One of the first things first-time and even experienced mobile home park owners question is how to reduce their electric bills.
While we can’t answer this for your parks specifically, we can provide some insight into why these kinds of high bills happen in some cases.
First, let’s break down what a typical mobile home park’s electric bill might look like:
- Residential (10 homes/120V each) – $2,400/month
- Commercial 120 volt (15 amps @ 1775 watts each) = 18 kW x 10 units = $3,720/month
- Commercial 277 volt 3 phase 32 kVA x 2 phases = up to 64 kW x 10 units = $8,560/month
- Multi-family commercial 5 ton unit heat pump x 2 units = $3,000/month
So we can see that heating and cooling costs for each unit alone could be $6,000/mo! This is not the case in every park.
The point here is to get readers thinking about ways they can reduce costs. So let’s look at some of the factors that contribute to high electric bills:
Unit age – older units use more energy than newer units. However, even new units (that may still be under manufacturers warranty) may show higher power consumption because there are a variety of reasons why the efficiency of individual components like water pumps, furnaces and air conditioners reduces over time.
Also Check: Best Air Conditioner Unit for Mobile Home
To give you an idea, here’s it might take only 10 months for a residential AC unit to drop from its starting SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) of 10 down to 8.
Let’s say the AC is using 20 kW and the monthly bill is $1,000:
$1,000 x 10 months = $10,000/yr for 1 AC
This figure doesn’t include heating that could be coming from furnaces or other sources like your HVAC water heater.
Having equipment that runs efficiently means cheaper electric bills!
Mobile home size – smaller homes use less energy than larger homes. That’s because heating, cooling and hot water requirements are relatively the same no matter how big your home.
Building size – larger parks with more surface area to heat/cool will have higher electric bills. However, keep in mind that it could also be smaller parks with very densely packed homes that are having problems with high energy costs.
Being too close to other buildings can prevent proper ventilation of outdoor air for HVAC units which increases the cost of cooling the living space.
When this happens, fans need to run longer to push out warm or stale indoor air causing them to consume more energy than before.
Average Electric Bill for 2 Bedroom Mobile Home
Around $135-$180/month, depending on the area and usage. The average US home uses 920kWh per month. The average cost of electricity is 16¢/kWh, so the monthly electric bill will be around $147 assuming the average use and average price.
A 3 bedrooms house in New York state pays 200$ a month for its electricity bills. This value may change according to your location and time of living there.
Electricity prices may differ greatly depending on where you live (some states are cheaper than others), how much electricity you use (most homes receive a flat rate), your utility company’s rates, etc.
Thus making it even harder for park owners trying to manage their electric bills.
This is why it’s important to know what equipment is running and for how long as well as what the SEER ratings are of these units.
As we said before, there could be several factors causing high electric bills which includes: HVAC equipment that’s inefficient or poorly maintained; lack of insulation and thermal envelope (the walls, roof and doors) in homes; homes with poor levels of weatherization and duct leakage; use of appliances like wall space heaters; over-reliance on refrigerators; poorly designed electrical systems.
Also Read: Best Electric Heater For Mobile Home
Please refer to this article if you want an idea about some basic things mobile homeowners can do to reduce their electric bills.
Remember, during cold months of winter, many residents keep their house warm even when they’re not at home by using space heaters.
This can be a bigger problem as residences try to save money by heating their homes with microwaves or ovens running on “high” instead of using central heat which consumes much less power.
Final Words
In conclusion, there are just so many factors that contribute to high electric bills from the appliances in the home itself to faulty equipment and bad weatherization over time.
What matters most is how park owners provide quality services and maintain them over time so residents have a great place to live!
Once again, we hope this sheds some light for those who have been experiencing extremely high bills after months of normal use.
Must Follow: Tips To Make Mobile Home More Energy Efficient