Power bill and how to conserve a bit!

[Jim]

Jim, you do know that Duke Power is raising the rates? It will go up another cent or two over the next 3 years, according to what my cousin was saying.

Yes, I saw that yesterday! 15% increase is quite a bit for people to absorb.

 

[Bob K4TAX]

As we say around these parts; "If you plan to dance, then plan to pay the fiddler".

Bob

 

[Fish]

I looked up my last electric bill, 12-15-2023 to 1-15-2024. 969 kwh and $137.16
Hot tub is on a different pedestal, I'm lucky enough to be on what was supposed to be 2 sites and ended up being one so I have 2 pedestals. Hot tub was $42.66 in addition to the other.

Heat pump for heat. Hydro hot on electric for hot water. I'm not afraid to run the ac but it's not been needed much this year even in S. Florida. I have a car hauler also plugged into the motor home pedestal but on the 30 amp plug with a full size refrigerator always on, lights, and the charger for my golf cart.
I don't like to run the hydro hot diesel burner for heat, I only do it if the weather is going to be below freezing. I come with a full tank and save all 130 gallons for the generator and emergencies, plus I like it full since we're parked here for 6 months. I test the diesel burner from time to time.

I've seen my bill here as high as $190 when it's hot.

Something that cracks me up about this resort and I've been here since 2015. They brag so much about the solar field they added since we started coming here. On the home page of their website-We're The First RV Park in the country to be powered by a 1 MW solar farm.

Hey, that's great, really proud of you.

However:
Power bills didn't really go down.
It just gets sent to the grid so when power goes out, power still goes out (we have new people every year screaming on the facebook page Why is the power out I thought we had SOLAR!
What it does is I expect is save the owner money and I'm sure he got tax breaks and government help and lots of kudos for doing it. It didn't lower my lease, that went up. It actually did nothing for me or the other residents yet we're supposed to be so thrilled and proud of it.

 

[Fish]

Since I brought up diesel heat, I'd like to add something.

My neighbor 3 spots over in the Tiffin was talking to the park maintenance guy and I was standing there. He was wanting to know what he could do, he was afraid of setting the grass on fire as it was all burned by his aqua hot exhaust.
I said I don't even use mine.

Both he and the park maintenance guy (who used to own a monaco diplomat) said Oh you have to use that, it's the greatest, it just barely sips fuel, blah blah blah. Yet he's worried about sitting the grass on fire.

I went out early the other morning in the dark to smoke. I almost choked on the diesel fumes drifting over from his rig at least 150 ft away. I actually shined a flashlight around the underside of my motorhome looking for leaks until I realized what it was.

 

[Underboss]

One park I stayed at, no matter how little or how much I used, the bill was $87/mo. I think they just charged everyone the $87.

 

[Jim]

I went out early the other morning in the dark to smoke. I almost choked on the diesel fumes drifting over from his rig at least 150 ft away. I actually shined a flashlight around the underside of my motorhome looking for leaks until I realized what it was.

He probably needs to do a maintenance on his Oasis, or whatever the equivalent.

 

[Fish]

He probably needs to do a maintenance on his Oasis, or whatever the equivalent.

The poor guy has had 5 different mobile mechanics over there in the last 2 months. Slides, an air conditioner, another air conditioner, levelers, automatic window shades are just the things he's told me about.
He told me that one guy who was there all day charged him $1200 and fixed nothing.

Another one who actually did fix some things, I could hear them yelling at each other. Tiffin owner had been following him around and telling him how to fix things and the guy finally snapped and said "I'll fix this if you'll get out of my way and leave me alone, or you can just pay me for what I've done and I'll leave now. I'm not working anymore with you standing over me giving me orders!!"

 

[Neemer]

I'm not working anymore with you standing over me giving me orders!!"

That’s exactly what I told my wife yesterday.

After which I discovered the little jack knife couch is not comfortable for sleeping.

 

[Bob K4TAX]

The sign says: "Labor is $100/Hr., If you watch labor is $150/Hr. If you help labor is $250/Hr." Folks generally are hired to do a job and charge a labor rate. If you need to watch or help, then perhaps you can't or don't trust them. So why did you hire them? Find some other source and let them do their job. Your job is to inspect the job after they are finished and to accept the fact it is completed as expected. Then pay them. In the meantime, just enjoy your cocktail and let them get their hands dirty.

Bob

 

[Weighit]

Sitting here in Yuma for a couple of months and the Jan electric bill was a total of $194. Been cooler than we expected, and we ran elect blanket, heated floors, washer and dryer, air fryer, electric water heater system, dishwasher, tv's and that also included charging the Tesla on and off during that month. So we didn't mind being comfortable, but at home in a house we never have a bill that high.