People too often get carried away with wattage...when the light temperature is at least as important as the watts.

If for example, you used regular light bulbs....say 10 bulbs of 100W each....you would have 1000W of light.

However, since the spectrum from a regular light bulb is not anywhere near FULL SPECTRUM....these 1000W will produce a ragged grow as well.

When considering lighting with CFL's, you need to make sure the Kelvin temps are in range for the suited plant you are growing.

The stories you guys hear about people getting busted for juice usage...

Those were for the most part years and years ago before the technology used today was around.

With todays lights, you get triple or even quadruple the lumenoscity of the bulbs of even 10 years ago.

Also, the growers who have their entire basement dedicated to growing and have many many many lights....they are the ones who have unreasonably high electric usage.

Hell a 1000W HPS wont even throw a blink in the usage department.

Worry not.