can the electric company tell at what times I am using power?

So if I am running 12/12, are they able to see that somehow or do they just see the total kw used? Looking at the meter I don't see anyway for them to tell.

yes, they can tell when the spikes are, which tells them when the most power is used....... the person that reads the meter can't tell, but the company can.

pay your bill, on time, and they got no reason to care.

Thanks for chiming in as usual. Kinda in a unique situation as to where I get my power, no I'm not stealing it and no I don't live with parents, just don't want any questions asked. Lights are the primary power draw and are only on 12/12 so if someone looked it would be way skewed.

If you were worried about you're usage being tracked, perhaps you may want to invest in a digital timer and use a very inconsistent pattern like this:

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/62836-has-anyone-attempted-6-hr.html

With an analog meter i doubt they can nail down your usage on an hourly basis, seems to me the closest they would be able to get would be maybe a section of the grid. If you have a digital meter, that may be a different story.

one way i try to combat it is have my flowering plants on at night and my vegging plants on during the day. it usually goes 7:30PM/7:30AM flower and 6:30AM-11:30PM veg... its not perfect but i feel it probably gives a more accurate snapshot of what people normally do (spend their nights home from work dicking around on electronic equipment etc etc)

well if you are on regular hours they arent going to question it. Like i 12/12 from 9pm-9am darkness and 9am-9pm light. sooooo they wouldnt even think Im up to anything except using my lights during the day!

superhighme said:

well if you are on regular hours they arent going to question it. Like i 12/12 from 9pm-9am darkness and 9am-9pm light. sooooo they wouldnt even think Im up to anything except using my lights during the day!

Click to expand...

this sounds great, but who uses lights during the day?
I'm not knocking you by any means, please trust me on that.

I have my flower on from 1 pm to 1 am and my veg from 1 pm to 7 am.
I really wouldn't worry about it man.......they CAN get the peak times of use, and can tell when there is a spike, but really, what do they care? it would have to be LEO instigating any investigation, the electric company doesn't give two shits, your just making them money by using more power.

electric companies can sense paranoia...

Analog meter. Can't run veg during day temps are already an issue and so far it is staying reasonably cool during the day with the lights off. It's really not that big of a deal, its been that way for a good while.