BigBlock

Let me start out by saying I have a legal medical marijuana card in Oregon. I lease some industrial shop space and I'm going to build a grow room in there. This is perfectly legal, according to the state law anyway, and the law also says I don't have to tell the landlord about it if I don't want to. I don't want the landlord to know, and I don't think it will be a problem except one thing: the electric bill.

My electric meter is shared with two other leased shops next door. We split the total up monthly, at 20/40/40%, and I only pay 20% because I use less than the neighbors. The total electric bill for all three of us is under 900kWh most months.

Problem: My grow room is going to consume about 1,000kWh alone per month. How the hell am I supposed to explain the 100% increase to the landlord? What am I doing with all that electricity? Any ideas on fake wasteful things I could be doing in there? It's a pretty big shop, I was thinking about getting an old electric dryer, and electric oven for "baking powder coated parts" that I don't actually use. Any other thoughts for being un-suspiciously wasteful with electricity?

norcaleinstein

Welders suck a lot of power and would fit in an "industrial shop" setting

Underarock

If you were sub-metered....they couldn't say anything.
If yall split the bill by percentage
and you cause the bill to double
everybody's bill doubles

they are going to investigate
I don't like the idea of having to make up lies

you will have to re-negotiate

I wouldn't grow under these conditions
fix the power billing 1st

__________________


Posting Guidelines
Gardens Cure Acceptable Use Policy
A Collection of DIY Threads
Journal of the Year Awards
Nursery Questionaire

EZMark

Good Advice!
A "Pottery Firing shop with a few Kilns would explain it

__________________
EZ Does It
cancer survivor, Legal Medical Marijuana User and state licensed Grower
SHADY

"Finally, decriminalization of marijuana would allow the police and prosecutors the ability to focus and devote their limited resources to crimes that truly affect our safety and quality of life. Culture-war values aside, do we truly benefit by expressing a legal preference for alcohol over marijuana? " By KONRAD MOORE

Journal of the YEAR nominations

Nursery Questionair


Guide to helping SICK PLANTSOR PLANT ABUSE
Stoney's PH Guide


Posting Guidelines

REPUTATION POINTS

My Grow Journal

bluecheese

I agree with UAR - you're going to double everyone's electric bill - not a good situation.

__________________
cheese

Posting Guidelines -- AUP -- Sick Plant? -- Nursery Troubleshooting Guide
Plant Abuse Guide -- St0ney's pH Chart -- Reputation & Thanks

My Journals

Tommy_Chong

any and all tools, that work or not. just being there helps ...

refrigerators are good too .... cover up the sound of a cab AC unit



T_C

smokeybandit

I live with someone who is a former hydro company worker, he says an increase like that would definatly cause them to investigate the electricity usage, for one they could be thinking that the power is leaking into the ground from your meter, this is extremly dangerous as people outside your bulilding will get shocked or electricuted, obviously this is not the problem, they will be thinking safety so therefore they will investigate the extra power usage till they find out where its going.

An example of this is when i lived in the city i built a basement apptment, i rented it out to one of my friends, there was an elecrical stove and dryer, the thing was my meter and his meter where the same, i got letters in the mail stating they noticed a huge increase in my electrical consuption and that they want to check the meter to make sure its fine, they did infact come pull the meter, look behind it to see if i had bypassed it and continued to do other tests, i did eventually tell them i have a basement apptment, but i held off because it was not a legal apptment, so i had put myself in a bind.

In the power companys mind i was growing something because of the usage, but after they checked things out they relised it was from the basement appt, they gave up, it could have escalated to worse things, but truthfully i had nothing going on,the apptment was taken out shortly after that.

I think that buying kilns or some other high power consumption device just to cover your butt is going kinda far and expensive, but then again, you gotta do what you gotta do, to get what you want, just be safe about it.

rollingrufus

if i were your neighbor i would be pissed that my electric bill was going to double because of someone else's use. i would definitely take care of that issue first, especially if you are trying to keep it somewhat stealthy.

__________________
peace and love


Time to find out what its really all about

Lou Cypher

3 shops, less than 1kwh's a month?
My computer burns more than that a month.

I don't mean to doubt you bb but that is very little electricity for three businesses.

From what I understand you looking to do a small grow which probably can fit in a small room.

Why not rent a small ready business like a tire place or a small mechanic shop and while you growing in a small room in the back, the store can give you some money too.

And definitely a shop like that wont have to explain 1k per month consumption.

Futuregrower

I agree with fixing the neighbors first. Either re-negotiate, or sub-meter, or something. If not, the one most likely to spill the beans and/or get curious is the one whose pissed cos you cost him more money.

If you fix that, tell 'em you have a welder, a kiln, an electric oven for heat-treating, or best of all worlds, get your own meter and tell the utility, "it's a business. don't worry about it"

But square it with the neighbors first or grow somewhere else.

Also, if you don't have a legal shop- like its all 1 guys building, he just split it into 3 shops- don't grow. The owner or your neighbor could be liable, if it doesn't have it's own PIN (property ID Number)

__________________
~~ The Once And FutureGrower
The futures here, we are it, we are on our own....Singing Ashes, ashes all fall down......

"I inhaled, frequently," Senator Obama said before being elected President "That was the point."

First Grow! Twofer, Mandalas "Satori" and KC Brain's "Northern Lights Special"
http://www.gardenscure.com/420/hydro...kc-brains.html

Caution! (Do not stop on tracks). Grow 2

LINK to a great way to search, written by Burndt