UK growers? Prepayment costs ? Advice

Adi1989

Adi1989

Active Member
Kushthemagictree said:
Thanks for reply mate! Doesnt sound too bad, mines mega ( costs per kwh ) think i’m on a higher tariff with still having a PPM installed but refusing the smart meter for ovbious reasons.

i plan on running two tents, HGL 600 watt LED in one, spider farmer sf4000 in other and then a veg light seperate to both, still undecided on veg light. Will be using a single fan for exhaust for both tents.
Think its around 24.0p kwh for a daily rate snd half that for night rate looking at EDF costs.
i’ll be looking at filling both the 4X4 with a scrogg net to maximise grow space and get every thing i can out of both.
I havnt even worked the mothly cost as of yet :roll::wall:
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You could go with octopus energy tarrif which is 5p per kwh at night, use tesla modules / batteries to charge at this time and discharge them for the other hours. My friend has 100kwh of batteries installed at his house and uses 70/80kwh a day he said
 
Kushthemagictree

Kushthemagictree

Well-Known Member
Adi1989 said:
You could go with octopus energy tarrif which is 5p per kwh at night, use tesla modules / batteries to charge at this time and discharge them for the other hours. My friend has 100kwh of batteries installed at his house and uses 70/80kwh a day he said
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Was thinking just to bypass the meter, may aswell i’m allready classed as a criminal who smokes weed
 
conor c

conor c

Well-Known Member
Kushthemagictree said:
Was thinking just to bypass the meter, may aswell i’m allready classed as a criminal who smokes weed
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You know any sparks ? If u dead set going that way thing to do would be to isolate only whatever floor your grows on and keep paying for the other floor or floors that way you less chance of drawing attention id say idk i pay for mine but i know rigging just one floor can be done tbh tho i know a guy who was growing for 3 decades and only reason he ever got caught cos he was nicking power from a lampost nearby he got away with it for ages still they got him in the end tho cos of itso worth bearing in mind
 
VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
I'm in Aus, so not relevant but wanted to bitch and complain...

Paying around 30c/kWh, but then there's the insane amount of service and charges which are calculated daily.

Went from $350 bill to $600 just running 480-600w worth of LED 18hrs a day, 3x35w exhaust fans and a few clip fans (18w) 24/7.

Summer came and AC upped that to $800.
 
bazoomer

bazoomer

Well-Known Member
Don't ever steal power. Especially nowadays. The penalty will be far harsher, than you'd get for growing, unless you have a whorehouse full, or some other serious shizz going on.
 
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Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
To work out the electricity cost you need to know the price per kilowatt (check your meter) in my case 18p per kw

600w x 18 hrs =10,800w
multiply by 7 = 75,600 divide by 1000 = 75,6 x 18p = £13.60 + 10% to run a 600w light 18 hrs for a week.
 
conor c

conor c

Well-Known Member
bazoomer said:
Don't ever steal power. Especially nowadays. The penalty will be far harsher, than you'd get for growing, unless you have a whorehouse full, or some other serious shizz going on.
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chronnie49 said:
Stealing electricity is going to get you in a lot more trouble than growing a few plants and they will catch you eventually.

You have to pay to play.
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I do agree with you two why i pay for mine i like eliminating risk where possible and one less thing to worry for never hurts
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
conor c said:
You know any sparks ? If u dead set going that way thing to do would be to isolate only whatever floor your grows on and keep paying for the other floor or floors that way you less chance of drawing attention id say idk i pay for mine but i know rigging just one floor can be done tbh tho i know a guy who was growing for 3 decades and only reason he ever got caught cos he was nicking power from a lampost nearby he got away with it for ages still they got him in the end tho cos of itso worth bearing in mind
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IF folks are going to this imo is the only way to do it.
There's no change in your power consumption, if it's was done right at source rather than the meter itself there's no reason for anyone to be looking any further.
 
Moflow

Moflow

Well-Known Member
Careful now.
Especially working with Live Electricity. It Kills.
Get a "dodgy spark" to do it lol

I had a few close calls with the Electricity Company.
The mains supply coming into the property goes through a 100 amp fuse that is sealed with security seal wires with crimp up ferrules before it reaches the meter.
Years ago I cut the security wires and pulled the fuse. Unscrewed the wooden back panel and pulled it off with the meter and all cables still attached to the board. Run new cable through the back of board and up the cavity wall into house.
There is a red flap behind the fuse. Lift fuse flap and there is a double conector. One that connects to the meter. One connector is spare. Connected to it.
So Meter reader man calls to read the meter and reported me to the electricity company for removing the security tags.
Luckily the bypass cable wasn't connected into consumer unit yet.
Electrical engineer calls unexpectedly to inspect the meter and asked why tags were removed. I said I was moving the consumer unit and needed to isolate the mains. He didn't buy my excuse and tested my sockets around the house anyway.
Everything was OK lol as bypass wasn't connected so he gave me a lecture on interfering with company property, put new seals on and away he went. Phew!
Then last November I got a letter sayn they were changing the old meter to a new digital one.
Panic stations ffs! Maybe they were gonna put a new back board on too?
Removed bypass wire and got new meter seals on eBay. Problem was the seals looked brand shiny new so I weathered them with a pencil and felt tip pen.
Engineer came out and put in the new meter, didn't even touch the board! Lol
He applied tamper proof tape as well as seals.
I'd now need to drill a hole internally through the kitchen wall to get to the back of the meter and the missus wouldn't allow that!
Years ago people would put a pin hole in bottom of meter and put a hair clip through it to jam the wheel from turning.
Also there's a magnet that people put on the old meters to stop them but it'll no work on the new digital ones.

