Utility costs increased three fold

[Riski]

Ok, here is the conundrum. We are full timing in a 2014 Cyclone 4100. In the first three months in an RV park in Redwood City, CA, the meter readings showed an average daily usage of 20. Suddenly, for the last two months the average daily usage jumped to 53. If you know this part of the country, the climate is pretty temperate so we never need to use the AC. We run the fridge and hot water heater on propane so the only things running on power are the TVs, lights, etc. And, they have been used pretty consistently during the entire 5 months.

One last comment, in order to ensure that it wasn't something external to the rig we unplugged from the RV park's power pole overnight and the meter didn't move.

Any thoughts/comments/ideas?

 

[wdk450]

Rich and Nancy:
From what you describe, I would wonder about the meter itself. Tell your story to the park and see if they will swap the meter, or maybe you could move to another space.

Another thought - are your batteries getting hot? Maybe your converter/charger is doing this. Any chance you could turn off the converter circuit breaker and watch the meter daily for changes before and after turning it off?

Good luck!!!

 

[Riski]

Rich and Nancy:
From what you describe, I would wonder about the meter itself. Tell your story to the park and see if they will swap the meter, or maybe you could move to another space.

Another thought - are your batteries getting hot? Maybe your converter/charger is doing this. Any chance you could turn off the converter circuit breaker and watch the meter daily for changes before and after turning it off?

Good luck!!!

Bill:
Thanks. I had thought of that. The reason I eliminated it was because of my understanding of what it does. Essentially, I believe, it recharges the batteries and converts power for the 12 volt lighting. Since the usage of the lighting has remained relatively constant I thought it could be a problem with batteries deteriorating/not holding a charge. But, if that was the case then the meter dial would be at a constantly spinning at a higher rate and that isn't the case.

You do have a point about the mete though. They had changed it. And, after the change the consumption went up. However, we are in our process of elimination testing with the rig and, once done, we will discuss further with the manager. Needless to say, he wasn't too pleased with our questioning of the bill. Stay tuned.

 

[Crumgater]

We have a "kill-a-watt" meter, which we used to check the loads on some of our lighting circuits, via deltas across the main plug.

Could provide some insights?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Kill-A-Watt-Electricity-Monitor-P4400/202196386

 

[recumbent615]

Bill:
Thanks. I had thought of that. The reason I eliminated it was because of my understanding of what it does. Essentially, I believe, it recharges the batteries and converts power for the 12 volt lighting. Since the usage of the lighting has remained relatively constant I thought it could be a problem with batteries deteriorating/not holding a charge. But, if that was the case then the meter dial would be at a constantly spinning at a higher rate and that isn't the case.

You do have a point about the mete though. They had changed it. And, after the change the consumption went up. However, we are in our process of elimination testing with the rig and, once done, we will discuss further with the manager. Needless to say, he wasn't too pleased with our questioning of the bill. Stay tuned.

Sounds like the old meter was under reporting, I would bring it to them and ask them to swap the meter with a third meter as a control. If it reports the higher or lower you will then know one of the meters was either under or over reporting. be thankful that it was not the electric company that owned the meter and it was discovered as under reporting, they would bill you for the energy estimated as under reported ... at least in MA they do that ... and it is not a small $$ either.

Kevin

 

[Riski]

Kevin,

Thanks. We did some process of elimination work.

1) Disconnected from the meter and boondocked for the night. Result: meter did not move.
2) Ran hot water heater and refrigerator on propane while connected to meter. Result: 16 KW in 24 hours. Less than the 20 per day we were originally consuming and far less than the 54 KW per day after the meter change.
3) Returned refrigerator to AC and ran hot water heater on propane over night. Result: 18 KW consumed in 12 hours. Since the refrigerator is the only difference it would be safe to assume the refrigerator is consuming .83 KW per hour of roughly 20 KW per 24 hours. Now, I need to look up the ratings for the refrigerator. Does that seem right?

 

[DocFather]

Riski, it still sounds like a lot to me. And I only say that because of the following. Right now, I am living in the RV, plugged into a 50amp Service coming out of one of my barns. My 4,300 sq' house has no one living in it and nothing running other than a desktop computer (monitor turned off), a cable tv modem/router with wi-fi that i access from the RV) and a 50-gal water heater (elec) that is turned on, even though no water is being used in the house.

I have taken daily meter readings for a month, for no real reason. I am using 9 to 11 kw/day. Compare that to your results if it helps.

Doc

 

[wdk450]

I am still wondering about the power converter/charger. Turn its breaker off overnight and see what the usage is. That's the only other AC electrical load I can think of that you haven't disconnected in testing.

 

[recumbent615]

Does your Refer have heated gaskets to combat moisture build up in humid weather ( there would be a switch i believe inside the fridge ) That does seem like a lot for the fridge. What model fridge do you have?

Kevin