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Is it legal in US to use electricity at home for business purposes? In some countries that's against contract with electricity provider, as they have different

Is it legal in US to use electricity at home for business purposes? In some countries that's against contract with electricity provider, as they have different tariffs for business.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Faaak 8y ago
In general business tariffs are lower, so I don't see the problem.
- dufferzone 8y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYf_TBLnPQE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYf_TBLnPQE
- hmd_imputer 8y ago
  nope, not in Europe. Businesses have to pay a lot more than private residences.
  - denimnerd 8y ago
    same in US..
    - hmd_imputer 8y ago
      I would guess so. However, the original comment I replied claimed that businesses pay even less than private citizens.
  - Faaak 8y ago
    It is the case in France and Switzerland, at least.
gambiting 8y ago
Even in the regulation-stricken UK, it's fully legal to work from your private home (so called "clerical" work). And fyi, something being against the contract is not automatically illegal.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  Leaseholds often excludes business activities as does home insurance.
  - gambiting 8y ago
    Yes, you can't register a company at your home address, but no one will ever deny you coverage if you do clerical work at home. At least every single insurance and rental I had in UK had a special provision for this - if you need to stay at home and work remotely, that's 100% covered. It just can't be your principal place of work.
    - masklinn 8y ago
      > It just can't be your principal place of work. Does that mean it doesn't allow 100% remote work (where you always work from home but are an employee)?
      - gambiting 8y ago
        That's where it becomes fuzzy and no contract in the world will define this precisely.
    - thaumasiotes 8y ago
      What kind of insurance are you talking about here? Wouldn't increased presence in the home make any mishaps less likely?
      - gambiting 8y ago
        Contents & Home insurance - and I guess yes and no. Probably lowers the chance of theft claims, but increases slightly the chance of fire damage and accidental damage to contents. Don't have the actual data to back this up though.
hmd_imputer 8y ago
the lack of strict regulations is one of the reasons start-up businesses flourish in the US. Although I am pro-regulation in some issues, I think that European style pain-in-the-ass regulations only hinder technological advancement. Would UBER ever be successful in Europe? Nope.
- shp0ngle 8y ago
  ...uber is successful in Europe. There are cities that banned it, but there are as many that didn't. Conversely, Uber is not very successful in South-East Asia, but not for the abundance of regulation but for the lack of it - Grab, a local copy-paste of Uber, has become so dominant that Uber had to leave most of the markets there
  - hmd_imputer 8y ago
    yeap, the ones who didn't ban are the ones who didn't apply all these useless strict regulations. In Germany, it is still not possible to take an Uber ride, for example. Besides, if it started in Europe as a small start-up it would be killed right away with tons of regulations anyways. So the only reason that you have Uber in Europe is that it has become a giant company in the US, due fertile environment, and thus could afford all these legal battles to enter the market. South-East Asia is a different story. It has nothing to do with regulations at all. It is just a completely different mindset there. The fact is though, businesses in those countries can easily flourish as well.
    - 131012 8y ago
      And they make a lot of direct lobbying toward local government to make sure they don't enforce existing taxi laws.
      - hmd_imputer 8y ago
        which they should, don't you think? sometimes being disruptive is the only way to go.
Cthulhu_ 8y ago
Gray area I'm sure, in this case, the electrical company wouldn't know. Is it legal in the US to use regular cars for taxi purposes? Operating a taxi without a taxi license? Operating a hotel without a hotel license? It's companies like these, and uber, and airb&b, etc that skirt around the laws.
ptero 8y ago
Even if so, I doubt electric company would ever call anyone on that -- that would just be inviting black PR: "you burn coal, and prohibit charging our eco-friendly scooters", "go fix ingesting my solar power into your system first", etc. -- possibly not completely correct, but painful still. Plus, an electric company might love this: more customers, with demand at off-peak hours that might even slightly reduce the need for energy storage.

Is it legal in US to use electricity at home for business purposes? In some countries that's against contract with electricity provider, as they have different tariffs for business.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Faaak 8y ago

In general business tariffs are lower, so I don't see the problem.

dufferzone 8y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYf_TBLnPQE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYf_TBLnPQE
hmd_imputer 8y ago
nope, not in Europe. Businesses have to pay a lot more than private residences.
- denimnerd 8y ago
  same in US..
  - hmd_imputer 8y ago
    I would guess so. However, the original comment I replied claimed that businesses pay even less than private citizens.
- Faaak 8y ago
  It is the case in France and Switzerland, at least.

gambiting 8y ago

Even in the regulation-stricken UK, it's fully legal to work from your private home (so called "clerical" work). And fyi, something being against the contract is not automatically illegal.

pbhjpbhj 8y ago
Leaseholds often excludes business activities as does home insurance.
- gambiting 8y ago
  Yes, you can't register a company at your home address, but no one will ever deny you coverage if you do clerical work at home. At least every single insurance and rental I had in UK had a special provision for this - if you need to stay at home and work remotely, that's 100% covered. It just can't be your principal place of work.
  - masklinn 8y ago
    > It just can't be your principal place of work. Does that mean it doesn't allow 100% remote work (where you always work from home but are an employee)?
    - gambiting 8y ago
      That's where it becomes fuzzy and no contract in the world will define this precisely.
  - thaumasiotes 8y ago
    What kind of insurance are you talking about here? Wouldn't increased presence in the home make any mishaps less likely?
    - gambiting 8y ago
      Contents & Home insurance - and I guess yes and no. Probably lowers the chance of theft claims, but increases slightly the chance of fire damage and accidental damage to contents. Don't have the actual data to back this up though.

hmd_imputer 8y ago

the lack of strict regulations is one of the reasons start-up businesses flourish in the US. Although I am pro-regulation in some issues, I think that European style pain-in-the-ass regulations only hinder technological advancement. Would UBER ever be successful in Europe? Nope.

shp0ngle 8y ago
...uber is successful in Europe. There are cities that banned it, but there are as many that didn't. Conversely, Uber is not very successful in South-East Asia, but not for the abundance of regulation but for the lack of it - Grab, a local copy-paste of Uber, has become so dominant that Uber had to leave most of the markets there
- hmd_imputer 8y ago
  yeap, the ones who didn't ban are the ones who didn't apply all these useless strict regulations. In Germany, it is still not possible to take an Uber ride, for example. Besides, if it started in Europe as a small start-up it would be killed right away with tons of regulations anyways. So the only reason that you have Uber in Europe is that it has become a giant company in the US, due fertile environment, and thus could afford all these legal battles to enter the market. South-East Asia is a different story. It has nothing to do with regulations at all. It is just a completely different mindset there. The fact is though, businesses in those countries can easily flourish as well.
  - 131012 8y ago
    And they make a lot of direct lobbying toward local government to make sure they don't enforce existing taxi laws.
    - hmd_imputer 8y ago
      which they should, don't you think? sometimes being disruptive is the only way to go.

Cthulhu_ 8y ago

Gray area I'm sure, in this case, the electrical company wouldn't know. Is it legal in the US to use regular cars for taxi purposes? Operating a taxi without a taxi license? Operating a hotel without a hotel license? It's companies like these, and uber, and airb&b, etc that skirt around the laws.

ptero 8y ago

Even if so, I doubt electric company would ever call anyone on that -- that would just be inviting black PR: "you burn coal, and prohibit charging our eco-friendly scooters", "go fix ingesting my solar power into your system first", etc. -- possibly not completely correct, but painful still. Plus, an electric company might love this: more customers, with demand at off-peak hours that might even slightly reduce the need for energy storage.