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In my house we get a low voltage shock when you touch metal with wet hands. We had a electrician in who told us it was a problem outside our house. He said it had to do with the transformer that fed power to our house. We called our electric company who told us that we need to do some thing inside the house. We did the back and forth a few times with the problem not solved. So we stopped. When the electrician was at our house he turned off the main that supplies power the house and went around the house with a voltage meter. He found and recorded voltage still coming though in the metal. This tells me that it is a grounding problem. Any ideas?

Thanks for all the info. I found notes that my husband had when he was doing the back and forth with the electrician and power company. This is what the electrician told us, 'the transformer ( on the pole outside of the house ) needed to be checked because voltage was coming through the ground'. The power company told us ' the lighting rods attached to the neutral needed to be moved'. That did NOTHING. What I would really like to know is this true? I am tired of the very high electric bills and this NEEDS to be fixed.

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    What was the electrician using as ground reference? I would call a different electrician.
    – Tyson
    May 25, 2016 at 1:15
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    To clarify, any qualified electrician should be able to solve a grounding/bonding issue.
    – Tyson
    May 25, 2016 at 1:23
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    You need a 2nd opinion from someone onsite -- this could be any number of things, and I can't exactly remotely tear open your house and see all the wires inside! May 25, 2016 at 2:15
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    What makes you think this is a grounding problem? How would you know? .... If anything this is a bonding issue, but I also suspect the issue is outside the house. It could even be a problem with a neighbor's electrical system as in an open neutral backfeeding voltage on your neutral. May 25, 2016 at 11:29
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    "I am tired of the very high electric bills and this NEEDS to be fixed." What has the problem you describe got to do with cost of energy?
    – Transistor
    May 30, 2016 at 22:42

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At this point it is a guessing game. So I am going to guess you don't have a very good earth ground and this has nothing to do with high electric bills. But you will need an experienced electrician to confirm this because it is very dangerous for an inexperience person to go poking things like this. In a case like this experience is worth the money.

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The connection to the ground rods is defective or the ground rods are too corroded to be of any use. The neutral coming in from the power company has voltage on it and is bonded to the ground wire in the house and at the same time the grounding is not effective. As Tyson says you need a different electrician. I would not trust your first electrician to work on this.

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    Ground rods have NOTHING to do with circuit current or preventing shocks. They also have nothing to do with clearing faults. It is not uncommon to have stray voltage on a perfectly installed ground rod. May 25, 2016 at 11:31
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    "Ground rods have NOTHING to do with ... preventing shocks." Yes they do. They hold the earth conductor and everything bonded or connected to it at or near earth potential to prevent shocks.
    – Transistor
    May 30, 2016 at 22:47
  • Thanks, but none of the info you gave really helped. I am still with a high electric bill because of a voltage back feeding though my house and no answers.
    – Karen
    Jun 9, 2016 at 15:23
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    Ground voltage should have no effect on your electric bill, as that's only measured based on the current in the hot wires, and voltage from hot to neutral. Jul 30, 2016 at 2:49
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    I agree, I think. Do you feel the low voltage shock when the main breaker is off? The electric meeter is only connected to the two hots that feed your panel not the neutral. If the shock does not go away when the main is off then the problem is before the panel or it's not associated with the metered power coming into the house.
    – Trout
    Sep 29, 2016 at 12:14

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