Can Amps Going to Ground Make My Bill Higher

ANSWER:

Anything going through the meter will cause your bill to go up. It doesn't matter if it goes to a useful load or not.

QUESTIONS:

1) How much energy (KWh) is listed on your bill and is it a bill for a one month period.

2) What country are you in and possibly be a bit more specific with state or region.

3) Upgrading to 400 amp service sounds like something about your house/property is larger in scale or out of the scope of the average home. How big is this house and what happens there that is beyond the normal cooking, TV/computers, water heater and home heating.

4) Water heater and home heating. Are they electric, gas or something else?

5) What was the FULL SCALE capacity of the meter that you were using (set up as you had it set up). If full scale was 4 amps then we would hope the readings were pretty good. If full scale was 4000 amps then and error of hundreds of milliamps might be possible.

6) How far from other high current conductors was the meter when the measurements were taken?

7) Do you think that the meter was in good working condition?

Of course a current to ground can make your electric bill higher. I do not believe this current draw of less than an ampere of current could cause an excessively high bill. I do not know where you are though so I do not know your power grid voltages nor do I know your currency. For all I know you're 500 summer bill is 500 Colombian Pesos which is about $0.27 in US currency.

ok so i just checked my emails(been gone for over a week) and i guess i need to clarify my post. i live in washington state in the town of battle ground. my power company is clark public utilities which is the only power company in clar county, wa. i have asked the utility ciompany to check my meter several times over the years and they say they have. they told me my meter was replaced by a new one in the early 2000s so they could read it remotely. but the meter actually says on it new 1986. now they have come to my property several times and looked around for ?. But found nothing. My house is big. 2600 sq ft with ten foot ceilings downstairs and 8 ft up. we had baseboard heaters through out the house that i removed when we moved in. ifor a long time i had a pellet stove in the downstairs and that was my heat. No real change in electricity use. when it took a dump. i put in two electric wall heaters that i had. they were ancient and im sure wasted a lot of electricity. Still no major change. i just recently took those out and replaced one with a brand new cadet wall heater thjat should be fairly eff. for a wall heater. no real change again. i have tried to find any leaks or extra draws. but patients is not one of my strong suits. and i havent really went full boar on it. everything else in my house is pretty much the same as any family my size. which is 3 adults, 2 teens, 3 kids and 2 babies. one of which just got here. i need some ideas on how i would trouble shoot my problem. my last bill was 800 bucks. but im sure part of that was for two months of water. which they bill every other month. but it is always in the 6-7 hundred range winter or summer. any help would be appreciated

ANY electric heating needs to be thrown as far away as possible, it blows your bill up very, very quickly.

Think how electricity is made, a basic fuel (or atomic energy) is used to heat water to drive a steam turbine or drive a gas turbine directly. There are "leaks" of energy/ heat at every stage. Then there is the tremendous loss in the power lines, some say up to 70%, but depending upon the distance to the average house, but you actually subsidize people living farther away from the generating station as the everyone pays for the KW/H delivered.....think about it!!

To heat your house its better to use the fuel (any fuel) directly (well maybe not Atomic fuel!!), the heat losses will still be there if any of the exhaust gas going up the chimney is warm, but in comparison to electric, they will be tiny.

I used to cut/buy wood, but now I am getting too old, so I bought a pellets burner (discussed already here on CR4) 7 years ago and have never regretted it, I was lucky and bought a modern, clean and very reliable stove. Check around before buying on that score!!! Some are better than others. Gas is my secondary heating and hot water.....

If you go for pellets, do leave Chinese made igniters alone, they are just cheap but no good. My first one supplied with the stove went in 6 months of usage, I was sent two more, together I got about a year of usage (winters only) from the two. Then I bought a German made one and it has lasted for 5 winters now and still going strong!!! But a spare is already here....just in case!!!

But burning gas or oil or coal or wood is far, far cheaper (AND FAR WARMER!) than electricity any day.....your beliefs that those electric heaters do not make any changes to your billing are only valid if they are never, ever switched on!!!

