Energy - Power Meters

Well, we're catching up with you. In the Pacific Northwet, no less.

It seems that our water utilities 'bought' a new supply which is turning out to be a real white elephant.

Many years (decades) ago, the power local company built a generating plant and, to feed it, a diversion dam to take water out of a local river, store it in a lake and then run it through the plant. Well now they've got a brand new lake where there was none before. So the real estate folks went nuts selling waterfront property. Which, then the power company throttled up the plant, turned back into a large mud flat. So the (rich) people screamed and extracted an agreement from the power company not to run the plant at any more than stream flow. Which made it uneconomical and a few years ago, they said, "Screw it. We're outa here". Which left the diversion system unmaintained, which will result in the lake drying up in a couple of years. So the rich folks talked the water utilities into buying the lake (and picking up a couple of million dollar a year tab to maintain and operate the diversion dam) as a potential water supply. But part of that agreement is that we can't actually _use_ the water, or some rich folks will have docks over a mud flat. So part of my bill consists of a charge to subsidize water skiers.

I don't think the duty cycle is that high. I haven't measured it, but a typical rating for a fridge/freezer is 200-300 kWh/year, which is 25-35W.

And even with a 0.8PF, it's not like you're actually paying for the other 0.2, only for the extra copper losses which would arise. What's the resistance of a typical 30A ring?

And with all the well verified stories like this, there are still people that try to tell me that a moderate bit of money does not get you better response from local government.

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning.

Hope This Helps! Rich