On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 13:42:19 +0000, the renowned Paul Burridge
wrote:

The power company run a line to my house. They supply me with
electricity. This amounts to a 230V, 65A facility at the distribution
board in a cupboard under the stairs. I run all my stuff from that
board. The board contains several RCBOs that trip-out in the event of
any leakage current being sensed. If current in = current out; they're
happy and won't trip. Because they don't trip out, I conclude I don't
use any current.

No, you don't use hardly any leakage current to earth (RCD), and you
don't use more than the maximum trip current between lines (MCB). An
RCBO is an MCB + RCD, to use the Brit terms.

The voltage supplied is 230VAC RMS. Since this is alternating between
equal positive and negative half-cycles, the average level of this
voltage supply is zero.

But the RMS value is 230VAC.

I use no current and they effectively supply no voltage. Why do I get
billed for electricity usage when I clearly can't have used any?

Why don't you ring up the power company engineers and see if you can
get them to see things your way? Could save a lot of money.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
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