That is at least part of your billing problem, if not all!!!

A badly insulated house, old windows and doors are also causes for heavy heating costs.

i agree that electric heat is part of my problem. but come on 1 2500 watt heater. even if it was constantly on and running. would that constitute a 6-700 dollar electric bill. i have exhausted every avenue of trying to figure out if im using that much elc. im not. so now its time to troubleshoot. my mother in law has a tavern that is open 18 hrs a day. they have a cook that cooks all day long and all of her stuff is electrical. her bill is less than half of mine

So, what did the electric company say when you asked them why your bill is so high?

In south africa if that heater is running through the month it will cost about $376

Making some assumptions, that .7 AMPS comes out to about 30 watts.

It is not the cause of your "high" electric bills.

I think your math is undersized by a factor of 2 for US power and about 4 for Europe. Your point that this is an insignificant load for a 400 ampere distribution is still accurate, regardless of the grid voltage.

Maybe I should have said, "making a SWAG".

Just got out of bed. I'll sharpen a pencil next time.

But, yes, no matter, it's not the problem here.

Depending on location/age of appliances/insulation in dwelling/number and efficiency of AC units; clothes dryers; ovens/cost of elecricity, and so many other factors that have been left out, it's hard to say.

I can probably show 0.7A of current flow by clamping around my finger. The average clamp on ammeter is no better than 1% accurate, probably 2% if you spent under $500 for it. I would call that a negligible error.

Assuming you are in the US (because I don't think anywhere else in the world still allows 400A services to residential users), the shock of a massively higher bill might not be related to your actual total consumption. Most people here are blissfully ignorant of how the utilities bill them, they only see the bottom line. They toss out all the boring little notices that they send out every month about stuff that is almost incomprehensible. That my friend is by design, they don't WANT you to read it!

What has likely happened is that in the last year or so, your utility quietly made a subtle change to what is called "TOU" billing, which stands for Time Of Use, and means that you now pay a DIFFERENT rate throughout the day. It is lower at night, as in before 6AM to after 7PM, but may be 3X that rate from 6:01AM to 6:59PM. Here in Cailfornia they did that quietly, nobody noticed until they got HUGE bills and complained, but it was too late. PG&E had sent out notices 6 months prior and there was a public comment period, but nobody paid attention so nobody said doodley squat. I went to one of the mandatory public hearings, I was the ONLY one there who had read the notices and understood what they meant. When they explained it at the meeting, the dozen or so other consumers that were there were shocked to hear it, but that was the ONLY public input meeting they were required to conduct, so our 12 voices were all but useless compare to the 10,000 consumers they were serving in this area. That's right, 12 people out of 10,000 even bothered to show up, and only one of them understood what it meant prior to going there.

So if you think this may have happened to you, simply look at the total kWh in this billing cycle, then compare it to your total kWh on the same billing cycle last year. If you didnt keep a copy, they are required to provide one for you if you ask, although some go ahead and just show you that on the bill. If your kWH number is virtually the same or is not commensurate with the change in the cost, welcome to the new reality my friend.

If on the other hand the total kWh is drastically higher now compared to the same time period last year, then you need to find the reason. The first step is to turn EVERYTHING off in your house, and unplug all of the "instant ready" things like TVs and computers in Standby or Hibernate mode. Then look at the rate disc or display. Is it still showing consumption? If so, then you have a drain. Start then flipping each circuit breaker off until it stops showing consumption. The last one is where the culprit is, so call an electrician to figure out why.

JRaef mentions some possible factors that can cause higher than expected utility bills. Nobody so far has mentioned one major component of electric billing: Utility delivery charges.

Your electric bill is probably (if it's anything like mine) divided into two sections: Energy charges and Delivery charges.

Energy charges are the cost of the actual kWH you use in your house. That includes lights, motors, electronics, heating, and any parasitic loads. Everyone responding so far has addressed various factors relating to this portion. YOU have control of this (up to a degree - there is usually a minimum charge you will incur for being connected to the utility at all). You can reduce this portion of the bill by reducing your usage.

