Electricity?

[Jlaw]

What is the average cost of electricity if you're parked someplace permanently? I'm on my own private property, at work for 30 hours a week and my light bill is running $250+ a month! At this rate, I could have afforded building the cabin I wanted. My heat is propane, all of the lights are off from the time I leave at 7 or 8am and stay off until I get home. I have one laptop computer and phone charger that are plugged in. A TV that's on maybe an accumulative 5 hours a week, and 1 tiny space heater I use on occasion. I try to reserve my propane for cooking and in the mild SC winter, that's doable for the amount of time I'm actually home and need heat. So why in the devil is my bill so high? I've read something about a salesman switch but found nothing in regards to coachmen having one? I have a 2016 Chaparral 371mbrb if that's at all helpful.

[CHICKDOE]

just some thoughts. $250/mo seems way to high. you need to find out why! when we had our trailer in a park and were paying for electricity monthly it was less than $100 and that was with the a/c running.


1. get with the electric company and verify the rate plan you are one and if everything is set up properly. can you place a service call to have the electric meter verified / calibrated?
2. how much of the monthly bill is actually for consumption? are there huge taxes, recovery fees, or installation fees that they charging that are fixed each month? are they taking money to establish a deposit on the account?
3. I don't think the salesman switch would be an issue. it disconnects the batteries. but if they were left connected they should stop taking a charge after they were full.
4. do you have a ems system connected to the unit that will show amps being draws from the electric company? if so, monitor how many amps you are drawing. if you can do this you should be able to turn circuit breakers on and off and see which circuits are drawing the power. from there check to see which devices are on that circuit.
5. do you know of any people with similar setups (even that cabin you mentioned)? what is their monthly bill.
6. do you have electric tank heater pads that are left on? is the water heater on electric and left on? but both of these are thermostatically controlled so I would not expect them to run continuously.

[Wiscampsin]

Wow, $250 a month is high. We don't pay that much for our home elec bill. I guess it all depends of what your local elec co. is charging per kilowatt hour. We've been on a seasonal site for 9 years and our monthly elec bill has never been over $45. We do have an elec fireplace we use to augment heating up the camper on chilly spring and fall mornings and run the AC on hot /humid summer days. We are at our camper 4 days a week and the fridge is on from April to Oct. I'd suggest contacting your elec company, there might be something wrong with the power pedestal. Hope you get it figured out.

[Flybob]

You don't say if you are using electric HW. You mention tiny space heater. A small ceramic heater on high will use 1500W if you run that 24hrs a day for a month, with an electric rate of $0.15 per KWH ( includes elect and distribution, and fees) that alone is over $150 month. If don't have a good EMS, tyr to borrow one which shows current and check your actual usage.

[NMWildcat]

In the heat of the southern AZ summer when the AC runs all day and night, our monthly electric bill averages $130 at the park we stay at. So I would say you have something wrong somewhere. Now if you can just find out where!! Good luck.

[Scrapper]

Are you on a separate meter? If you are have someone check your wiring and the meter. Twice so far in my life I have seen meters short out internally and the usage skyrocket. 2 years ago after winterizing and the campground being closed for winter, we got a bill for $164 in January. We called the CG owners and they asked if we left the refer on. We told them that the trailer was not plugged in. I went up to the camper and checked it out and found the meter spinning. Making sure that the breakers for the 50 amp, 30 amp and 20 amp outlets were off the meter was still spinning. Reported this to the CG owners, they said it was not possible for the meter to short out. I told them that I had seen it happen when I was growing up in Indiana. I told them to check it themselves and they apologized and said they had never heard of such a thing before.