Electricity costs money.

[Yeti]

My power meter is digital, I don't think a magnet would stop the digits from accumulating. Even modern analog meters are tamper-proof and would require a huge magnetic field. Plus, I've heard they measure the power use of your section at the power plant, too, so any big discrepancy would surely ring some alarm bells.

Have you actually tried using a magnet? I heard that it worked some 50 years ago, but no chance today. However, I would be surprised if the meter spun faster to "make up" for the unmetered electricity. It's not like the disc has a memory how long it has been held back.

[legitnick]

My parents only pay a fraction of the electric bill for the entire apartment complex.

[Mousepotato]

Ya I ran the numbers about a month ago, and I have decently priced electricity and it would have been about 2 months to payoff the machines if the prices stay constant and we see constant increases in difficulty

You think that's bad?  Back when one could mine hundreds or thousands of Bitcoins per DAY, you'd be looking at a payoff of around 25-30 YEARS if at all.  Now mining is more profitable than ever (save for the fluke spike back in June).

[Huesos]

My power meter is digital, I don't think a magnet would stop the digits from accumulating. Even modern analog meters are tamper-proof and would require a huge magnetic field. Plus, I've heard they measure the power use of your section at the power plant, too, so any big discrepancy would surely ring some alarm bells.

Have you actually tried using a magnet? I heard that it worked some 50 years ago, but no chance today. However, I would be surprised if the meter spun faster to "make up" for the unmetered electricity. It's not like the disc has a memory how long it has been held back.

I guess you're right I just never really looked into it and I think I read that tip in Abbie Hoffman's book Steal this book nobody really answered my question until now

[kano]

My computer is on 24/7 regardless, and while the mining will use abit of extra power.

It will not be anything substantial.  That's all I have to think about regarding it.

Hmm - I guess your mining very low Mh/s or CPU mining.
GPU mining makes you power usage jump dramatically above non-mining levels with useful Mh/s values ...

[willphase]

My computer is on 24/7 regardless, and while the mining will use abit of extra power.

It will not be anything substantial.  That's all I have to think about regarding it.

Hmm - I guess your mining very low Mh/s or CPU mining.
GPU mining makes you power usage jump dramatically above non-mining levels with useful Mh/s values ...

this is correct.  Not mining I use maybe 80W, mining it goes up to 380W.  This is 2x5870s

Will