Could Your Apartment Be Leaking Electricity?

The short answer is No. Every now and then, I get a phone call from a tenant complaining that his electric bill is higher than it should be because the wiring in his apartment is ‘leaking electricity.’ (Don’t laugh. I get phone calls like this fairly regularly.) I tell people who talk this way that electricity doesn’t work that way. Electricity cannot ooze out of the wiring in your walls. I suppose that some people think about electricity the same way they do about other 2 major utilities that come into their homes: natural gas and water. A sudden spike in your gas or water bill could be due to a leaky pipe. (That usually isn’t the reason, but it could be.) However, electricity doesn’t ‘leak.’ The sheathing around electrical wiring isn’t there to prevent the electricity from escaping. Electrical wire sheathing is to prevent short circuiting, electric shock, and fires. If your electric bill seems suspiciously high, the first thing to do is analyze your PG&E bill. Pacific Gas & Electric bills combine gas and electric charges together on one statement. If your PG&E bill has suddenly gone up, you first need to figure out whether it is due to an increase in your gas or electricity usage or the rate. If you have gas heat in your home, a big change in your PG&E bill is usually due to increased gas use for heating in winter.