Electric usage and price seem high

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Joko

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2023
Posts
6
Location
Scranton, PA

Seasoned full time RV questioning electric - usage seems high and price per kilowatt seems high too 🤔 I’d love your feedback!​


Hey there! We have been full time RVers for 3 years now. We are currently in northeast PA where everything seems a little pricier, but we just got our first monthly bill for electric and we were flabbergasted! The meter is saying we used 1152 kilowatts, when I’ve been opening the windows every day, I used the main AC for 1 week when it got warmer, other than that it’s been cool so we haven’t had to run the AC and besides that, we only run our tv, have the wifi plugged in and of course the fridge. Everything else is off except some LED lights we use as lamp light which I know shouldn’t effect our usage.

I’m wondering if the meter is off? It’s tricky because we are in a tiny community that doesn’t use local electric, im being told they do their own here. We are also being charged .22 cents per kilowatt which is more than double what we’ve ever paid. We love the people we are renting from but can’t help but question this huge charge. It’ll be $253 for one month and barely using any electric so I can’t imagine what the summer months will bring 🥴

Thank you for any help or feedback you may have!
 
Not as far as I know. I do know that our cost of electricity has gone up like most things have.
Absolutely I totally get that too! $253 seemed outrageous tho for hardly using any electric for the month, and I’m starting to think the meter is off, it’s doubling what we usually pull which is 700. The most we’ve pulled was 900 in south texas when we were fighting the 120 degree days and running both units constantly, and that was $90 for the month and that was 3 months ago 😭
 
Some parks are able to mark up their electricity rates beyond what the power company charges them. For example, if their cost is $0.14/kwh they may sell it for $0.22/kwh.

You should be able to estimate what your AC unit was drawing to determine if your meter is metering correctly. Don't forget to add your hot water if you have an electric water heater, your converter, fridge, and any other draw within the RV.

Not all parks have meters which reset. They mark down the beginning KWH and ending KWH on a specified interval. They may have fudged the numbers accidentally.
 
Some parks are able to mark up their electricity rates beyond what the power company charges them. For example, if their cost is $0.14/kwh they may sell it for $0.22/kwh.
In every state a campground is legally restricted from merely marking up the Kwh cost of power to make money, but they are generally allowed to recover their cost of distributing and billing for it. However, that's usually a fixed monthly fee rather than a per Kwh add-on. Another often-overlooked factor is that the campground pays commercial rates for its power, not the often much lower residential rate.

Be aware that RV appliances often consume a lot more power than your home appliances. An RV fridge in 120v electric mode is a power hog, sometimes using 240-300 watts per hour almost non-stop. Your water heater in electric mode is another potential major consumer. Those two alone could eat up 350-500 Kwh each month. An inexpensive Kill-o-watt type meter can be used to measure each of those simply by plugging them in. Here's one cheap meter.

Does your RV have 30A/20v shore power? Or 50A/240v?

But 1152 Kwh is really a lot, so I'd start measuring usage with a meter of your own. At the very least, start recording the meter values at least weekly so you can follow the trends. Depending on your power cord size and hook-up, it may not be outrageously expensive to install your own monitor. It's not unknown for other consumers to be wired into the power meter that is ostensibly for your RV site alone. Ask the park management to verify that your site power outlet is the only thing on their meter for your site,
 
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In every state a campground is legally restricted from merely marking up the Kwh cost of power to make money, but they are generally allowed to recover their cost of distributing and billing for it. However, that's usually a fixed monthly fee rather than a per Kwh add-on. Another often-overlooked factor is that the campground pays commercial rates for its power, not the often much lower residential rate.
both great points! It’s confusing too because we are in a tiny living community instead of a usual park so there’s mostly tiny homes with the occasional rv. We couldn’t find any campgrounds close by (we travel for work) and were lucky enough to rent this spot for the next 4 months. I was also told they don’t use a local electric company, that it’s controlled/installed by the actual community. So from what you said, I wonder that since it’s more residential, if the electrical cost would be even lower 🤔
 
Some parks are able to mark up their electricity rates beyond what the power company charges them. For example, if their cost is $0.14/kwh they may sell it for $0.22/kwh.

You should be able to estimate what your AC unit was drawing to determine if your meter is metering correctly. Don't forget to add your hot water if you have an electric water heater, your converter, fridge, and any other draw within the RV.

