Forum Discussion

Dano1955's avatar
Dano1955
Explorer
Jul 02, 2016

Long Term Electric usage.

One of the "additional" fees for long term full timing is electric, usually not included in the price of a 3,4,5,6 month stay.

Normally it's priced by kw/h. I have no idea how many kw/h my 32ft 5th wheel will use on a full time basis, but I watch a lot of TV and don't like being hot :). I keep my freezer pretty full, but gas would handle that if I find it to be cheaper for propane (probably isn't)

Using a nice round figure of .20 for electric per kw/h, how much do you think? Or how much have you averaged per month cost wise?

TIA
  • where are you located? What are the average daily temps, nightly temps?
  • I'll be in Quartzsite AZ for the winter, 1st year. I've been told that temps usually average a range from mid 70's during the day to mid 50's at night, give or take.

    Nice blog, I've bookmarked it.:C
  • I was in Q last winter for 3 months. My cost was $75 to $105 / month. I'm a pretty heavy user.
  • You won't go broke buying electricity at Q for winter. 20 cents is quite high, even in Palm Springs it's around 14. And just for nits, it's kwh, no slash.
  • We paid .12/kwh in Florida last winter at an Escapees owned park. Our cost for the month was $32.
  • Mandalay Parr wrote:
    I was in Q last winter for 3 months. My cost was $75 to $105 / month. I'm a pretty heavy user.


    Well, with your "rock band on tour" rig I would think you'd pay a bit, LOL. My little one slide 5ver should use half that at most, so that gives me a better idea.

    Maybe if I hit the lotto I can trade up and not worry about it. :D

    A dream for another day, sigh......

    But I'm living a dream a lot of others can't, so there's that.
  • Dutch_12078 wrote:
    We paid .12/kwh in Florida last winter at an Escapees owned park. Our cost for the month was $32.


    Well based on that, the parks in Q charge .15/.18 per kw/h so maybe $50 a month. Not bad.
  • It is less expensive to run the electric heaters and refrigerator on electric, rather than hassel with refilling the propane tank every couple of months.

    It takes about 22 KW of electric to make 80,000 Btu's of heat, while this same amount is made burning a gallon of propane (with flue gas loss taken into account).

    So if a gallon of propane is $2.20 and a KW is only 10 cents, it would be equal cost either way. However the propane is normally not delivered, and if you are burning 2 gallons of gas to make a special trip, you would not with the electric.

    If you have a heat pump, then you can make 80,000 Btu's while consuming about 8 KW, or 80 cents at 10 cents per KW. Heat pumps are very economical. .

    Fred.
  • It really depends where you are at. Each state has its own rates. And I have been in CG's in Florida where they tack on charges to your electric use. And have been at some that just have a flat rate per month to use the electric.
  • Golden_HVAC wrote:
    It is less expensive to run the electric heaters and refrigerator on electric, rather than hassel with refilling the propane tank every couple of months.

    It takes about 22 KW of electric to make 80,000 Btu's of heat, while this same amount is made burning a gallon of propane (with flue gas loss taken into account).

    So if a gallon of propane is $2.20 and a KW is only 10 cents, it would be equal cost either way. However the propane is normally not delivered, and if you are burning 2 gallons of gas to make a special trip, you would not with the electric.

    If you have a heat pump, then you can make 80,000 Btu's while consuming about 8 KW, or 80 cents at 10 cents per KW. Heat pumps are very economical. .

    Fred.


    At .15-.18 per kw, it would be 50-80% higher than your estimate, so maybe propane for heat, electric for AC, microwave and TV. Guess I'll have to see. being fixed income, was just trying to put some budget numbers together.