Electric costs - RV-Dreams Community Forum

granny · RV-Dreams Family Member

Electric costs

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

As a general guide, use $100. Really depends on the weather.

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

$100 is probably pretty reasonable. With our 42' two AC 5er when we run both ACs in hot weather in south TX we run about $125/month. Otherwise, we run under $100.

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Fred gave you a good average.It really depends where you are.In Florida we paid 15 cents per kwh,Arizona we paid 11 cents per kwh and here in Oregon we are currently paying 5 cents per kwh.Florida was in the winter and averaged $75.00 where Arizona was late spring and was $110.00.You will rarely find a rate like we have in Oregon so I would not even consider it in the average.

-- Edited by Racerguy on Saturday 20th of August 2011 03:07:27 PM

granny · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for the help. We were using $100 for the budget. The woman at the RV park she has seen $20 bills up to $100. I like to figure high and then if it is low, we got a bonus!!

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just as a FYI and not meant to discourage anyone, but the temperatures are going to be a big factor. We are now full time in our Mobile Suites in Oklahoma City where the temps this years have been high. We have tied the record for number of days for the year that are over 100 degrees, and we still have 10 days left in August..

Our electric bills for the last two months have been $218 and $200. We try to keep lights at a minimum, the TV isn't watched very much and we are not shaded very well from trees. We do have a washer and dryer, so with several loads per week, the dryer is probably a considerable electric consumer as well as the two 15K air conditioners and two Hunter oscillating fans.

I'll be so glad when September and October get here.

Terry

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

I was going to mention that $100 seemed a little low to me, especially with temperatures sky high this year across most of the country. Air conditioning in the summer and space heaters in the winter will make a huge difference in electric bills. We prefer parks that don't meter electric, but they are getting harder to find, but not impossible.

IWantaCampMore · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo wrote:
Just as a FYI and not meant to discourage anyone, but the temperatures are going to be a big factor. We are now full time in our Mobile Suites in Oklahoma City where the temps this years have been high. We have tied the record for number of days for the year that are over 100 degrees, and we still have 10 days left in August..
Our electric bills for the last two months have been $218 and $200. We try to keep lights at a minimum, the TV isn't watched very much and we are not shaded very well from trees. We do have a washer and dryer, so with several loads per week, the dryer is probably a considerable electric consumer as well as the two 15K air conditioners and two Hunter oscillating fans.
I'll be so glad when September and October get here.
Terry

Terry, could you expand on the 200.00 elec. bill? What is the cost per Kilowatt hour?

granny · RV-Dreams Family Member

NorCal Dan wrote:
I was going to mention that $100 seemed a little low to me, especially with temperatures sky high this year across most of the country. Air conditioning in the summer and space heaters in the winter will make a huge difference in electric bills. We prefer parks that don't meter electric, but they are getting harder to find, but not impossible.

What do you mean, parks that don't meter electric?

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

granny wrote:
What do you mean, parks that don't meter electric?

Most campgrounds only meter the monthly sites and those that mostly cater to overnighters do not have meters on any campsites. They charge enough to cover the electricity. We have also stayed in places with meters, but the meter is to charge the owner of the campsite while we paid a flat fee.

An example is Gulf Waters in Fort Myers Beach, FL, where each campsite is privately owned. The campground collects a flat fee when the campsite is rented, the owner gets about 80% of the fee and the owner pays the electricity and all utilities. Talking to owners in winter the electricity runs $75 to $150 per month depending on the renter. But in summer the electric costs are $300 to $400 per month since you need air conditioning day and night.

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

There are parks that charge a flat fee for monthly site fee's. One example is the park in Elkton OR. that rents monthly sites for a set amount that includes utilities. It's nice to know exactly what you will pay for a site and not have to worry about the electric bill.

On the other extreme, some parks are now charging everybody for electricity. One example I know of is the SKP park in Deming NM. that charges everybody for electric, even over-nighters.

I suspect that parks that charge electric are making money in the transaction. I'm sure the electric company does not come out and read all the meters. They could also charge more per kw/hr than the utility company charges them and say it covers the expense of installing the meters and administrator fees for tracking the usage. But in the end they are making money...

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Steve and Nonna,

Keep in mind that we are in a mobile home park in our Mobile Suites until we retire and can start traveling. We have only been here since about mid-May.

I talked to Jo (she's the finance person) about the electric and she looked it up. Our first month's cost for electric was roughly $150, followed by $218 and $200. For the month that was $200 (last month's) our kilowatt hour usage was 1,895 kwr. which is roughly $.10 per kwh. There is also another fee called something like a "franchise fee" that brought the electric bill from $187.43 (for the actual kwh) up to the $200.

We've had 50 days this summer where the temperatures got over 100 degrees. Some days upwards to 110 and 112 degrees. A community south of Oklahoma City has now had 86 or 87 days of CONSECUTIVE 100 degree days. So, our costs are directly related to the weather.

If you've been reading any of the posts about the temperatures this summer, you may have read my post about still being a little warm in our fifth wheel. (There was some joking about my being shirtless and in shorts while being overweight. That sure scared some folks.) That is why we have oscillating fans.

Our coach is equipped with two 15K air conditioners, with two different sensors for temperature in the coach. Our bedroom stays cooler than the living room area, simply because it is a smaller area to keep cool.

