Need Electrical Bill Insight from cali natives

Perfextionist420

Well-Known Member
So creating a business model etc and throwing together expenses and overhead vrs projections blah blah blah long story short the grow I am modeling would be 100-135 kwh a day (I think).

Now if I understand pg&e's retarded electrical hierarchy I project a cost of roughly 900-1100 a month. This grow is based on 7000 watts flowering 12-12 plus fans etc all that jazz.

Does anyone have any experience with a grow of similar size electrical costs or even one half this size anything I can compare to.
 

NoGutsGrower

Well-Known Member
Be ready to spend more than that! In the summer my power bill is about that running 6k watts = fans, that is with proper ventilation and good insulation and new windows in my house. My buddies utility bill was 500 last month (about 100 of that is for water and garbage) and all he uses is 1k hps and a 250 mh and a couple fans (less than 1700w total) and his normal day to day power usage (fridge, stove, washer, dryer A/C, etc.) I'm not saying your power bill will be way over that, Just saying you should always guess high (it hurts less when the bill comes). You never know what the temps are going to be like until you have everything up and running so you won't know how much you have to run the a/c. For a normal house a/c after about 78 deg. it uses about 15% extra power for every 1 deg. cooler you set it! I have to keep min set at 70 to have temps in the high 70's in my grow room!
 

DinafemHashPlant

Active Member
Thats just a rediculous amount of money just for electric..Summer is almost over thank god for ya...we only pay .06kw i didnt even see a change when using a 600w..
 

Luger187

Well-Known Member
i used this thing for my closet grow. it worked really good. you can put in your price of electricity and plug it into your grow room. it will record how much electricity youve used. it will tell you current, volts, etc. also tells you how much money youve spent in the past hour, day, month, year, etc. its probably not made for the amount of electricity youre using though

http://reviews.lowes.com/0534/3191393/reviews.htm
 

EvolAlex

Well-Known Member
Inland socal im running 1600 watts flower, and 275 watts veg plus fans and shit. The bill hits 400-500 including everything in the house.
 
If you sign up for the CARE program with PG&E they cut your bill. They don't check W-2's or anything. Theres people here running $1000+ bills a month even with the deductions. In general the companies don't care as long as you pay your bill on time and for the love of god don't fucking do something stupid like try and steal electricity.
 

Dan Kone

Well-Known Member
So creating a business model etc and throwing together expenses and overhead vrs projections blah blah blah long story short the grow I am modeling would be 100-135 kwh a day (I think).

Now if I understand pg&e's retarded electrical hierarchy I project a cost of roughly 900-1100 a month. This grow is based on 7000 watts flowering 12-12 plus fans etc all that jazz.

Does anyone have any experience with a grow of similar size electrical costs or even one half this size anything I can compare to.
I'd guess you bill will be closer to $1500 than $1000. I ran a 6 light system for a while and I'd go between $1200-$1800.
 

collective gardener

Well-Known Member
I'm with So Cal Edison. Currently burning 16,000-20,000 watts. (we use a couple lights in veg as needed). Total bill averages $2,000. That includes lights, A/C's, fans, dehumidifiers, etc...We're on summer rates right now. In winter it's about $1,700.
 

Dan Kone

Well-Known Member
I'm with So Cal Edison. Currently burning 16,000-20,000 watts. (we use a couple lights in veg as needed). Total bill averages $2,000. That includes lights, A/C's, fans, dehumidifiers, etc...We're on summer rates right now. In winter it's about $1,700.
That's it? Fuck. I need to manage my household power consumption better.
 

stoned4daze

Member
Prepare for more like $1,500 to $1,800 just for the grow part, anything else that gets used by the employees (computer, copy machine, fax machine, heater/AC, etc.) should be calculated separately from this. Recently, I had 8- 600 watt lights, fans, a clone station w/ 4 tube light, dehumidifier and all and my bill was running approx. $1,300 to $1,500 a month. I did not have AC running or a heater on, and my dryer, water heater, and stove, are propane. It is only me and hubby at home now also and we are mostly never home. Here is a funny one for you......... I recently stopped all grow here (NOT by my choice!) and my PG & E bill went from $1,578.08 a month to are you ready for this............... $55.01 for a month!
I was amazed cause I had always blamed the high bill on us not my garden. It would be worth your while to check into solar electricity I bet! Good luck with your calculations, are you opening a dispensary or something?
 

Perfextionist420

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the input everyone probably not immediately but we will rig the house with as much solar as possible when we get a couple months in.
 

Perfextionist420

Well-Known Member
Here is a funny one for you......... I recently stopped all grow here (NOT by my choice!) and my PG & E bill went from $1,578.08 a month to are you ready for this............... $55.01 for a month!
I was amazed cause I had always blamed the high bill on us not my garden. It would be worth your while to check into solar electricity I bet! Good luck with your calculations, are you opening a dispensary or something?
That's crazy lol and no were not opening a dispensary just starting a grow, we have high paying buyers ;)
 

Perfextionist420

Well-Known Member
I'm with So Cal Edison. Currently burning 16,000-20,000 watts. (we use a couple lights in veg as needed). Total bill averages $2,000. That includes lights, A/C's, fans, dehumidifiers, etc...We're on summer rates right now. In winter it's about $1,700.
How do you manage that? I wouldn't mind a breakdown if you have spare time at some point
 

collective gardener

Well-Known Member
How do you manage that? I wouldn't mind a breakdown if you have spare time at some point
I'm not sure what kind of breakdown you're asking for. It's not like Edison gives me much more than the bottom line: "pay this much, fucker".

In the past I've always figure $50/month for every 1000 watt bloom light (12/12), and $75/month for every veg light (18/8). With Edison's current summer rates, I'm paying a bit more than this. I'm running 30,000 btu's of A/C around the clock. I think we have a total of 8 inline fans going around the clock. Two of those are 14", which draw quite a bit. There's one 70 pint dehumidifier in the drying shack.

Whenever I start a grow I figure the total bill for everything will be no more than $100 per month per 1000 watt light. I've never gone over this number, making it great for budgeting.
 
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