Hi all, I wonder if anybody has any experience of Digital power meters for RV parks ? we are going to put in an extra 50 sites over the winter and think we would like to fit digital power meters for every site, as far as I can workout its a digital box that sits in the power control room and monitors the amount of power each site uses, I have stayed in a park that has this fitted and they used it to monitor there full timers to make sure they were not burning to much power, We plan to have a dozen or so full timers and would like to keep an eye on there power usage, anybody have any experience ?
Great plan to me. People burn to much power and waste more and more coal, oil or other forms to make the power in the first place. People run at heat 85F plus in winter and 60F in summer months and then go and tour all day with no one inside the RV unit. Some people have never had to save anything so let them pay the bills.
Rarely do we stay in a park by the month where we don't pay for our electric. There is a meter on the electric post.
I am assuming by full timers, you mean people that stay in your park full time. My understanding of the term, means folks that RV full time around the country and don't normally stay in one place for that to be a problem. Using "too much" electricity in a site you paid for should be clarified upon check in. If I was staying for 4 days and the campground owner came by and told me to adjust my thermostat because I was using "too much" electricity, I would not be happy. Your system would work only on long term residents who had agreed to a numerical amount of KW per time period upon taking the site. You would also have to agree upon a price for the cost over the specified amount. We have had campground owners indicate here that the average electricity cost for a day in weather was about $3.00. Seems reasonable. but I have no way of verifying this. If somebody uses an extra dollar or two, is that worth a big hassle? I am one that makes a practice of turning off the lights and stuff at home even though I know it makes little difference in my monthly bill.
Way back when I was camping in Germany (teaching for National Defence has its advantages) ;-) there were quite a few campgrounds that had coin operated electric hook ups. When your kwh were used up all you had to do was feed a few more coins in the machine. Of course everybody tried not to overfeed the machines. This way you pay for what you use, I found this fair to everybody.
We have overwinter at a large 'snobird' park in southern California. The sites have meters which are read once a month just like a home. There is a base rate price, and multiple tiers after that. Folks that string the old fashioned big-bulb holiday lights, run a fountain, have electric patio heating, washers, dryers... all pay accordingly. It becomes a game to see how low we all can go! Found a little space heater that uses less power than the toaster! (Though, I admit my toaster is old-school and probably needs to be retired... :lol: ) Now the folks that book by the night or by the week, use the same metered sites. They just pay a higher daily rate that incorporates electricity. No meter reading necessary.
QUOTE(FosterImposters @ Jul 20 2010, 03:26 PM) [snapback]23082[/snapback] We have overwinter at a large 'snobird' park in southern California. The sites have meters which are read once a month just like a home. There is a base rate price, and multiple tiers after that. Folks that string the old fashioned big-bulb holiday lights, run a fountain, have electric patio heating, washers, dryers... all pay accordingly. It becomes a game to see how low we all can go! Found a little space heater that uses less power than the toaster! (Though, I admit my toaster is old-school and probably needs to be retired... :lol: ) Now the folks that book by the night or by the week, use the same metered sites. They just pay a higher daily rate that incorporates electricity. No meter reading necessary. I hear what you are saying about paying more for a site that you already paid for but the electricity bill is one of the highest costs an owner has and if someone is burning power like its free then it serves no one, I am trying to push the costs down to the campers by only charging the people who burn more than there fair share.
You then get into deciding what is a fair share and who is violating it. Sounds like a can of worms to me. I think you need to do it for everybody (long term) or nobody.
I think if more park owners would be reasonable charging for utilities based on their actual costs rather than trying to double up on everything they would gain more campers, and the campers would have a better attitude regarding use of facilities. I am speaking of the daily rate campers. You all have seen campgrounds where they charge for showers, or have 1/4 inch copper lines feeding the showers thinking they are saving money. All they do is P... off the camp paying public. There is a saying that pigs get fat, and hogs get slaughtered. Holds true in the campground business too. Unless a camping unit has an unusual number of big kilowatt consuming appliances, I would venture you could not consume $10.00 per day in electrical costs, and water. (that is $300.00 per month) In most areas of the country, a kilowatt of electricity is less than .15 per KW I would agree that long term campers should have a meter option, and pay their own utility costs. Their rent based on a 6 month plan is considerably less than the daily rate.
