Community Forums

akadeadeye · 01-03-2010, 08:06 PM

Not sure where to post this. My sweet wife asked me today about the cost of hooking up to electric and water at friends houses. She would like an idea of how much we are adding to their utility bills.

I know it depends on what we are running, or trying to run, but let's assume we are hooked up to a 15/20 amp plug and we are just keeping our fridge and house lights going and taking showers, etc. Any heating or cooling is being handled by on-board systems.

Any ideas on how the electric/water bill for our presence would increase?

(don't get me wrong, I think they should just be glad we are there, blessing them with our presence, but............she did ask)

Happy New Year

Don

Jim Stewart · 01-03-2010, 08:16 PM

We use 850 Kilowatt Hours for 20 days in the Florida Keys, that is both airs on all the time, 3 loads of wash/dry per day, hot water heater on all the time, refer, no ice-maker, and normal TV and computers. In the Keys that equates to $156.00.

A 20 amp connection only running the charger/inverter to charge the batteries for the inverter and the refer is not going to be much. Probably about $2-$3/day at the most.

wagonmaster2 · 01-03-2010, 08:19 PM

I'm sure this is going to be a hard question to answer. One campground I was in said if you pay the monthly camping fee and pay your own electricity it can run anywhere from $40-$100 per month. But when we camp there by the day, they add $4/day extra for the electricity. But then we are on 50 amp and can run heat pumps or basement air conditioner along with electric water heater. I'm sure the amount of water you could use wouldn't amount to much but this still doesn't answer your electric question. Don't have any suggestion for something fair to both you and your host.

Wagonmaster2

Ronnie Bledsoe 2006 Dutchstar 43' · 01-03-2010, 08:26 PM

In Yuma Az staying for 1 month (Feb) in 2007&2008 the bill was about $65.00. Lights, water heater, occasional heat/Air, microwave, TV's, and etc.

WeatherTodd · 01-03-2010, 08:31 PM

If its a true friend... the cost of a nice dinner and a few bottles of wine will cover it.

Mc2guy · 01-03-2010, 08:49 PM

The average U.S. residential power tariff will run between $0.035/kWh and $0.25/kWh depending on your location and the utility. I'd offer a bottle of wine and call it a day, but that's just me.

CorsairIIAT · 01-03-2010, 09:00 PM

Here where I fulltime. We get the 1st $50 of elect. free. Over that we pay for. I have 2 1500 watt elect heaters. when I run just them with normal other things. I would run over the limit by about $60. Running gas furnace and limmiting elect heat I went over by $7 this month. I'm trying to hit the $ 50 limit with just a dollar over. So using my numbers your using between 1.50 and 2.00 a day. BTW these are California KW. Running gas heat I go thru a 30# bottle in about 15 days. So the cost either way is about the same. Don't even ask me about summer cooling bill here in the Mojave Desert.

CorsairIIAT · 01-03-2010, 09:07 PM

Jim,
850kw= 156.00 in Fl My usage last month was
485kw= 57.15

And I thought our price was high.

My stick and brick elect last month was 10.00. But I was only there for one 3 day weekend. And I heat it mostly with wood stove then with a little gas furnace.

Bill Adams · 01-03-2010, 09:23 PM

When we have stayed at campgrounds that charge a base fee plus electric such as the Escapees parks, we have found that our usage is a little over $2/day. YMMV.

Theberrys · 01-03-2010, 09:37 PM

Buy one of these and you'll know the electrical spot on.

Shows the operating costs of your household appliances
Accurate within 0.2%
Calculates cost and forecasts by week, month and year
Displays eight critical units of measure on the large LCD display
Built-in battery backup

Amazon.com: P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor: Electronics
About $38.00

Dick

Jim Stewart · 01-03-2010, 09:43 PM

Our sticks and bricks when we are home in the summer is $450.00/month! With all the taxes and surcharges we pay about $0.165/Killowatt Hours

CorsairIIAT · 01-03-2010, 10:13 PM

Jim,
Sticks and bricks used 76 KW last month. 10.00 bill equalls .1315 per kw hour. here in California.

beaverjim · 01-04-2010, 02:53 AM

jim, are you taking in laundry? 3 loads a day

lol!!!! jim

Bill2 · 01-04-2010, 06:40 AM

Those of you who suggest that giving a bottle of wine and calling it a deal, are really off base. If the family don't drink wine, they get nothing. We pay .18 cents/kw hr. here in the RGV in Mission Tx. this winter. Before we knew that we were running things as though we were at home or in a park that don't charge for elec. Now we turn the electric hot water heater off and run the gas only when needed. As said before offer to take them out for a nice dinner and forget the wine unless they do indeed drink wine.