high ac voltage destrucive or not?

Sean - You say that the power company may rectify the situation. You mean they will convert him to DC? ;^)

All AC voltmeters read the rms value of a sine wave, so unless you have seriously corrupted AC coming into your house the reading is accurate.

thanks for all your responses, will power conditioners decreasde the current to 120, it seems the powervar keeps it constant, is this a defect or part and parcel of the same problem.

Nice one, Elgordo! Hysterical!!!

If you have tube equipment, the higher voltage can place your biased tubes close to their operational limits and some of the capacitors can also be at risk. Normally, I would say "don't worry too much" but you willo certainly experience a bit of lessened life expectancy with tubes. Similar to light bulbs, the turn on surges are the most difficult to handle and I would imagine that in your home, lioght bulbs last a bit less than normal. Excessive low voltages can cause simialr difficulties,making motors in fridges and other major appliances work outside of their peak efficiency range. Normally, things are designed to work with about a +/- 10% from ideal rated voltages.