Delivery charges are what the utility bills you for the use of their transmission lines, substation equipment, distribution system, etc. to get the electric energy to you. They have to operate, maintain, repair, upgrade, and service the system, and you pay for it. It is usually tied to your maximum load (kW demand) values, so your energy usage does affect it somewhat. However, if you want to get electricity, you have to pay to have them deliver it to you. The "pipes" for the juice don't come for free.

It's possible that there have been significant increases in delivery charges by your utility. It is usually regulated by your state's Public Service Commission or similar regulatory body. They determine how much a utility is allowed to charge, taking into account needed maintenance, operating expenses, etc., as well as profit for the shareholders.

Also, check your bill carefully - it's all pretty simple math. It's possible that there is a calculation error.

But in reality, for a 400Amp service, a bill for what you are claiming wouldn't surprise me (at least in some areas) if you have a combination of electric water heating, space heating, or appliances like a clothes dryer. I wouldn't expect a 400A service unless it is a rather large house or has large electric loads, and they can add up pretty quickly.

what is a ratio current transformer? i can handle myself when it comes to wiring and boxes. but when i get on the other side of the panel im lost. also i might be mistaken but i believe i have two 200 amp panels side by side. one side is all 120 volt breakers and they are all in use. but there are many slots left for more breakers in it. the other panel is about 3/4 full of 220 breakers and most of them are off. have a water heater, ove , clothes dryer and one heater running.

The items you mentioned:-

have a water heater, oven , clothes dryer and one heater running.

...are all heavy users of electricity when switched on......so it counts as to how big and how long!!!(now where have I heard that before?)

Tip, do not use electricity to heat water, except for a basin heater maybe in the summer say, oven I discount as its only on for relatively short times, but if its old and badly insulated, think again!

Clothes dryer and heating are terrible and should only be used in an emergency situation. We dry clothes on "airers" in the kitchen near the pellets burner, it works well and really fast. It keeps the humidity comfortable in the house (German winter has generally very low humidity) as a bonus.

We have no electric heating except for a fan heater that we use on holiday when its cold, to warm up the caravan.....camping electricity is paid daily unmeasured, no matter how little we use on camping sites and it therefore saves the gas bottle....we also use Induction stove tops on holiday for the same reason.

Watt-hour meters have a maximum load current that they can safely handle. A class 200 meter can handle no more than 200 amps, a class 320 meter, 320 amps, etc. When the potential load exceeds the meter rating, as yours does, a current transformer is used to output a proportional current which the meter reads indirectly. The meter used is called a Transformer Rated Meter and will be either a class 10 or class 20. For a 400 amp service a 20:1 transformer would give an output of 20 amps at a 400 amp load, a 40:1 transformer would give an output of 10 amps.

Check your meter(s) Do you have only one or do you have two (one for each panel)? The nameplate on the meter will give its class.

A side note: if you do indeed have a transformer rated meter, pulling the meter will not disconnect the power to your house.

Quote[ i am a contractor by trade and have a pretty good grasp[ on basic electricity. but while i was using my clamp on ammeter i put it over a white wire going to the bus bar and it read .7 amps.[quote]

I you live in the US and your wiring is up to code, the white wire is a neutral and not a ground wire. Neutrals carry current and 0.70 amps is not much. If you want to see if you are wasting energy, turn everything off. By off I do not mean turn the breakers off. "Unplug or turn off. Use the clip on meter and see if there is any current reading on the hot legs. If so, find out what it is. You can begin by then turning one breaker off at a time until the reading drops to zero. Find out what is on that circuit.

