how can i guess how much power i will consume

hello. i am in southern cali. i will be cultivating medical marijuana legally. i will pay for my electricity but i need to know how to give the company a estimate ogf how much energy i will consume so i can get the best rate. i am in agricultural land so im looking to get a commercial account. i need to figure this out. i looked @ a chart on here but i wasnt able to figure it out. i want to grow 90 plant with 22 1000 watt lights. please help

figure out what you'll use in watts and ask them. My REA has a web site that has a calc. you could use that if you now the power cost.

dapeanut305 said:

hello. i am in southern cali. i will be cultivating medical marijuana legally. i will pay for my electricity but i need to know how to give the company a estimate ogf how much energy i will consume so i can get the best rate. i am in agricultural land so im looking to get a commercial account. i need to figure this out. i looked @ a chart on here but i wasnt able to figure it out. i want to grow 90 plant with 22 1000 watt lights. please help

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The way it works is fairly simple. The electric company charges you by the kilowatt hour (every hour, how many thousand watts you use). They generally charge 10 cents per kilowatt hour. So in your situation, in 1 hour, you would have use 22,000 watts, or 22 kilowatts. 22x.10 is 2.20. So to keep those lights on for 1 hour, it will cost you 2.20.

Assuming you keep the lights on for 24 hours a day during the vegetative stage, it will cost you 52.80 a day, and 1584 in a month.

The formula is thousands of watts you use in an hour x the number of hours you're running the lights x .10 (usually it's .10, some companies may charge different prices).

maybe i'm out of line but if you don't know how to calculate your energy costs then how are you experienced enough to run a commercial grow? maybe i'm wrong but that just seams ass backwards to me :/

My friend said its like 20 bucks a month per 1000watt light u got running 12/12. I am definitely going to check out some of these calcs mentioned above.

its a bit more complicated than that....

you need to know your ballasts efficiency rating, or power factor.
then it has to be rated for continuous duty.
most 1000w ballasts run in the range of 50-75w.
with 22 of em, that adds up. lets go with 75w per ballast.-
22 x 1075w = 23650w
23650w x 120% (continuous duty demand factor) = 28380w

28380w @ 120v = 237 amp
28380w @ 240v (single phase)=119 amps
28380w @ 208v (three phase)= 79 amps
28380w @ 277v (three phase)= 60 amps
28380w @ 480v (three phase)= 35 amps

your best bet is 480v, that much wattage the efficiency rating of the ballasts will really make a difference.... cost more on the head end but worth it in the long run....

first off thanks for the info. see the thing is that this is my first time actually paying for electricity & doing things legal. i have worked on a bunch of grow rooms but this is my first project where i'll be 100% in charge. i was reading on this site that u calculate ur actual watts by multiplying (volts x amp = actual watts). im going to set up 2 rooms with different time schedules making one room be on while the other sleeps. i was thinkin 18 on, 6 off for veg & 12 on, 12off for flowering. all 22 lights will only be on for a few hours then the other will turn off leaving about 11 running constantly 24 hours with a peak of course when all 22 will be turned on for a few hours until flowering when never the 22 lights be on @ the same time. im still kinda confused on how to determine the amount of power i will use. i spoke with EDISON (power comp in so cal) & they asked me how much power i will comsume so they can give me the best rate being that i will use alot of power.