To Reiterate. Do Not Mess with Live Electricity. It can Kill.
 
numberfour

numberfour

Well-Known Member
Back in the late 90's I knew a few lads who used to fill houses, they used these little black taped boxes on the leccy meters, had two wires. Meters would either stop or rewind, always made me smile when they rewind.

Did hear of a house fire due to one of these boxes, thankfully it melted and the fire service blamed old electrical wiring. They did find his grow thou, between the fire service and police over 19 ounce disappeared.
 
Kushthemagictree

Kushthemagictree

Well-Known Member
Moflow said:
Careful now.
Especially working with Live Electricity. It Kills.
Get a "dodgy spark" to do it lol

I had a few close calls with the Electricity Company.
The mains supply coming into the property goes through a 100 amp fuse that is sealed with security seal wires with crimp up ferrules before it reaches the meter.
Years ago I cut the security wires and pulled the fuse. Unscrewed the wooden back panel and pulled it off with the meter and all cables still attached to the board. Run new cable through the back of board and up the cavity wall into house.
There is a red flap behind the fuse. Lift fuse flap and there is a double conector. One that connects to the meter. One connector is spare. Connected to it.
So Meter reader man calls to read the meter and reported me to the electricity company for removing the security tags.
Luckily the bypass cable wasn't connected into consumer unit yet.
Electrical engineer calls unexpectedly to inspect the meter and asked why tags were removed. I said I was moving the consumer unit and needed to isolate the mains. He didn't buy my excuse and tested my sockets around the house anyway.
Everything was OK lol as bypass wasn't connected so he gave me a lecture on interfering with company property, put new seals on and away he went. Phew!
Then last November I got a letter sayn they were changing the old meter to a new digital one.
Panic stations ffs! Maybe they were gonna put a new back board on too?
Removed bypass wire and got new meter seals on eBay. Problem was the seals looked brand shiny new so I weathered them with a pencil and felt tip pen.
Engineer came out and put in the new meter, didn't even touch the board! Lol
He applied tamper proof tape as well as seals.
I'd now need to drill a hole internally through the kitchen wall to get to the back of the meter and the missus wouldn't allow that!
Years ago people would put a pin hole in bottom of meter and put a hair clip through it to jam the wheel from turning.
Also there's a magnet that people put on the old meters to stop them but it'll no work on the new digital ones.

To Reiterate. Do Not Mess with Live Electricity. It can Kill.
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i have the digital meter thats sits in the middle between two units, inside top unit where main supply comes in to unit, there’s a blackbox type fuse box there, it comes in and out of there then to meter. It’s easy enough to by pass from that point, and tbh not one employee from anywhere has ever been in the top unit,
 
numberfour

numberfour

Well-Known Member
Keep a beady eye on costs this year lads.

I've seen my electricity price per kWh rise from 18p to 24.01p per kWh in less than 5 weeks. Been chatting to my energy company, cheapest fixed tariff costs at the moment are 33.06p per kWh for electric. That's almost double from what I was paying in January. I've been advised to fix by April as that is when the price of Gas will double. I was told Gas is set to keep rising with Electric going up again later in the year. Standing charges have and are going up. If anything its helped motivate me to make sure the wood store is full for next winter, thing is I've been using my electric chainsaw for sawing the wood lol.

I've gone from running over 1200w in flower with other in house items with joint bills of £160 a month to Octopus energy wanting £390 a month. Thing is, I can afford it, only a couple of Oz per month but I cant pay it cos its fucking insane, 4.5k a year! Robbing Bastards.

I've gone round with my watt meter, 4x8 is now flowering on 637w with 12 LED boards inches from the plants, 8" extraction is on half and my oscillating fan is off. Mother and clone tents have been dialed down too.
 
O

oill

Well-Known Member
Flowki said:
Well just be careful, the problem with reducing Watts is you also reduce ambient tempts or canopy leaf temps, and have to compensate for that with more heating W, or else the plants do not grow as well. So you save in W but lose in yield.
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Yeah... you'll need more heat.... kinda ends up about the same cost... in electric. Better buds tho
 
speedwell68

speedwell68

Well-Known Member
At the moment I am paying £0.215p per kWH. We will see how it goes. I imagine that will be 33p per kWH before too long. The Chancellor has announced I should be getting £350 per year in rebates. I will believe that when I see it.
 
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