By upping the voltage to your business or residence, your utility company can reach into YOUR wallet, and increase its revenues, decrease the life of your appliances, and cause you to replace incandescent lights long before their rated life.
A Florida Power & Light employee reported that we were at the head of the grid, and a shopping center, miles away, was at the end. We complained when our voltage soared past 132 volts one thunderstorm filled night, After talking to someone in "overhead," and hearing a crackling reply through the phone by some other person, conversing with the gentleman I was speaking with, the man talking to me replied with a chuckle: "Someone forgot to put the regulators back on line."
I didn't find this amusing, because FP & L was protecting its valuable equipment, at the expense of their customers and their customer's homeowner's polices..... if they were covered for excessive voltage, or if the consumer even knew that the fault of his blown appliance or electronic equipment was due to Florida Power & Light.
But let s get back to this voltage thing. The people and stores at the end of the grid are receiving 115 volts, according to the person I spoke with. This means that they pay less for power, their light bulbs last longer, and their appliances last longer, because of less heating caused by excessive current.
POWER = Voltage (V), multiplied by the Current in Amps (I).
A person living at the end of the grid, and has a "drop" voltage to his home of 115 volts per leg, pays for 100 watts for a 100 watt, 115 volt filament type light bulb. But the person living at the head end of the grid, who receives 125 volts per leg on the "drop" to his house, PAYS ALMOST 20% MORE ON HIS ELECTRIC BILL, in addition to having to replace blown light bulbs!
Thu$, the utility can grab a little extra income, simply by Rai$ing the Voltage on it$ grid.
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