Electric company and being green got me all nervous.

That is a definite way of getting turned in since you're stealing from them. I'm sure theres other things also, but I could just be paranoid.

I'd think using a shit ton of electricity and not paying your bill would get that same reaction.

Ya just pay the bill and no worries.

Some electric companies keep a dedicated team investigating & charging people for theft of service. Its one of the best ways to get caught imo. Also not paying your bill arouses suspicion. Pay the bill and your another account number in the computer no one pays attention to. Even with a smart meter, and now I can save some money running lights off peak.

Here is what I know about cops finding out... Happened to someone in the area I live in....
.... Cops suspected someone of growing marijuana .... Electric company said they had work to do on his electric poll and needed to install a new rectifier onto it so that their electric would not to be as likely to fail in a storm and that it was just protocall as if they were doing it to everyone else....
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.... I knew the guy... I saw something hanging from one of the lines on his poll after he told me what the electric company did.... It was a yellowish color and clipped around the main wire that ran into the house from the poll... Jokingly I told him that the cops were onto him... LOL...
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... 2 months later he got busted with 48 plants he grew indoors... The electric company came out and collected their amp meter off the line.... What happened was that he had his lights come on at 6 in the morning and the amp meter spiked up... Lights went out at 12 at night and amp meter dropped back down... And then 1 1/2 months later after a steady reading like that... He changed his lights to a 12/12 cycle from 6 am to 6 pm and it wasnt even 2 to 3 weeks into that they came into his home and confinscated everything. The amp meter showed alot of power being used for 18 hours and then dropped to 12 hours and as all you know .. it doesnt take a genius to figure out what is going on... LOL Just watch out for your meter man doing any strange things to your poll or meter and saying its just routine maintenance... If your only running a couple of lights though.. I dont think it would be so bad... They like to find the big growers alot more than they do the small ones... Just dont tell anyone about your grow.. Sometimes your best friend could turn out to be your worst enemy if it involves jealousy of what you got.... He told alot of people about his grow and dont even know who tipped off the police... So just be very cautious...