You would use the amp meter to check your appliances to see if any are using more than average....check the load on each circuit to see if any are drawing an unusual amount of juice...if so trace it out......Get an energy audit from your service provider if available,,if not get an electrician to do one....If you're living in a 6000 sqft house with 20 people, this would be a reasonable electric bill, everything is relative... Here's some suggestions from 'Smart Money' to cut your bill down....

http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/family-money/13-simple-ways-to-lower-your-electric-bill-22933/

Average OPERATING COSTS OF HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES

http://www.cornhusker-power.com/householdappliances.asp

Not knowing the wiring colours in use at this property, current flow in the neutral conductor is normal and should be equal and opposite to the vector sum of all phase currents. Current flow in the ground/earth conductor constitutes a fault, and needs immediate correction on safety grounds. If >30mA goes through a person, then shocks can be fatal. Many homes are protected in the first instance with a 100mA RCCD, particularly in areas where the supply is overhead and TT earthing arrangements are in place, followed by 30mA devices at the main distribution board on safety-critical circuits such as kitchen, bathroom and outdoors. If in doubt, get the installation checked-out by a qualified local Electrician as it will be money well spent on safety grounds, and make sure that all inspection certificates the Electrician issues in response are retained in the house maintenance records for the reference of any possible future owner-occupier. If the investigating Electrician recommends safety-based upgrades, make sure these are carried out in pursuit of those recommendations.

However, this is not the cause of high bills as others above have correctly pointed out.

Look for, in roughly this order:

• Opportunities to turn things off that are not needed to be energised and the training of others to do likewise. Look at individual circuits by turning off individual breakers at the distribution board and observing the effect on the adjacent meter. Where are the biggest loads? Has someone inadvertently left a 3kW heater on in the garage and not mentioned it (rhetorical question - NNTR)? Can showers be taken instead of baths (rhetorical question)? Does 500W of interior lighting get left on at night where a more modest plug-in night-light would be sufficient to meet the need for about 1W each (rhetorical question)?
• Opportunities to limit hot water storage equipment to 60degC maximum by adding or adjusting thermostats - hot enough to knock out any biology in the water yet not hot enough to scald at the mixer-shower were the cold to fail for any reason.
• Opportunities to lag hot water storage tanks with modern insulating jackets.
• Opportunities to add draught excluder tape to outside door and window openings.
• Opportunities to replace tungsten filament lighting with something a bit more post-1973 in concept, starting with the heaviest loads that are on for the longest time, working through the installation and appliances systematically to the lightest loads that are on for the least time, in sequence. Look at LED substitutes and CFLs as a priority, followed by halogen lamps as a second.
• Opportunities to fit timeswitches on heating and lighting appliances, passive infra-red detectors on outside lighting so it's only on when a person needs it, thermostats on all heating/cooling equipment, building and room occupancy detector switches, etc.
• Opportunities to add lagging above the ceilings above loft spaces to the maximum recommended for new building construction. In the UK, this would be typically 250mm depth of Rockwool (usual disclaimer). Make sure that all power cables present lie on top of the insulation after installation wherever possible.
• Opportunities to add secondary glazing to windows, possibly leading to whole-unit replacement with modern high thermal performance glass types in sympathy with the style of the building, though check beforehand where this opportunity lies in terms of planning applications with the Local Authority.
• Opportunities to add cavity wall insulation, depending on the style of construction of the building.
• Opportunities to change pre-1973-style heating equipment for more modern equipment such as condensing boilers.
• Opportunities to add solar water heating, possibly on a small, home-brew basis to start (CR4 reader Del the cat has documented a domestic installation on CR4, for example), with solar being the priority and imported power or fossil fuel being the second.
• Opportunities to add wind microgeneration with export potential.
• Opportunities to add solar photovoltaic collectors with export potential.

Do let the forum know of the outcome of these efforts.

Using clamp on meters could be a complete waste of time as the bill is based on what the electricity meter reads, not on the current drawn, though this is the intention.

Then as mentioned already, you need to fully understand what takes a lot of power, tumble dryers are a good example, and see how often and for how long they are used. My wife used so much dryer time that we had the bill of a family of 7 people - we are just two!!!

Also mentioned here is to somehow shut off all power to your fuse box, so that (theoretically anyway) there is no current drain, what does the meter do - should be dead still......assuming you have the style of meter with a revolving disk.....

If it is still moving, you need a good quality electrician and you need to get your meter tested for accuracy.

