If you don't NEEED three phase, don't install it. The metering is more complex, there are 3 transformers, and the basic monthly bill is probably more expensive as they pass their costs of the complexity on to you.
Someone wrote about the "Demand Meter" with the peak indicator, and I wanted to clear up one thing that was said. Demand meters usually work on a 15 or 50 (and rarely 60) minute period. If you exceed the highest peak of use during any of these periods, your billing rate ratchets up. This rate remains for a period, sometimes as long as 13 months, during which your per KWH charge is higher. It does not cause you to be billed the same total amount whether or not you use it- it only affects the RATE. These are called demand charges and supposedly go to offset the cost of the extra cost they incurred to handle your little spike. I used to be the lead Field Engineer for a company that specialized in reading the meter pulses and predicting the demand minute by minute so that the system could shed load in order to keep from hitting a new 30 minute demand. It was really amazing- I could set the demand limit and then watch as it cycled fans, compressors, lights and other energy users to keep that demand down. We even built a box that controlled the load on big A/C chillers, which basically turned the water temperature up a degree or so until the prediction went down. This gear was in large buildings: hospitals, schools, factories, arenas, etc. The worst case I ever saw (or the easiest one to sell) was a Hercules plant in Louisiana, where a single peak overage cost them 0ne million dollars over the next 13 months! Ralph From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Robert West Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2010 11:32 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] Electrical Question....... Putting together a new NOC. The new NOC is in an older warehouse and we ripped out ALL the crazy wiring and the multiple electrical panels. Total gut job. Installed a single phase electrical panel for the retail and service area in the front but we have three phase coming into the building. Electrician uncle Dude, 80+ years, tells me that three phase protects against power surges since it adds another transformer. My question is, would installing a three phase panel for the NOC be a proactive thing? Advantageous against the great lightning and idiotic power company Godz? (GODZ Rock And Roll Machine) Old location was all three phase and we never had one lick of trouble Not one. Would this be the reason or would it be just a stroke of luck, one that didn't involve the lottery.. Figures. Bob-
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