yikes! Forget the Hawaiian ban, these smart meters are going to be the death of this hobby :cry:

Please tell me you don't mean $870 in ONE MONTH?

I'm sort of confused how that's even possible unless rates change. I mean, usage is usage .. no? Although with that said, I find the utility companies always find a way to get you at first. For example I just signed up for a lower rate and to compensate for that they billed me at almost twice the normal billing period so I still had to fork over a sizable chunk of cash. That said the next bill should be pretty nice! Hope so for you too. I just don't see how that they could even try to get away with such an increase unless they claim your usage has gone up (or your rates). :neutral: Good luck!

That's for my normal billing cycle (2 months)

I don't understand it either, when they switched from the analog to digital (before the smart meter) my next bill was more than double and nothing had changed in the house, I even bought one of those plug in meters that you plug your stuff into to calculate usage, spent months tracking just about everything in the house looking for something that was sucking more power than it was supposed too and spent a fortune switching all my light bulbs to power compacts and LED, I wouldn't be so concerned if I was spending time in the shop or something, but I haven't done anything in the shop since October. Hopefully it's a glitch with the meter ( or meter reader) and it balances out with the next bill.

I wouldn't wait for the next bill, personally I'd be on the phone asap!!

Spent an hour on the phone this afternoon, they claim everything looks normal, I will check the numbers on the meter to compare against the bill tomorrow.

Good lord, that is for a fowlr, imagine what cost would be for a full reef. I hope it is a mistake by them

My guess is the heaters, even with the tank and sump covered I still need to heat 900 gallons (on this tank alone) and then there is another 500 gal between the other two.

Is the new meters billing by the hour now? Different rates for different times of the day?

My last bill (power and water) was $550.00 usually it's $340.00 and that's just for one month :sad: power was at 15 cents per kwh :eek: I've switched to enmax (starts next month) which is 8 cents per kwh so my bill should be less.

I'd be out of the hobby asap if my bills were ever anywhere near that high.

We switched to that Enmax EasyMax thingy right when I powered up the new tank to lock in at a decent rate. I'm not really in charge of bills but my wife told me she barely saw any difference in our consumption since so it must be working in our favour.

I've had at least 1 tank running continuous for the last 32 years, might consider downsizing if the next bill is this high, we are a 1 income family and I am off recovering from elbow surgery for at least another month, family first and they just might be having Unicorn Tang sandwiches for lunch!

For those of you who don't know about the stupid meters in BC (I am visiting here right now, and just learned), they are called "Smart" meters. The basic concept is they charge you on a 2 tier system - they charge your more during YOUR INDIVIDUAL PEAK usage times, and less during your off times.

This is so pathetic, because even if you use the most energy at 2:00am (cheap energy for the company to produce), they will charge you at your peak rate.

I am so glad this isnt in Calgary...

Also, bills here are done on a 2 month cycle - but that is still $450 / month (not including water, garbage, sewer, recycling).... shiiieettt!!!!!!!!

I hope you keep this bad boy going - not to often you see people with kahunas big enough to pull it off!

Good luck!

What cuz said! I'm still on the old analog meter but my last bill was 3 times higher than normal due to the meter reading person making an error! I checked the numbers & it didn't look right. Used the BC Hydro web page to email my concern, but no response next day so I got on the phone. They were actually quite helpful, had me go out to the meter and give them the numbers over the phone. Adjusted my bill & sent a new one electronically within 24 hours.

I posted about this on page 2 of this thread, but never got around to posting the resolution to the issue so I thought I'd do it here. Get on the phone man:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...t=82550&page=2

I would suggest you try to heat the room as best as possible to keep it around 78 degrees. Generally, large heaters (like furnaces) are much cheaper to run than small heaters (like aquarium heaters). Things like large air pumps and dehumidifiers can be much more energy efficient than aquarium heaters, and put out a lot of heat into the room.

For example, you could use a large air pump like a Coralife Super Luft 65 which uses 66 watts and has more than enough gusto to mix your large saltwater mixing tubs and it would heat a small room quite well too. I'm not sure how you have everything set up though, maybe heating the room isn't an option.

You mean you are so glad they are not in Calgary, yet!!! I am sure we all will have one someday.

What is this power and water bill you people speak of?:razz:

Im gratefull for utilities included clause

I loved this tank. It was so epic and I lived the dream of having a giant FOWLR vicariously through you.. :(

I still love it, but no matter what I do to it now it will never be what it once was, kinda depressing to see it without the big angels, fish of that quality and size are nearly impossible to find. I considered switching it to fresh water and getting some nice large koi or something but im just not seeing it.

It's the end of an era. Sorry things didn't work out for you.

So was this shut down because of the hydro consumption or did I miss something here?

Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express

I'm confused too.. I thought the tank was still running? No?

Not shut down, it's still running, just looks pathetic with only 2 clownfish and a sailfin tank swimming around, cost to replace the large angels is not feasible right now, time for it to find a new home.

:sad:

Sorry to hear. One of my all time favorite tanks