Several years ago, my bill was hitting $600.00/month. This was after an increase of my normal rate + all the fuel cost adjustments, fee's, etc. (which, BTW, are now usually higher than my basic bill).

Well, I'd had enough to get me checking where this was happening and found a number of things affecting it.

Phantom loads like wall warts not needed or could be switched off with a power strip.

I used to let my computer run 24-7.

My air conditioning was a major energy hog.

Too many lights left on when not in rooms.

So I started turning things off. Lights (contrary to popular belief) do not use extra energy on startup. At least not enough to notice.

I've been switching to CFL's and LED bulbs. With 59 bulbs in my house I was constantly replacing incandesent one's. (Catch the sales or closeouts)

Since we spent most of the time in one end of the house, I bought a small window unit and put it in one room and used a fan to blow the cool air into another room when needed. We set the whole house temp higher and turned it down as necessary.

I almost halved my electric bill and actually was more comfortable.

Eventually my whole house A/C went out and replacing it with a higher SEER unit reduced my bill to less than half my highest bill.

My bill is now reasonable. I have experimented with augmenting my house with Solar Panels and now ready to put about 2000 watts worth online. Take that TXU!

Actually, popular belief is correct!

So I started turning things off. Lights (contrary to popular belief) do not use extra energy on startup. At least not enough to notice.

But its a matter of the type of lighting, how long they are left on with nobody in the room and the cost of electricity. It is usually better to turn them off as forgetting and leaving them on for hours will not help your usage.

To demonstrate just how high a current can be, I had bought a new outside light some years ago with a PIR detector. When used with a modern CFL it would go wrong within 14 days from new. It was replaced by the company no problem.

14 days odd later, the new one went defective, this was also replaced.

Within a similar time frame that one was also defective and was also replaced. This one worked for many years with no problems as I replaced the CFL with a normal bulb (which also take an extra burst of current at switch on, but not as heavy as the energy saving CFL did, but took more running current......

The problem was that the Triac that had been used could not handle the spike at start-up of a very low current CFL.

So popular belief IS correct no matter what technology is used, LED bulbs also start-up with a relatively heavy spike unless extra circuitry has been placed in them to slow down the inrush of current. I am sure the cheap ones do not do that!!!

This high current pulse at switch-on is the reason behind the fact that ordinary bulbs usually blow then, not often while running and never at switch off!!!! Switch-on stresses the bulb the most as its filament is cold and at its lowest resistance, therefore highest current flow!!! A hot filament has a far higher resistance and a lower current usage.

I am told that fluorescent lights take a relatively higher current at switch-on, more than any other type of lighting (citation needed!)

I thought my comment "At least not enough to notice." was self explanatory.

Don't take my word for it look here for more info:

http://www.green-energy-efficient-homes.com/turn-off-lights.html

My lower bill is proof enough for me.

It is simply not true, almost anything drive by mains (and DC!!) electricity takes a larger pulse at switch-on, till everything is in "run mode" so to say, unless extra things have been included to reduce this pulse. Its not just lighting.

Electric motors, depending upon type and mechanical load generally take around 6 x normal running current at start-up, even 8 x can be measured in some installations.....

Anything having a mains transformer will be much the same as will capacitor charge after full wave rectification........

Here are some interesting website links which cover various aspects of so-called "in-rush current",

The website you mentioned is simply wrong, it appears to be written by someone with little or no knowledge of the true facts, sadly he is probably not alone.

Any normal/average electrical engineer or electrician will understand the true facts about in-rush current.

You can read and learn something at the following websites. The first link is truly excellent and covers the subject in an easy to understand and accurate manner covering most devices around that use mains:-

http://sound.westhost.com/articles/inrush.htm#s2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inrush_current_limiter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inrush_current

I wish you a great day, but do let me know if you find any difficulties with any of the websites I have posted, I am perfectly happy to help you further if needed. Just ask.

Wow 400 amp service at a residence? The only time I've seen that is for a home with a hobby shop with lots of machines, and a friends house where he was an Amateur Radio Operator and had tons of radios and BIG amplifiers that ran on 220 V AC.

