I've read somewhere before that 3500w per month is a red flag in the US, but I always read posts on here of people that have 4 1000w HPS going at once, not even counting all of the other gadgets they need to make it all function. So my question is this, what is a real number of wattage I can have before it starts to seem suspicious? A good location that comes to mind is 3 10x10x7 rooms. One would be a veg/clone/autoflower room starting with CFLs and eventually breaking into MH and/or LED depending on progress. The next 2 would both be devoted to flowering. If I used 8x8 in both rooms, how much wattage would I want to cover that space? I was thinking 2 1000w HPS in each room. I just don't want it to seem too sketchy if I need to run 5000w between all 3 rooms in lighting alone.
Most of those people are in an MMJ state or live in a large house where high electric consumption does not look strange. I would say 1000w HPS for someone in an illegal state in a somewhat smaller house.
As a former cps employee I can say for sure as long as we get our money every month we don't give a shit how much electricity you consume. It is not our job to police power consumption. On the other hand, if you live in an apartment (for which we have years of recorded energy use) and you are running 4 1000w lights + ventelation equipment, we will likely send a tech out to see if someone is piggy backing your connection. If we don't identify any theft, we will report it to your apartment manager or landlord. It would be up to them to investigate. Customers living in non rented houses, or homes in lower crime areas don't have much to worry about simply because the power consumption varies on a greater scale. Some people have multiple AC units, pools, subzero freezers, etc... There is no specific answer as to how much is too much, but the best advise I can give is record the monthly use of power on a hot summer day with your AC blasting (as a baseline) and try not to consume more than the cost + 50%. Most people with any common sense will keep their grows small if they live in apartments so, in my area, you can get away with running a 600w setup without any red flags. In a home, sky's the limit...just watch out for heat signatures.
The guideline that has been engrained in my head from multiple sources is that you can run one 1,000 watt bulb and associated equipment per the # of bedrooms in your apartment/house. This means if you live in a 2 bedroom apartment you can have two 1,000 watt bulbs + gadgets without arousing suspicion. I wouldn't venture past this though.
So in a rented apartment where the landlord isn't a problem, if it is a 3 bedroom then realistically I shouldn't have a problem running in the 3 basement rooms correct?
Listen to arciem. Sound advice. I unwisely ran 4kw in a 2br apt once and although it worked out, it was too hot and the whole entire floor smelled very floral. never again. Today im running 5600w in a 3 br house i own along with about 3kw of computer servers and equipment.. No issues. Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Grasscity Forum mobile app
This place is a good size though, and I'm talking the entire basement itself, which no one messes with. There is a very steady renting history and the landlord doesn't show up. Ever. What do you think is a fair amount to run in something like this?
I used to play in a band that practiced 3x a week running over 1000 watts of power for up to 9 hours (plus all household appliances and a pool), if that didn't throw up a red flag for something, I don't know what would. Like someone said earlier, they don't care as long as they get their money. You should be fine as long as you keep your misc. power usage down.
Provided your not stealing it and are paying your bills on time id say 3-4kw electric companys arnt going to report somone there making a wedge off every month... http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/1226594-1800w-jack-herer-cocoponics-wilma-bigs-everyone-welcome.html