Sudden drop in elec bill?

[Satori]

I'm trying to figure this out here cause I'm sitting here going

My elec bill was about 1/3 less then expected this month and the KWH are way down too. I called the elec company and they reread the meter and said nope, the reading is correct. The bill should have gone UP this month due to running 2 extra computers around the clock. NOTHING in our usage has changed except the 2 extra computers. Yet the bill went down by 1/3.

Oddly enough.. the neighbors moved out a couple weeks ago. I've never seen anything obvious like power cords or anything from there unit to mine but I do know their doing major repair work in the walls over there (this is way more then patching holes kinda noise) so its quite possible they could have tapped directly into the power inside the walls (common wall). Yes I know, sounds paranoid but I can't figure out this sudden drop and it would explain why the heck we kept blowing the breaker last summer just running 1 computer and a small 4000BTU A/C unit.

So, thoughts about what could cause such a major drop other then borrowing neighbors?

[cappuccinosmom]

Call them and ask if actual usage went down. If it did, it might indeed have been the neighbors.

Otherwise...maybe the company way overestimated the month before, and corrected it with the meter reading?

[Satori]

Originally Posted by cappuccinosmom

Call them and ask if actual usage went down. If it did, it might indeed have been the neighbors.

Otherwise...maybe the company way overestimated the month before, and corrected it with the meter reading?

I did hence the reread and they said actual usage went down and there are no estimated reads ever on my account. Checked my usage history and its been pretty consistent until this past month.

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by Satori

So, thoughts about what could cause such a major drop other then borrowing neighbors?

I don't think it's overly paranoid .. and I wouldn't say borrowing, IF that is what they did (tap into your power) then it was stealing.. not borrowing.

Happy lower electric bill!

[HeatherAtHome]

You should really look into that. If that's the case, your bill would go back up when new people move in.

[mnnice]

It's also very possible that your units are wired improperly and you were paying for some of their power without any deliberate dishonesty on their part.

In our house a low electric month can be just a third (250-300 kw) of what a high use month electric month is (900 kw).

[cschick]

Are your meters in a bank of meters in a common area, rather than in your unit?

If so, it's very possible that your meters are mis-associated. Meaning that your neighbor's meter number is associated to your address, and your meter to another address. So in that case, its possible you've been paying for your neighbor's electricity usage all along. There's been a lot of problems with this type of mis-association in apartment/condo buildings in our area.

This is really something you need to get the electrical company to investigate.

[SleeplessMommy]

Originally Posted by mnnice

It's also very possible that your units are wired improperly and you were paying for some of their power without any deliberate dishonesty on their part.

Yes. I can see this happening very easily in a common wall, and not being noticed for many years.