Discussion Zone For Rv Park Owners Or Operators

QUOTE(SASMITH @ Apr 7 2014, 06:09 PM) [snapback]36089[/snapback]

Need input on installing power meters in our park.

We have a small park in middle Ga. which caters to extended stay(monthly) rv'ers. With the excessively harsh winter we have had, our power bill has gone through the roof. Am sure it is due partly that guests are using electric space heaters. We encourage guests to use their gas or Aqua hots systems to help keep costs down, but you know how that goes. Am thinking the only fair way to handle this is to install meters on all sites.



We've stayed short-term at a park this winter that had an "electric surcharge" fee in the range of a couple dollars per day.

Maybe a monthly surcharge would be more cost-effective than installing meters.

 

QUOTE(SASMITH @ Apr 7 2014, 07:09 PM) [snapback]36089[/snapback]

Need input on installing power meters in our park.

We have a small park in middle Ga. which caters to extended stay(monthly) rv'ers. With the excessively harsh winter we have had, our power bill has gone through the roof. Am sure it is due partly that guests are using electric space heaters. We encourage guests to use their gas or Aqua hots systems to help keep costs down, but you know how that goes. Am thinking the only fair way to handle this is to install meters on all sites.

That being said, the questions I have are: 1) What is power cost per day or month per RV? 2) Should we reduce the standard rates and add the power used per month to each site? Or leave the rates the same and charge extra to each site that goes over a set amount of power?

Noticed that someone on this forum stated usage of around 750 watts, and another that said cost are approximately $3-$4 per day.

Any info you can share on this would be appreciated.
Thanks, Gr'Andy'



Metered sites are a great addition for extended stay sites but I would suggest you have an electrician look at what you have. Depending on your existing peds the cost could range from minimal to very expensive. Another option might be portable meters. I've seen them used at a couple parks and seem to be a good short term solution.

 

QUOTE(puddleduck @ Apr 9 2014, 10:00 AM) [snapback]36104[/snapback]

Metered sites are a great addition for extended stay sites but I would suggest you have an electrician look at what you have. Depending on your existing peds the cost could range from minimal to very expensive. Another option might be portable meters. I've seen them used at a couple parks and seem to be a good short term solution.



We have the same issue in the winter months and we have metered sites. It's really the only way to go and they are reasonably easy to install if you have pedestals that aren't 25+ years old. The meters themselves can be a little costly but it's a worthwile investment.

We only charge the current kw/h rate that our electric company charges so we aren't making any profit off of the electric (I believe it may be illegal to do so anyway). Once people realize that they are going to have to pay for all the electric they are using you'll be amazed at how much more conservative they'll become and your electric bill will drop right away.

 

QUOTE(noisy @ Feb 3 2014, 07:19 PM) [snapback]35675[/snapback]

Monthly Guests

Any park owners with monthly guests - I'd be curious to know if you bill them every 30 days based on when they began their stay, or have you pro-rated them at some point and converted them all to the same billing day each month?

We're buying a small park and half the guests are monthly. Right now, they're all billed on whatever day they initially arrived, which means reading electric meters and doing billing several times each month. Seems unnecessarily complicated.



Prorate the campers and check meters once a month. It makes things less complicated. Also you should consider how you are charging a "month" we consider a month 28 days no matter what the calender says. 7 days a week x 4 weeks in a month=28 days.