Cut your Electricity Bill in HALF

By on Oct 4, 2007 · 25 Comments 

Disclaimer: Like the video states, this is illegal is some states and countries.

Electric Meter Hack! How To Cut Your Electricity Bill In Half! – The best video clips are right here

Frank's the editor in chief of tech.nocr.at. He can be found surfing the internet and playing with gadgets. Follow him on twitter @franklinhares

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  • Illegal

    illegal in *some* countries? I think stealing electricity is illegal in every country

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  • odan

    Clearly someone thinks this works but it doesn’t.
    The magnet might stop the rotation of the dial as it spins counter-clockwise. It really doesn’t slow down by half , it might slow down only a fraction of that. Its really worthless to do, and you might end up with a fine worse then what you saved.

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    • Donkey 231

      As a meter tech we've all heard of that so we tried at work and it does not work at all which we kinda guessed because all meter disk are aluminum, But your right the fine for meter tampering is much more than you would ever save. But there is ways to slow your meter down legaly even the new meters whech have no disk at all because they are Digital, Remember Watts X Hours = Watts Hours so it would be E X I X PF = Watts X Hrs. = Watt Hrs. Kwh is what your billed for that's what you need to focus on, It all boils down to what kind of load are you using in your home , Remmber there are 3 types of load one is in the Power Company's faver the other 2 are in your faver. The other 2 types of load are the ones that will slow your meter down. Well that's all I have to say for now later.

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    • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/ampedrage ampedrage

      that would depend on the magnets your using

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  • BigRagoo

    Odan -
    Clearly you have never tried this and making statements about whether it ‘might’ work based on what you suspect serves no purpose.
    This does in fact work. I’ve done it myself. However it is difficult to find meters old enough that they still have magnets to “calibrate” the usage meter.
    Many years ago when I was young and stupid I did this and slowed the meter by at least 35%.
    My conscience (and fear of getting caught) suggested returning the magnet to it’s original position after a couple months validation of the concept..

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  • spiderwebby

    This is actually stupid. Yes the magnets will slow down your ancient meter, but the water and wire serves no purpose.
    Distilled water doesn’t conduct electricity and the magnets will not pick any up from the meter.

    Maybe if you placed coils either side you might be able to get a uA or two but they’d have to be some serious coils.

    Also, water + mains (even American 110v) is a damn stupid idea, distilled or not.

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  • raideo

    Or you could just get a couple pieces of either 10 or 8 ga. wire, remove the meter can and connect the matching leads, that would cut your electricity bill by 100%, and you would still get the same fines. But seriously this video is stupid and would only work on some of the more ancient meters.

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  • Thera

    This is dumb on every level. Even if it works they’ll see the thing on top of the meter and know there was tampering and probably charge a fee for that.

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  • http://www.winextra.com Bill V

    Modifying the meter won’t lower your bill…for long. Even if this worked on the old meters, besides being illegal pretty much everywhere, the utility company would notice the tampering or the drastic reduction in metered usage, and investigate. You think nobody ever thought of this before? They know what to watch for. They’ll figure it out, and most likely press charges and levee fines that are way more than the cost of the power you thieved.

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  • http://www.winextra.com Bill V

    I almost forgot…most larger utilities now average your bills, and only send someone out to look at the meter every few months. Too expensive to pay legions of ‘meter readers’ what with all those tech.nocr.at readers stealing power LOL

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  • Chad

    Most utility companies have wireless meters no. They simply drive by your house, and they have a wireless receiver in the truck and it’ll pick up and read all the meters on that street.

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  • M. Yass

    the music on this video was really gay. seriously.

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  • Andrew

    This IS illegal. It IS tampering. You will be caught. This is one of MANY dumb ways people try to steal power. We meter readers know what to look for. You WILL be charged a fine. Here it is a minimum fine of $100 AND we will back-bill you for the amount we think you stole.
    Here we read the meters every month. Not all places have the newer wireless meters. Even then we would investigate lower than normal usage.

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  • some other guy named frank

    I bet you can get better results by attaching an ac powered electromagnet to it. Attach it in the middle of the night for a hour or two.

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  • tanner

    This will never work! THIS VIDEO IS FAKE. None of this will do anything.
    That bill at the end was fake when have you seen an electric bill that has 4 numbers on it? lol to everyone who fell for this

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  • josh

    What is this song? It sounds very nice.

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  • Fill

    Lol. Distilled water? Magnets, and wire taped and then crammed inside the cup? I’m not going to say that I confirmed it doesn’t work, but it’s highly unlikely (a magnet just /might/ do something, but the rest is ridiculous). I’m a CpE/EE grad and I call BS on this.

    And, yes, services theft is illegal.. if it worked. ;’) More likely you’ll just give the meter guy a chuckle.

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  • Bub

    good luck with this on the new electronic meters. all we need is distilled water, a newt’s eye, a raven’s beak and lizard loogie… it’s proven to work.

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  • Ferahtsu

    There’s a much faster and easier way to STOP the dial. Of course you shouldn’t keep it stopped to avoid suspicion from your electric com. Just drill a little hole in the bottom with a glass drill bit. Make sure It’s aligned with the hole on the dial, the dial should have a hole. Then insert a thin metal rod through both holes. I’d recommend stopping it for less than half the day or overnight, just to avoid suspicion.

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    • Donkey 231

      There is ways to slow your meter down legally even the new meters which have no disk at all because they are Digital, Remember Watts X Hours = Watts Hours so it would be E X I X PF = Watts X Hrs. = Watt Hrs. Kwh is what your billed for that's what you need to focus on, It all boils down to what kind of load are you using in your home , Remember there are 3 types of load one is in the Power Company's favor the other 2 are in your favor. The other 2 types of load are the ones that will slow your meter down. That means slowing your meter down with no meter tampering, Well that's all I have to say for now later.

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  • http://brandonstgermaine.tumblr.com/ Brandon St. Germaine

    Couldn’t you just get some wires for 50 cents instead of ruining a power adapter?

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  • Rastapasta

    Somebody needs to learn how to use a knife. Anyways good luck to the morons stupid enough to think this works.

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  • Bob Dole

    @David Davidson – Well said. I think you sum this video up completely.

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  • Meter Tech Guy

    Remember there are things the Power Companys dont want you to know and what you dont know can hurt you, And what you learn will help you.

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