We just got our first electric bill at our seasonal site, $240 for 2 months, maybe 12 days in the Rig. That seems a little high, i checked with a few other campers they seem to think the main culprit is the RV Fridge. I stay plugged in and the Fridge automatically goes for the electric, it has been running fulltime. Of coarse one option is to turn off the Fridge, empty it, and restock each weekend, thats not a great option, but $240. Option 2 would be to manually convert to LP, i am told LP will be much more economical, i do however have concerns leaving the LP system running while the Rig is unattended, is this a valid concern? Thanks Gene

Is the rig parked where the sun is hitting the side with the fridge? Does your rig have an inverter that charges the batteries?

Gene, Something is VERY wrong. There is no way a refrigerator could use that much electricity. You either have something else causing a major drain, or something is wrong with the billing. The bill almost shouldn't be that high if you were living in it with the air going 24/7. Good luck,

Gene,

Gene,

When we are at a CG where we pay for electric, it averages about $2 a day while living in it and running almost everything on electric.

Is is possible that your water heater electric heating element is turned  on?

It has to be something like that, or, like stated above, there's something wrong with the billing or the meter.

Jim

I would think that even if the water heater electric was turned on it would still not be a factor for two reasons: 1. Shouldn't it have a thermostat like a regular house water heater so the element is not on all the time? 2. You are still only using the rig on the weekends If you can't see a problem I suggest do it by trial and error. Turn off the water heater and fridge when you are not in the RV and see what the next bill looks like. I live in hot hot hot South Florida in a 1500 sq ft house (not large by most standards) and I run maybe 180 (max) in electric per month with everything running (although during the day no one is home and the a/c thermostat is set at about 80). But in the evenings and weekends the a/c is always running.

I agree that the bill seems very high especially when most of the time you were absent. Go to a camping or home improvement store and get a Kill-A-Watt meter, about $25 to $30. You can use it to check the usage of anything plugged into it. Your fridge should cycle on about 1/3rd of the time at about 3 amps, or 360 watts. That means about 86 Kilowatt-hours in a month (24 hours x 30 days x 360watt-hours / 3000). If it ran full-time that would be about 260 Kilowatt-hours in a month. Your electric should be somewhere between 8 and 16 cents a Kilowatt-hour, so at maximum the fridge should take around $40/month if it doesn't cycle off, more like $15/month if everything is right.

Is someone running a cord over to your box while you are gone?

Edit: Other things to check are if you have tank or engine block heaters that are turned on and running all the time.  Turn everything off and watch the electric meter outside (2-way radios are useful here), if it is still moving then turn off breakers until you find which circuit breaker is causing the drain.   Alternately turn off all the circuit breakers inside and turn each one on to see when the meter starts showing usage.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Saturday 26th of June 2010 10:20:11 AM

That bill doesn't seem right to me either! Something sounds very wrong. In the coldest month this past winter our electric bill (full-timer) was barely $100 and that was running the heatpump almost constantly. Hope you can get this straightened out. Good luck!

Gene, like all others have said there is something wrong .Bill gave you the process you need to find the problem.One more thought,I worked many years as a meter reader for a utility company and something as simple as misreads happen even if the meter has digital readout.Worth checking out.Make sure the numbers make sense.Also find out the rate per KWH and keep track of it as a double check.

Ok here is what i found out, for the time period we used 820 KW at 28 cents per KW, As it was explained to me, at this park the owners just have power supplied at the park entrance, all the equipment within the park must be maintained and serviced by the park owners. They openly told me that they mark up the Kw rate to 28 cents in order to cover expenses. Also we have a 4 door monster fridge, this unit i was told uses alot of juice, i have now manually switched to Propane, and will see what the next billing cycle looks like, thanks for the feedback, much appreciated, Gene

Gene, my opinion and my opinion only but 28 cents per KWH is outragous and a big cash cow for the park owner.Just as an example I am in a very nice park in Oregon and those same 820 KW would cost me $ 65.60.The problem is not your equipment it's what you are being charged.

OMG. Does this park sell propane? You might want to see if they mark that up also ;) I agree with the others...find a different park.

Hmmmm!!

Talked to a CG owner in Florida, and he told me that he was not allowed to mark up the cost of electricity that the campers used.

Might want to check and see if what your CG owner is doing is legal.

It may be legal where you are though.

Jim

We have the 12 cu-ft 4-door Norcold and I was using the numbers from ours. $0.28/KW is outrageous, but since we are talking New York I am sure it is legal as long as the bribe was paid to the right person.