Why is electric demand and kwh not same for 2 electric meter consuming same amount of electricity?

Someone said an earlier question was in the running for the most confusing problem of the month. Yours is too.

Just because you've tied them together doesn't mean the actual demand is equal on each input. Electricity follows the path of least resistance, and that may not be equal on each path. But seriously, you shouldn't be doing this.

1. You should not be doing this. It presents a life safety hazard to anyone who might be called in to work on the system and dependin how you made those conections, might allow a feeder to be overloaded. 2. You have created a net with two metered sources, multiple variable loads, and varying resistances between them. Resistance will change how current flows. It would be odd indeed if those meters both passed the same amount of power. IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW THIS YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS MODIFYING A POWER SYSTEM.

Just because you've tied them together doesn't mean the actual demand is equal on each input. Electricity follows the path of least resistance, and that may not be equal on each path. But seriously, you shouldn't be doing this.

Someone said an earlier question was in the running for the most confusing problem of the month. Yours is too.

Aside from the already admitted stupidity and danger if work is attempted on one of the cross connected panels without getting all the other connections off, I don't see anything in that mess of details that says that there is absolutely no other use of electricity off of the meters by anything else in the building. Nobody is turning on and off the lights in the bathroom or running the copier in the front office. No automatic lighting equipment or sump pump is adding to the load. Any of those would make the two meters different. In fact, unless the feeds to the two meters are bonded just outside the building - which is often the case - there may be differences in the feed voltage to each meter depending on the load of the supply lines from other companies. One may be at 209 volts and the other at 207 or even a greater difference. And what is your load that is taking the wattage? Is it inductive? How does the inductive load interact with the wiring you have done? Are there phase changes surging through the loops and interconnections, affecting other equipment?

I don't trust the Power Company either, but I know they're way smarter than I am. Your service drops are probably 1-0. The subfeeders are probably smaller and of different length. Unless you tied the subpanels with 1-0, your resistance will be different. (and your current draw will differ) There are inductive watt meters that you can attach to your service drop to verify meter accuracy (the power company uses them when they suspect diversion, and yes they are pricey) Your power company will usually test your meters on request if you suspect overcharge. Good Luck PS: Bare in mind that the resistance of 1-0 is 1000 times less than AWG#12. (1-0=.000098ohms/ft. #12=.00158ohms/ft) If you can use Kirchoff's Laws, you would have to measure the exact length of each different wire gauge from each separate source.

Aside from the already admitted stupidity and danger if work is attempted on one of the cross connected panels without getting all the other connections off, I don't see anything in that mess of details that says that there is absolutely no other use of electricity off of the meters by anything else in the building. Nobody is turning on and off the lights in the bathroom or running the copier in the front office. No automatic lighting equipment or sump pump is adding to the load. Any of those would make the two meters different. In fact, unless the feeds to the two meters are bonded just outside the building - which is often the case - there may be differences in the feed voltage to each meter depending on the load of the supply lines from other companies. One may be at 209 volts and the other at 207 or even a greater difference. And what is your load that is taking the wattage? Is it inductive? How does the inductive load interact with the wiring you have done? Are there phase changes surging through the loops and interconnections, affecting other equipment?

I don't trust the Power Company either, but I know they're way smarter than I am. Your service drops are probably 1-0. The subfeeders are probably smaller and of different length. Unless you tied the subpanels with 1-0, your resistance will be different. (and your current draw will differ) There are inductive watt meters that you can attach to your service drop to verify meter accuracy (the power company uses them when they suspect diversion, and yes they are pricey) Your power company will usually test your meters on request if you suspect overcharge. Good Luck PS: Bare in mind that the resistance of 1-0 is 1000 times less than AWG#12. (1-0=.000098ohms/ft. #12=.00158ohms/ft) If you can use Kirchoff's Laws, you would have to measure the exact length of each different wire gauge from each separate source.