Like others I've got to ask, WHY 400 AMP service???

In the US a white wire is neutral, you have electricity going in on the hot lead - Black - then you have power going in on the white lead and out on the black lead, then the power goes in on the white and out on the black! Sine wave!!!

This is for 110 V ac.

For 220 you have two black leads - each are 110 to neutral - 220 volts to each other.

So unless you are using 220V AC you should have the same amps on both the black and the white lead.

This what happens when you have a center tap transformer, and the center tap is at ground potential.

If you have amps on your ground ( a bare copper wire) at it is probably capacitance coupling.

All of this is normal!

The 400 amps seems high to me also for a Residential use. I would only wonder, since it is a large house, if it ever was once a multi-family or a rooming house to warrant that large a service. The one other thing that comes to my mind is do they charge you for a "Demand Charge"? That is often something Electric Utilities like to tack on to Industrial User's bills. They do that based on having to supply you with the "maximum" demand you might need over a given period and therefore need to provide for this "excess draw" capacity. Many meters have a little indicator that marks the highest draw you have for a certain duration and they base your "Demand Charge" on that. The meter reader is supposed to reset that indicator each time he/she reads the meter. I wouldn't think a 400 amp service would be subject to a demand charge but these days you never know.

You know, that is a very good point!

400A service for a residential user is very uncommon, so I wonder if an unintended consequence of someone getting it is that it comes with a Demand Meter! I know for a fact that a couple of people I know of who thought they were clever and got 3 phase brought into their house to power machine tools in the garage discovered that big surprise later when they saw the bill. It might be, as was suggested, that the consequence of a 400A service is that it automatically triggered a 'Commercial User' status and came with a Demand Meter!

you might want to check if your 400 amp service is "commercial" instead of residential' the difference in the rates is staggering

There should not be flowing any amps to ground....if so check al connections ....if other houses got the same problem the electricity suppliers must check the Neutral on the supply transformer of the area...the Neutral on the transformer could be loose and giving a problem

regards

Can anyone update us if these issues have been resolved

Hello,

My name is Marc Belanger, I am a licensed electrical contractor. The load difference in the neutral/ground is normal if the hot legs are showing half of this load. First off, let me explain what you have coming in from the street, then, from there, I will explain a bit if what happens to meter, etc.

The transformer near your home has 3 wires coming from it to power your home, it has 2 hot legs, and, it has the neutral. It actually comes from one very large coil that is split in two, the outer two connections being the hot legs , and the center tap called the neutral that allows the voltage to be split in half, 240 across the outside two, and from the outside to the center tap, 120 volts, so, anything that is being used in the home will return back to the neutral. The neutral inside of your panel, at the meter can, and at the pole of padmounted transformer have the neutral literally connected to ground so it is a "neutral", non invasive line that can be touched while live, as well, share the ground for safety purposes.

If when you read the ammeter and it said you had double the current the hot legs did draw, did you get .7 amps on the neutral and the ground, or just one of them? If they were not the same , it sounds as if you have a bad connection in the box.

Here is what I suggest if you did not get it fixed and your home bill is still ridiculously high. Test the incoming voltage with a meter. Test across the two large feeds very carefully with either rubber protective gloves and insulated tools of some sort, preferrably a ul listed meter with the correct protective equipment to eliminate electrocution.

You should get somewhere around 240 volts across the two hot legs. Now, using a screwdriver, insulated one, make sure the screws are tight and will not turn in any more. (do not touch anything with the other hand, especially the box while doing this, always keep one hand in your pocket to eliminate getting killed!)

Next, test across the neutral distribution block, which has all of the white wires connected to it and the hot legs. You should get 120 volts or close to this voltage. If you do not, make sure the screws are all tight, especially the very large white connection.

Retest if it was low and see if it is now up to voltage. Next, test across the green wires or bare wires and the hot leg, the voltage should also be 120 volts. If the neutrals and grounds are not connected to the same distribution block, they should be jumpered together as they are supposed to be connected to the same place. Make sure the incoming ground wire (large green or bare wire) is very tight.

