Most growers? That’s a load of crap. A small minority of growers? Sure. Most growers are pretty small scale individuals who can harvest plenty with 2k watts or less, which is hardly some giant power surge. A 2k watt setup could harvest around 4.5 pounds a harvest (if they can attain a gram a watt, which is a pretty good yield). if that can be done on a perpetual harvest system and get that yield every 2 months, that’s 27 pounds a year. If a pound retails for around $4,000 that potentially over $100k a year. Big enough to be extremely profitable but not enough to be completely noticed.
A $13k a month power bill is absolutely the extreme end of things. A 1000 watt light at a high rate of 15 cents a kilowatt hour comes to around $120 a month, and that’s running the light 24 hours a day. To have a $13k power bill that would come to the equivalent of 108 1000 watt lights. Maybe a mere 70 or so when other equipment is factored in.
15 cents a kilowatt is pretty low for most of California. California is one of the few power markets that make solar on the grid a viable option.