[OldGreyCrow]

Moved into a new house two years ago. Power company now found an aluminum cable going through meter. Circuit panel has all copper going in. No power problems all year.
They want to charge me for power used differential from copper going through meter.
About what percent less power consumption would an aluminum cable read?

[KBC]

I'm no expert,but there seems to be some kind of questionable activity here,either the previous owners somehow found a way to cheat the power company or the power company didn't do their job correctly.

Somehow they didn't see this until now and want you to assume responsibility for this happening,even though you didn't do it?

It seems that they are grasping at straws and want you to pay for something you didn't have control over, there could be legal ramifications so you aren't made to pay something for this(previous owner,etc)

To change the initial connection for the meter you have to have a tag for the meter, they are only installed once the meter connections are found up to code.Someone has to know of this aluminum wiring.If you didn't do it,and the electrician who installed the unit didn't do it, who did?

Hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist,but it is a little strange that it has been undiscovered up to now.

Hopefully one of the experts can find out the usage differential for you.

[OldGreyCrow]

Thanks for your response. Seems they have the right to charge you the differential for what you used EVEN THOUGH you had no knowledge of anything being wrong, stolen by the previous owner. They just take an average now, an unfair couple days, vs. average for past two years.

[KBC]

I guess they are going back to the move in date for that.

If it seems like a sizable amount, I would look deeper into it, they make enough money.

[tkrussell]

Every day I think I have heard of everything, and the next day I learn I have not.

Please provide the name of the utility company, full name, not abbreviation, website if possible.

[OldGreyCrow]

The privately owned utility in GA is just making unfounded claims to get back "stolen electricity." The question is if the main line coming to a house is split in 1/2. going around a central feed, and the missing half is replaced with aluminum cable, and this combined new cable, 1/2 original copper - 1/2 aluminum, goes to the meter, What % reduction would be achieved because aluminum is not as good a carrier as copper? If 1/2 the cable remains copper, the loss must be less than50%. IF aluminum is 1/2 as efficient as copper, the net loss in registration would be 25%? The "factor" must have a science based answer?

[KISS]

Engineering here has to parts. One is fundamental. Resistivity is a basic property of copper or aluminum.

Losses are an Engineering issue and are dependent on:
1. Cross-sectional area (directly related to wire gage)
2. length
3. The current through the wires

3% is expected.

What kind of cable is going to the meter? Is it sized properly? Anything after the meter your paying for?

We could solve a problem such as: The feed to the meter is 30' #4 aluminum and 50' #3 copper. What would be the difference in loss is the wiring was 70' #3 copper?
You just assume I is a constant.

[apparasn]

We have a whole house surge protection system installed through our utility company. We also have a lightning protection system on our home. An arc fault switch tripped during a storm yesterday despite the presence of protection from above and below. We do not believe we were struck by lightning though. What made the arc fault switch trip? We don't have appliances other than what people typically have. We didn't have any clothing irons, hair dryers, cell phones etc plugged in other than major appliances and TVs at the time. Please help us understand this.

[hfcarson]

There are many reasons an arc fault circuit breaker trips...
Why? Impossible without an "on-site" inspection.
Have you turned it back on? Did it stay on?

[hfcarson]

By the way.. next time start a new thread...