Paying for electricity

We will be staying long term next winter and just booked our stay. For the first time for us, Electricity will be an extra charge and metered. The woman on the phone said something interesting when explaining things to me. She said "most people instead of writing down the reading, take a picture with their phone of the meter each month and bring it in". I thought that was an awesome idea. That way you have a visual record and what we plan on doing.

I stayed for a couple days at a small independent campground in Pennsylvania a couple years ago. At Chek Inn, they told us it was an extra two dollars per night if we wanted to use our air conditioning. It was hot, so I said OK and paid up the extra six dollars for the three nights. As soon as we got our site set up, I switched on the air conditioning and immediately noticed it did not sound right. I took out my digital multimeter from my truck and found 98 Volts At the 20 amp outlet in the pedestal while my trailer was running off of the 30 amp plug. Pretty full campground... One of the young man that worked for the campground saw me, came over and apologized, explaining it’s a very old campground with a very old electric service. We made it Through that weekend without using the air-conditioner, but it wasn’t pleasant.

We have been snow birds for 15 years here in Florida and have paid for metered electricity since day one. This year we are lucky enough to start paying for our water! According to the Manager all Sun Community Parks are installing water meters.

Don't know if RV park owners are supposed to reply, but, if so here is the way we handle it and why:
We don't charge electricity separately for daily or weekly stays.

Our monthly rate includes an allowance: 600 KWH for 30 amp, 800 for 50 amp.

In year 2010 we were still including electricity in monthly rates, and paid our highest bill for usage in February. Why? Because so many people were buying the cheap plug-in electric heaters and using them instead of their RV's propane system. We are in Texas where summer's heat should have demanded the highest use!

We studied the situation for a long time before arriving at the KWH allowance we built into the rates. We felt that should satisfy both sides of the question;
1, the persons on a tight budget would use their electricity frugally. and 2, those who could afford it and wanted it could use all they wanted, but they would pay if they went over their allowance,

It has worked beautifully so far as we are concerned, for we are strong
believers in "paying your own way", and that "one plan does not fit all".

Something to ask, is there a meter reading fee and if so how much? Most snowbird destination parks in Arizona have a meter reading fee. The price can vary by quite a bit. The park we were stayed in Yuma had a $2.00 a month reading fee.

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Common for Monthly rates, especially in Snowbird areas.
Rare for weekly stays.
Almost non existent for daily stays.

Best answer.
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Although I agree with this one too, "you are paying for the electricity whether they meter it or prorate in to your daily or weekly bill. just seems to sting a little more when they hand you a bill for it"

bobsallyh wrote:
Something to ask, is there a meter reading fee and if so how much? Most snowbird destination parks in Arizona have a meter reading fee. The price can vary by quite a bit. The park we were stayed in Yuma had a $2.00 a month reading fee.

If the deal is that I have to pay for electricity and the RV Park expects me to read the meter as part of the deal, they better not be charging me to do that. It's their park. The meters are in their name. campers are already doing a job for the park owners by reading the meter and bringing the reading to them to pay the bill. That's acceptable and understandable. But no way would I put up with having them charge me to do that! If $2 is that important to them, they can get that money from someone else.

We (park personnel) read each meter:
a. When the last person vacates the site; before it is occupied again.
b. The day before rent is due for tenants staying more than 1 month, That
way if they went over their allowance we should have the charges calculated
for them when they pay their recurring site rental fee.

We wouldn't think of our customer paying a "meter read" charge.

At our seasonal site, we pay the electric company directly. Every site has their own meter. We leave our electric account open all year, even though we are only there for 5 months. It's cheaper than being charged a disconnect fee when we leave and a re-connect fee when we return.

-Michael

RobWNY, the park charges the $2.00 and they read the meter. If you think $2.00 is high, try the Phoenix and Tucson areas!