I have been talking with Duquesne Light in Pittsburgh, PA about getting
3 phase to my commercial property. The field technician thinks I may
be entitled to 3 phase at no cost because of the commercial building.
However since I already have single phase service they "might" put up
the transformers for a 230 3 phase at no cost to me. I would have to
set a pole ~$600 + do the wiring. The only problem is that the 230 3
phase would not have a neutral. I could PAY for 120/208 3 phase but I
don't know the cost of that yet. So this additional service would only
be for 3 phase and I could not tap off to run my 110 outlets. I was
hoping to be able to save money and tie it all together with on bill
instead of having 2 different meters. I don't do a lot of 3 phase work
but it would be nice to have for my occasional need to run my Mill,
lathe, welder, compressor.
They indicated that I could not get 480 3-phase for some reason.
I don't want a huge bill every month and have read other stories where
people were charged a minimum per month for the utility to justify the
cost of installation.
Any thoughts would be appreciated on whether 120/208 would be more cost
effective than 230 3 phase? Most of my equipment is 230/480V
- posted
17 years ago