The Manufactured Housing Forums

Hello,
I have been trying to track down a problem that has been quite elusive. When we moved into our mobile home in 1994 we had no idea how much a house this size would cost for electricity. Our home is 1950 sq ft approx.

We started out paying around $90/mo. and thought it high, but with nothing to compare to, we soon forgot about it and just paid it. Our home, by the way, has a gas furnace, clothes dryer, and stove/oven. We do have a/c, and all of our appliances except the clothes dryer are new within 4-5 years.

I became very ill and was not able to do the finances for a period of over 10 years. During that time my husband did them, worked 60 hrs a week and took care of me. He didn't pay attention to the part of the electric bill that showed we were accumulating a balance, though paying our equal payment monthly.

In 2007 when I finally was able to take the finances, I noticed that we owed a 'back balance' of over $1000 ! I spoke to the electric company who blew me off 3 times over a period of a year and just told me a lot of customers have that and not to worry.

In 2008 I decided to try to find out what was happening since our 'back balance' was now almost $2000 ! Keep in mind that we were paying all our monthly bills.

I ended up utilizing the state's attorney general's office for help. We had an electrician come to the home and check things out. WE spoke to electrical engineers who gave us 'tests' to perform. We had the park replace the main circuit breaker, and the electric company replace the meter.

The only thing we have been told is that there may be an underground leak, but that would be our problem since it is after the meter. But it seems to me that should be the park's problem since it's their land.

As it stands now, we are on a settlement plan that requires us to pay out $138/mo for the electricity they say we are using which is in the 1200 kilowatt hour range and there are only the two of us. Plus they have tacked on $60/mo to go towards the 'back balance'.

For a little perspective: our neighbors on either side of us, pay between $60-85/mo. They have the same # of people in their homes but one home is larger.

Does anyone know ANYTHING about this? Has anyone had similar issues? Do you have any suggestions? We have checked everything anyone could think of and we just cannot find the leak.

Thank you in advance for any help you give.

Musicigirl

Most electric companies have a separate consumer assistance department that offer energy audits find out of if they will come out and make an assessment

You need to

make sure the bill you received is accurate.

make sure the meter doesn't run when everything is turned off.

measure how much electricity your individual fixtures and appliances uses.


Read these excellent articles

Why is my electric bill so high :

High Electric Bills? Find out why, then take action to address the source of the problem

The High Electric Bill Troubleshooter

Let us know what you find out.

Well your bill does not seem too awfully high to me. I would guess that an energy audit will comment on your insulation. in 1994 energy saving was NOT a very high priority with most manufacturers. Most folks in most parts of the country would love to trade you electric bills. A 1950 sq. ft home is pretty good sized. In my area 1200 kilowatts would cost over $ 150 per month and most homes your size use more many of my neighbors are well over $200/mo. A good energy audit will suggest a few improvements that probably be able to save you some money. Glad you are feeling better. Good Luck

Just one other note. Most electric appliances (including TV's, computers, DVD players, etc) continue to draw energy even after they are turned off. They are called energy vampires. To save some money, you might plug those devices into a power strip and turn the power strip off after you turn those devices off for the night (or just unplug them from the wall, but that can be a pain, especially if the outlet is behind a desk or entertainment center).

In many instances you can do your own electrical audit. If you read your electric meter on a daily basis, you can get an average kilowatt usage. Once you have a number you can narrow down and eliminate some of your appliances as the culprit. Assuming your daily electrical use is equal on most days, simply unplug each appliance for a day and see how much it alters your daily usage.

I have a 24x48 mobile home and while I was living at my jobsite last summer, I shut off almost all of the electrical appliances in the house (except the refrigerator and a 9 cu. ft. chest freezer. I was shocked that I was still getting $90-$100 electric bills. I returned one weekend and found that my chest freezer had was no longer cooling. Needless to say I had to throw out a lot of food, but after I unplugged the freezer, my next 2 electric bills were less than $25 and my highest electric bill--even through the winter was $45. I only say that to illustrate that one appliance can eat $60-$70 or more in electricity per month if they are not running properly.

Other possible culprits that I have seen eat a lot of electricity: Do you have an electric water heater? If so, you might want to have a professional check the elements--If one element is burnt out it can make the other run nearly around the clock to keep the water at the set temperature. Humidfiers, de-humidifiers, and aquariums are also often overlooked as electrical users.

Solar panels can greatly reduce or eliminate your electric bills!

Tax credits will all but pay back any costs you might incur with the purchase of these panels....or look in your local listings for used solar panels - they don't go bad!

The post about unplugging your appliances when not in use is a very very good one! - it's simple and inexpensive. TV's & computers are always "hot" because they have the instant on feature. One other thing to do is to buy the flourescent "screwin" type bulbs for all of your lights - they will also greatly reduce your electric bill.

I live off grid and run my household on 6 solar panels. We have a gas refridgerator and no furnace but other than that we run a pretty normal household.

Let us know if you find any difference in unplugging your appliances.

we have a 2002 76 x 40 home built by palm harbor,we live in the arizona desert in the summer its about 110 for 3 or 4 months. the elec. bills a monster i checked on solar panels and was told there not allowed on these type of homes.so if that is the case are there other options that i can try to use to ease my bills?it just seems crazy that we have sun for 300+ days a year and cant install any solar at all. any help would be greatly appreciated.thanks

There is no reason manufactured homes should be excluded from using solar panels. At least one manufacturer is installing solar panels now in the factory.

Who told you that solar panels were not allowed on your manufactured home? Is that a local building department, state or in park rule ?