Not all parks have meters which reset. They mark down the beginning KWH and ending KWH on a specified interval. They may have fudged the numbers accidentally.
That’s a great idea to track the AC power, i think we’ll go ahead and upgrade our serge protector to get those numbers and we need to anyway! We also run as much as we can off our solar so we really try to pull as little shore power as we possibly can 😭 I’m wondering if the numbers were accidentally fudged too. She said the people before us paid $25 for electric for 2 weeks and I know we aren’t using near as much power as a motorhome would’ve and we had the same chilly weather!
 
We love the people we are renting from but can’t help but question this huge charge. It’ll be $253 for one month and barely using any electric so I can’t imagine what the summer months will bring 🥴

This sounds like you are on someone's property and not in a park? Is that the case? Regardless...

1 - Is the bill coming from the power company directly? If so find out (from them) if it is an estimated amount or an actual reading. You can ask for an actual reading.

2 - Is the bill apportioned by the land owner among multiple users? If so find out how the apportioning is handled. If they don't have separate meters you could be subsidizing neighbors.

Here in Florida with one AC running my monthly bill is about $130 at 10c per kwh. If I was paying 22C my bill would be real close to yours but I currently run the AC about 8 hours a day.
 
The app for my Power Dog 50amp surge protector has a resettable total kwh used. Not only is this good for accurately knowing what your consuming, it can be used to measure individual draws of electricity, what leg it is on, etc...
Awesome! That’s the exact one we’ve been looking at too! Ordering it asap!
 
In every state a campground is legally restricted from merely marking up the Kwh cost of power to make money, but they are generally allowed to recover their cost of distributing and billing for it. However, that's usually a fixed monthly fee rather than a per Kwh add-on.

Gary, is there a federal law which prohibits up charging for power? I was pretty certain the laws varied by state, but I could definitely be wrong!
 
You might consider asking your neighbors what their bill runs and do some comparing if you have anyone you are comfortable asking.
 
There is a federal law that states no one can re-sell electricity at a higher rate than the electric company charges. That means, no campground can have electricity brought into their campground and meter you and then charge you more than what they pay.

Here's the question? Is your metered electric bill paid to the campground, or is it paid directly to the electric company.

If paid directly to the campground, I'd be checking with the electric company to find out what the rates truly are. If the campground is gouging and getting a profit, they are in federal violation.

However, if the campground truly is charging ONLY what the electric company is charging, then... it is what it is!

If your bill is directly to the electric company and no campground involvement at all, then there is really nothing you can do about it.

Check with the electric company and verify the numbers (and dollars).
 
1152 kWhrs ÷ 30 days = 38.4kWhrs/day
38.4kW/24hrs = 1,600W an hour (24/7) that is a typical heater or electric kettle or countertop oven... close to a roof-top A/C power
1600W/120volts = 13.3 amps continuously @ 120volts... or ~6.6A for 240V, each leg.

Maybe three or four sites are on the same meter and the landlord 'forgot'?
 
Some but as far as I know not all states have a rule about Parks that re-sell Electricity. and that rule is you can only charge what you pay So if you pay 11¢ per KWH you can only charge11¢ per KWH.
As for use... I've only been 0n a meter one time and forget how much the rig ate. Sorry.
 
Gary, is there a federal law which prohibits up charging for power? I was pretty certain the laws varied by state, but I could definitely be wrong!
It would be an encroachment on the constitutional principle of State's Rights for the Federal Gov't to be involved in regulating local utilities. In Texas for example electric utilities were deregulated in '02, now anyone can sell you electricity, they just buy it from a provider and upsell it to the consumer. It's a regular scrum here, but the competition arguably keeps rates lower than they'd be under the old centralized system where a utilities commission ( In Texas the RR Commission) controlled rates.
 
In every state a campground is legally restricted from merely marking up the Kwh cost of power to make money, but they are generally allowed to recover their cost of distributing and billing for it. However, that's usually a fixed monthly fee rather than a per Kwh add-on. Another often-overlooked factor is that the campground pays commercial rates for its power, not the often much lower residential rate.
Are you sure of that?
There is a federal law that states no one can re-sell electricity at a higher rate than the electric company charges
All that I can find is the Federal Power Act.
What is Section 206 of the Federal Power Act?

Section 206 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) requires that the FERC ensure that all wholesale power contracts are "just and reasonable," with respect to both price and non-price terms and conditions, and affected entities may file a complaint at the FERC over any contract.
 

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