I've learned to take notice of older houses in this area that have a duplex meter base, with one base blanked out. Years ago, the PoCo would give you a seperate meter for your water heater to compete with natural gas. After this fad faded away, many homes were left with duplex meterbases, the W.H. meter being fed from a double-lugged conductor off the load side of the main meter. Which looks terrible... It looks "right" when the W.H. meter is being fed from the second set of lugs on the line side, as designed... but then the water heater is by-passing the main meter and power is getting consumed for free. It's also hot when the main CB or fuse is open, so it's something to look out for.
Don't know if it relates to this situation or not, but it's interesting nonetheless...
