watts if the power is at 100 volts or at 125 volts. It will draw enough current no matter what the voltage is (within reason).

 

[geodrake]

Negative, that conflicts with ohm's law!

 

[carson]

Ahem...not quite right, TomS.

  On a resistive device like a hair dryer element or a filament lamp etc. the current will drop with a drop in voltage. The lamp will dim.

  The current increase phenomenon  only applies to inductive devises such as motors (A/C)
To the best of my Electricity 101 knowledge.

Carson

 

[geodrake]

Carson:

Help me out is the inductive thing because of ELI the ICE man?

 

[seilerbird]

Negative, that conflicts with ohm's law!

Ohm's law has nothing to do with this discussion. Ohm's Law, E=IR is a way to figure out the resistance of a circuit using the volts and amps. The P=IE is the way to figure out how much wattage is being consumed using volts and amps. They are apples and oranges.

 

[seilerbird]

Ahem...not quite right, TomS.

  On a resistive device like a hair dryer element or a filament lamp etc. the current will drop with a drop in voltage. The lamp will dim.

Not true. The voltage coming into your house varies from minute to minute and second to second. If that were true your hair dryer would be varying the speed continuously.