Id keep trying the electric co till you find someone ok, they dont like meter theft. Get an electrician out also. Get to your meter at say 10am and pull the main fuse and see who comes out suprised.
First, turn off your main breakers and see who squeals.
So far there's been absolutely nothing I've seen in OPs post to indicate theft, only that _perhaps_ more than his directly rented space is on the meter for which he's getting billed...
Approaching the landlord to ask would be an appropriate first step if the sanity of check of everything he can control still indicates usage...
It may also be a good idea to leave the breaker off a couple of nights, just in case something is happening after hours.
Not mentioned is reading the meter itself. I'd read it every few days and track the usage according to the meter. Check the billing/reading also. Many commercial and industrial readings have multipliers for the particular meter. IOW, you read the meter and from the start to present it indicates a use of 100. There may be written on the meter a multiplier of say 10, 35,
70, etc and that 100 becomes 1000, or 3500, etc.I've had numerous situations with incorrect readings for electric, gas, water that amounted to thousands of dollars (in both directions) because of errors in reading, missing a decimal point on a digital meter (shocking when you get a $6000 bill instead of a $600 one)
Also, I just checked my home bill and last month is was 618kW and I run a lot more "stuff" than the op has in his office. two computers for 12 hours a day, TV, reading lights, two refrigerators, one freezer a few night lights, etc.
gee, I've heard that before somewhere.....
years ago I installed a outside outlet then found my neighbor would plug in our house outlet rather than drop a extension cord thru his window.
So I added a master off switch inside our kitchen.
One day my neighbor knocked on the door, and asked my grandma to turn on the power. she said sorry I dont know where the switch is, while she stood right next to it...:)
That swich has been very useful for stuff like christmas lights.
I didnt mind the few pennies of power he was using, it was the principle of the thing...
Too much trouble, and *much* too kind. I would have gotten my axe out of the shed, and severed the extension cord at the property line.
It is possible that other tenants circuits are tied to meter. This happens after a building has gone through many remodels over the years. As other have suggested, I would try shutting off some of your circuit breakers and see if someone complains.
Another possibility is that you may have a "Demand" meter. These are different from residential meters. In addition to measuring consumption the demand meter will also record your peak use for the billing period. The power company will then charge you as if you used that peak for the entire billing period. This can make your bill quite high even though your actual consumption may be low. If you know where your electric meter is, go and take a look at it. There may be an extra needle in the center.
Were they reversing the meter part of the time?
I want to thank everyone who helped out. I am sorry this is a little late but sadly, I forgot my Gmail password and I just had it reset.
Anyways, I am glade to say that we got to the bottom of this; one of the other offices' heat and/or AC was running off our meter!!! The landlord got that taking care of and I just got June's bill, it was $35. We are still discussing how much they are paying me back for the last three months of AC usage if any but I am not very concerned with that. Again, thank you all and GOD bless.
Thanks for finishing the story and glad it worked out!
I think to be fair they owe you some bucks!
If you would like to save alittle more money we sell a control that works with your thermostat but the company has a contest going on and cost nothing to enter.
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your thermostat but the company has a contest going on and cost nothing to enter.
Go away. Anyone who posts commericals where they aren't permitted, can't be trusted.
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