Electriciy Cost? Just Wanted To Make Sure Im Doing This Right

Am I doing my math right. My KWH is at 9 cents. is $291. some odd change. Does that sound correct. That seems a little high. Considering that not even any fans or humidifiers..ect


Veg room 18/6 240 volt

1000 watt light
1000 watt Ballast

Flowering Room 12/12 240 volt

3 x 1000 Watt Light
3 x 1000 watt Ballast

Around 590 kwh for veg
Around 390 for each light in flower.
Multiply that by .09 and you get 123.3.
Not sure how many people at your house, environmental conditions etc, I live in California and my house is around 700kwh to run.
If you add that, your bill should be 186.3
Do you get any penalties for going over your baseline?

Veg room : 1 x 1 kw x 18 hrs /day = 18 kwh /day
Flower : 3 x 1 kw x 12 hrs/day = 36 kwh/day

18 + 36 = 54 kwh/day x 30 days = 1620 kwh/month
add 10% for ballast heat (162 kwh)
1782 kwh x .09c = $160

291-160 = $131 remaining household consumption.

Throw in the bullshit fees, taxes , cooking and heat costing $131. yea $291 sounds very reasonable.

Your op is like having a heat pump on constantly for 12 hrs a day. Are u worried about the electric company keying into your grow?
Keep in mind also those fans and pumps add up real fast too.

poundpusher2009 said:

Am I doing my math right. My KWH is at 9 cents. is $291. some odd change. Does that sound correct. That seems a little high. Considering that not even any fans or humidifiers..ect


Veg room 18/6 240 volt

1000 watt light
1000 watt Ballast

Flowering Room 12/12 240 volt

3 x 1000 Watt Light
3 x 1000 watt Ballast

Click to expand...

1k for 18h = 18K * .09 = 1.62 @ day * 31 = $50.22

3k * 12h = 36k * .09 = 3.24 @ day * 31 = $100

so $150 for both rooms + fans and .....

I don't have time to look into all these calculations BUT it looked like in your first post you count each light twice, once for the lamp and once for the ballast. That's not how it works. If you have a 1000 w light, it's 1000w and change for the ballast and the bulb. The ballast regulates the flow of current to ignite the bulb. It doesn't take 1000w just to be on.

Okay thanks for helping me out. I thought the ballast and the bulb were separate charges. Thanks I was like wow that will add up really quick if running 1 1000 watt bulb is actually like running 2 considering the ballast. Thanks for all the help...

I dont plan on running anything else like the stove, refrigerator, tv, toaster, microwave, or washer and dryer. None of that will be running just my op and minimal lighting throughout the house on cfls.

I read too much into this...I thought u were billed that $291. Expect $160 mo. VTguitar caught it in that u were counting the ballast. !! This is where digital ballasts come in, they have bout 98-99 efficiency saving u maybe $15 month.

So when Im running a 1000 watt light and 1000 watt ballast the electric for flowering would on be $1.08 a day correct? Or is there a seperate charge for the ballast as well?

Each light you have will cost you about .10 /hr to run, including the ballast. Think of each light/ballast as one system running 1,100 watts (1,000 watts for the light and 100 watts for the ballast) There is no way the power company can differentiate what is being run, only how much is being run total in the house. I think you're getting confused with the ballast when it says its a thousand watts. It's RATED at 1000 watts , it does not consume 1000 watts.