question on hydro use

[cskis11]

I'm just wondering what kinds of levels and patterns of hydro use for a residential dwelling (house) might be suspicious to a utility company / law enforcement.

This winter we upgraded from 2 x 1000Ws to 3 x 1000Ws (one is on 18 hours the other two for 12). We're now over 2000 kWh per month, which is about twice the res. avg in Canada. We live in an avg sized 3 bedroom bungalow and generally pay our bills on time.

Should we be concerned about our usage level? There haven't been any spikes in usage as we've increased gradually. How do ppl with more lights pull this off (I'm mean without splicing/stealing)?

Any thoughts / experiences would be welcome. thanks.

[johnny5fingers]

As long as you pay your bill and donâ??t complain about how high your power bill is. Your power company is going to take your money and run.
You are doing just what they want......your making them money.
Here in Oregon we have pretty reasonable power costs. 3000 watts would cost you about 100 dollars a month.
If your power bill looks high for your residence you might consider dropping down to 2000.
Remember the power company has a history of your residence, unless its a new home. So they know what the average wattage usage is.
People do get busted for high electric bills.
Also if the police suspect something they will look at your electric bill to see if it is high.
Not to make you paranoid. I personally think 3000 watts of light is too much for a average residence. I would not feel comfortable having that much lighting.
I know many people have no problems doing what your doing, so the choice is yours.
I might add I have run 4000 watts for many months without a problem. But that was when I was younger and more willing to take risks.
As a general rule if your bill average goes up more than 200 hundred a month it might draw attention.
But then again power companies donâ??t really care what you are doing like most corporations in the US they just want your hard earned money in there pockets.
Caution is always advisable.
good luck