My sister complains of the following problems in her home: high electric bills even though heat is turned down. Intermittent power outages (no breaker trips) when the neighbors don’t experience them. Light bulbs burn out quickly, sometimes in a matter of days. House built in 1985.
My first guess was voltage between neutral and ground. She has had an electrician out who has found “nothing wrong”. What would you Doper Geniuses look for?
Oh, and I majored in Electrical Engineering in a former life and pretend to know what in the hell I’m doing. 
I’m going there this weekend, so I would like some tips as to what to look for. I grew up in this house, so AFAIK, only 1 breaker box, GFCI breakers (not outlets) in kitchens and baths, a long 200 yard plus entrance overhead from a rural road and then a buried 150’ cable to the breaker box. 200 amp service with dual electric heat+AC pumps for both floors.
Could anything cause the symptoms that she is complaining of?
What exactly is an intermittent power outage? Does all the power in the house go out or only half of it?
I’d start with looking at the voltage from both lines going into the house.
Good question. I would have to follow up with her. I had that one time in my house in FL when 1/2 of the 220 lead went out.. Then it turned out to be on the power company’s side. Where would this be? At the entrance box, or the house breaker box?
First of all, look at the meter.
Is it spinning wildly? If so, figure out what’s causing the power draw by shutting off breakers one at a time.
Will do. I don’t think that it would be spinning “wildly.” She’s talking about a $900 bill when it should be $500ish…is that “wildly”?
Why “should” it be $500?
Does she have a good handle on her electric loads? HVAC, Dryer, Washer, Space heaters, Water Heater, Hydroponic Garden lighting (oops..), etc.
Does she have historical usage data? The power company can usually provide.
From what she tells me, it is historically around 5-6 hundred with this weather (it’s been a very warm December and last year’s cold December was “only” 670) and she looked at her past bills and my Mom's past bills (looking at usage not amounts).
The thing that she keeps coming back to is the light bulb issue. She buys cheap then expensive bulbs, and no matter what, they blow out in a few days/ a week at the most. I know, I know “fucking customers” 
But does any of that make sense?
Sounds like her voltage might be too high (which would increase her bill, but not by 2x). What does her voltage measure on each leg? Should be around 110V.
I don’t know about your area, but electricity in some areas of the country has gone up rather significantly in the past couple of years. Try to compare actual kwh use if you can so that you’re not doing an apples to oranges comparison.
If the actual usage is increasing, a problem with one of the heat pumps could be to blame. Might be worth a service call to have them checked out.
If you are handy with a voltmeter, check the voltage where it comes into the breaker box. The voltage from either line to neutral should be pretty close to each other. If you’ve got a floating neutral, the typical symptom is that the voltages become unbalanced, so you’ll measure things like 100/140 instead of 120/120. Also, check with your local power company about what they guarantee for voltages. I think most do +/- 5 percent these days. If it’s high but still within what the power company guarantees, it may cause bulbs to blow a bit more often but technically isn’t a problem (though even then having bulbs blow every few days is more than a little excessive).
Watch the lights for a while, especially when things like the fridge or the heat kick on and off. Something might be starting to fail (dried out capacitors or something) and might be throwing out a large spike when it turns on or off. You may be able to see the lights flicker when this happens. If the lights are flickering a lot when there isn’t anything turning on or off then it might be a problem on the power company’s side of things. Sometimes their switch gear and other equipment goes bad too.
If she has an electric dryer you can test the voltage of both lines by measuring it at that receptacle with a volt meter.
could be anywhere to the utility at the transformer to into your beaker box. outdoor connections take a beating, exposed to temperature swings, moisture, wind and whatever.
Yes, take a look at the incoming voltage, should be closer to120 than 110. When we move here, we had about 125 volts and lightbulbs were short lived. Eventually the power transformer blew and the new one put out closer to 120. The power flickering will kill everything, not just light bulbs, but motors too.
if the voltage is on the high end and within specs then heavy duty incandescent bulbs might be worth it.
Look for loose/dirty/corroded/overheated connections at terminals and splices. The voltage is more likely to be low than high. As far as the high bills, turn off all loads then observe the meter.
is the meter on the house? what is the distance between the meter and house if not?
The meter is on the entrance pole…That was the 150’ distance from the house that I described.
I will be up there next week. Thanks for all of the advice. I’ll let you know how it goes…
Assuming there really is something wrong, and it’s not all in her head, I’d say get another electrician. Everything we are suggesting here should be in a reputable electrician’s bag of tricks.