If the load is hogging the ground wire instead of the neutral and the connections are tight, it means that you have a bad connection on the outside of your home most likely due to power company error, or, inside of your meter can on the outside of your home. This could be an error on the part of the installer who put the 400 amp service in.

This still would not make the bill go up because the voltage would drop and the amperage would climb, netting the same wattage (ohms/watts law), but, elec trical appliances, especially motors, well pumps, etc. will work harder to start, making the bill rise if you have a pool filter, jacuzzi, or anything that uses an inductive load(motor load) as the voltage being low would take longer for the motor to get up to speed since it lacks in torque , as well, many things would be going bad because of this, motors burning out, bulbs dying earlier, as well as many other things.

The neutral and ground being connected will do the following. The neutral acts as a return to complete all circuits in your home. The ground is supposed to only carry the imbalanced portion of the load, so, for instance, if you had a better connection or lower resistance on the ground, as it sounds like you do, the load will hog the ground instead of the neutral wire. If you have experienced an overload from short circuit and had too large of breaker, the neutral could be damaged, epecially if it was aluminum instead of copper. Electricians are notorious for knife cutting into the conductor by making a ring cut to take off the insulation. If they knick the aluminum, it greatly reduces the ampacity and will burn at the ring cut, even if it is 1/2 mm deep. Aluminum doesn't normally melt, it reduces into a powder and completely opens itself to eliminate the connection, resulting in one connection, which it does sound like your home is relying on the ground to operate as the return line which is not good because it may be a smaller conductor than the neutral since it is only designed to be used for the "imbalanced load". Here is how it does so. The load one day may be really high, and say the hot legs were balanced correctly and you had 50 amps on each one. The neutral should have 100 amps on it. Sometimes we have appliances with "partially" faulty components on them or they may have grounded circuitry in them , even connected internally incorrectly which will return through the ground instead of a neutral through your outlet. This is your imbalance which should be going through the ground circuit.

But, if the neutral had say 94 amps, there would be 6 amps missing, and those 6 should be carried by the ground.

It isn't normal to have a lot on the ground, as it is only designed for safety and fault current, but, when operating saws, drills, dishwashers, vacuums, or other components with motors, it is common to find the inductive loads compensated by the use of a capcitor and the capacitors are always connected to ground so the charged capacitor can not discharge to the user, and the cap does hold a pretty nasty charge that can be devastating, especially in microwave ovens, old televisions or crt monitors, etc.

Anyway, I could almost bet your load is either doing one of two things. The load in your home with all items shut off should be zero. Check this by shutting off all breakers one at a time until the load on the ammeter goes away. this will narrow it down to the circuit that is leaching the power. Then, figure it out appliance after appliance. There could be an attic or basement light or lights left on, maybe an attic vent fan, or, an arcing circuit.

It could cause a house fire, so, if the home didn't burn yet, check to be sure something isn't drawing in a manner it isn't supposed to, like an electric heater.

The other thing could be that a neighbor is stealing from an outdoor circuit. I have caught onto a neighbor doing this by disconnecting their neutral and installing an external ground to return their power to reduce their bill. This may be returning to your system instead of theirs, raising your bill instead of their own, especially if you have a grounded pool or wishing well, anything that would go back into your home's box and i metered in your box.

The other thing would be that you have a bad meter. This is very common, in fact, 1 of 10,000 meters melts down and burns if you already have a smartmeter. I have seen them burn homes and businesses down. They are also awful on electricity as they use your paid power to transmit usage signals at 2-3 am.

Anyway, I wish you luck if you didn't have it fixed already. I hope you have a simple connection problem that can be fixed, or better yet, maybe the power company is at fault and they will pay you back as they have funds for this, but, you may have to fight for it, even go to your state and complain.

Get killawatt meters and monitor your usage from the inside. Be smarter than them, killawatt meters are $20 and can save you thousands!

Regards,

Marc Belanger