Lighting Advice From Someone Who Actually Knows, Please

Ok right now Im running (3) 600 Watt MH in veg rooms and (1) 400 Watt HPS in flower room. My question is is will this set off any flags at the electric company? I have an additional (6) more 600 watt ballasts. So Id like to add a couple more to the lighting I have going on now. I dont expect to run the total (10) ballasts all together at anytime. But how many could I run without setting off any alarms? Thanks

Sounds like you need lots more light in the flower room....

The general rule of thumb is:

1000w per Bedroom is not going to raise any eyebrows.....
It has alot to do with whether or not you are in line with usage in your area.....

If you live in a 2 BR Apt...and the neighbors all have $60 light bills and yours is $300....someone is going to take notice.

Hopefully you own your home and you are in an area with a wide range of sizes.....maybe 2500 sq. ft.-5000+sq.ft.....this is the case with my neighborhood and because of this...$300-$800 light bills are the norm.....depends on pools, hot-tubs, gas heat v. elec heat, etc.....2 kids v. 5 kids, etc.

Keep usage in line with the high-average in your area maybe a little more and all you are is a good customer to the electric company.....

Check out the threads in my sig, a journal and my 4000w grow in design/set-up.....my light bill is pretty chunky but no probs thanks to the hyper-consumption of my yuppy neighbors.

-OitW

Old In The Way thanks for the response, I agree I do need more lights in the Veg room. Had an additional 600 going but then had a heating issue until I solved that. I was just reading another post all about lights which basically said the same so I was doing the math. Yes I live in my own home and I appreciate the responce.

1800w in veg... and you're doing 24/7 or so? That's a lot more 'lectricity to be concerned with than your 400w that stays on for 12 hrs a day. Do the math. If you put a timer on your hot water heater, turn your thermostat back a couple of degrees, maybe get a ceramic heater so you won't have to suffer, I think you would be ok.

i dunno man, it probably depends where you live... last summer my AC went out and ran for 24/hrs a day basically, and it was an old shitty one... my power bill was $900 and nobody said shit except "where's my money?"... they really don't care wtf you do with it as long as you pay for it... they wouldnt even help me do anything to lower the bill, they didnt offer to send anyone to my house and look for electrical "leaks"... they are mostly cold hearted capitalists in the business of selling electricity... also, i changed billing plans at the electric co... there is one plan that the price per KW changes in summer and winter (in my area it was 3 cents per kw in the winter and over 12 cents in the summer, when you actually use it).. i changed to the fixed 3c plan, but i pay a higher connection fee per month to get it... basically, if i use no power, my bill will be $150, and whatever i use is 3c/kwhr after that... its a huge benefit, my 900 bill would have only been 300 with this plan, and thats about where i am every month now

three 600's for veg?

You could swap those out for T5s. Load up on flower lights and yer set. As said above, they just want your money. You could even call and complain to the power company about your high bill. They won't do anything except suggest that you have someone come inspect your appliances. Energy rates fluctuate for peak hours. You could set your timer to curb your usage during peak times.

ya power is more expensive during the day here after 8pm it drops like 3 c/kw so my babies wake up at 8