One thing to consider when considering one's electric is to keep an eye on the return air ducts' filters. If they get clogged up a bit, your a/c's and heaters will work harder.

Hope this helps you.

Terry

Sushidog · RV-Dreams Family Member

I guess it would depend on the size of the space you are trying to cool, the amount of insulation you have and the size and efficiency of your air conditioners in addition to your heat, humidity and average wind.

Using a rediculous example to illustrate my point, A rig that has 300+ sq ft and 2- 15k BTU ac's will take more electricity to cool than my little Aliner with it's single 5k BTU ac. A 26ft TT with a single 13.5k BTU ac will probably be somewhere inbetween.

Also a Mobile Suite with dual pane windows has quite a bit better insulation than an equivalent sized bargain basement travel trailer with minimal insulation and roughly the same size floor plan. Thus it will be easier to cool. I'd say if you want to save money on ac look for a place to park with lots of shade at the highest altitude possible. ;)

Consider getting a rig that uses the Dometic Duotherm brisk air 13.5k BTU units which only draw 8 amps.

Chip

mcw50 · RV-Dreams Family Member

The park where we stayed for the month of July in Pennsylvania has someone from the office read the meter when you arrive and depart - and charges $.17 per killowatt hour. That was a big "ouch" on top of a steep monthly rate to be near our grandkids. (They also did not pro-rate for the extra days we had to stay because our fridge 'died' and we had to wait for a part to arrive from AZ - and charged us a steep daily rate for an extra week + the electric). The owner claimed that is the commericial rate they must pay, that they don't add anything. We often stay in small parks that charge an extra $2 to $5 a night if you use an A/C or heater or have a washer/dryer. Where we stay in AZ in the winter, we pay the electric company directly and the meter is read each month by a guy who drives by in a pickup with some sort of remote digital reader. Our winter bills there run about $80/mo. We have 50amp, washer/dryer and electric heat pumps/A/C.

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

And I thought the $.165/kWh was bad at the SKP park in Benson AZ. But your experience perfectly illustrates my point about getting that surprise bill when you check out. That's why we go out of our way to find a park that charges a flat monthly rate.

granny · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for all the info. Wow there is so much to learn and so much to think about. We will definitely look for campgrounds who charge a flat fee. I don't like surprises when it comes to money flow! We haven't even bought our rig yet so will chick out insulation factors I thought living in an rv was going to be easier than a house! I just feel that we have so much to relearn, but it is exciting.

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

I think you have to look at the entire rental agreement and not just be focused on flat fee electric. At the Escapee park Dan mentions the electric may have been a few cents higher than some other parks, but the monthly rental was only $320 for a really nice site, in a park with lots of activities.

We've not found too many parks that have a flat fee.

Jim01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

I think that, for the most part, you'll find that the parks that charge a flat fee have higher monthly rates. You're going to pay for the electric, one way or the other.

To stop from having supprises, find out what the electric rate is and read the meter yourself when you check in and then every once in awhile during your stay. and you'll know what your bill is going to be.

Jim

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jim01 wrote:

To stop from having supprises, find out what the electric rate is and read the meter yourself when you check in and then every once in awhile during your stay. and you'll know what your bill is going to be.
Jim

Very good point.Being a former utility company worker I'm pretty anal about that.I read the meter once or twice a week depending on how much I think we are using.It also kept me from getting cheated by a less than honest person we rented an ownership lot from.

Sushidog · RV-Dreams Family Member

There is a nice rv park in Bay St. Louis, MS that charges $450/mo including electric for 30A service and $485/mo for 50A service. Less than 1/2 mile away there is another, similar park with slightly different amenities that charges $350/mo with .12/kwh metered electric. If I was considering one of these parks (which I was last year), I guess I'd just have to do the math to see which would be cheaper. For the small difference either way, I'm sure there are other differences between these parks which would sway us one way or the other besides the small price difference.

Chip

Delaine and Lindy · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are paying electric here in Florida, .14 cents a Kilowatt. More and more RV parks are going electric for Monthly rates. The answer is simple, EPA has made it impossible to meet the standards use coal fired electric plants???? In the State of Tennessee the TVA because of the EPA are going to close 22 coal fired plants, and our electricity will possibly double or triple?? That being said, most RV park are seeing the electric cost soar, due to the large RV's and people thinking the electric is free, thats not true someone is paying. And with all these heat pumps running in some cases two or more and they run 24/7 in many cases. There is no energy efficient RV some have more insulation than others. We try to go West to Colorado (higher elevation) and escape the heat and South Florida for the winter to escape the cold.. We we across Okla this past summer, and it was hot there. We came back across Kansas but it was much cooler.. I also think you should check you meter often and find out the rate they charge per kilowatt hour. Happy Trails....

LandYachty · RV-Dreams Family Member

Being "Boondocker junkies" if we need the AC or heat it is time to move to a better climate. We have spend the last couple of years in the NC mountains, rarely needed the AC, but went out and bought 2 - 100 lb propane tanks for the winter.

kbonano · RV-Dreams Community Member

There are parks in Bay St Louis, MS, Han**** RV Park, they have set rates, includes sewer, water, elec, & wifi, small park but clean, laundry room, small pond, nice park!