What can I expect my electric bill to be?

[Bea]

I just wanted to say again how VERY much I appreciate all of your helpful replies. The suggestions, information and formulas have REALLY helped me to get a much better handle on what I can expect.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

[2xS]

Rates usually also vary either by the time of day, or by a baseline. On a time-of-day system, the rate will change based on peak usages during the day e.g. it's more in the mornings (6am-9-pm), and more in the evenings (4pm-9pm). On a baseline, you are given a certain amount of kWh usage per month; your bill should specify the amount if you are on that system. If you exceed that, your rates may increase significantly once you exceed 100% of the baseline; the rates then become tiered: e.g. 100%-130%, 131%-200%, 201-300% and each range in excess of the baseline would be an additional charge. I'm on a baseline system, and I was utilizing an electric heater (they're pretty much all 1500W) fairly liberally and I reached the 201%-300% baseline at $0.36 per kWh.

You can check your usage by reading your meter.
Take a reading without the trailer plugged in and do the things you usually do; 24 hours later take another reading and subtract the difference. This amount will be your daily power use in kWh; you can multiply this amount by your rate and then by the number of days in the billing cycle to estimate your monthly bill without the trailer.
Then do the same thing with the trailer plugged in. You can subtract out your average day kWh use to find out how much per day the trailer will cost you. This link will help you read your meter: How to Read Your Electric Meter

Word to the wise... get that furnace up and running and your bill won't hurt much.

[Jammer]

Bea, I'll also throw in the observation that you can get 120V watt-hour meters and sockets fairly inexpensively on ebay. (Also, the 240v ones can be converted for use on 120V) Most electric utilities have a rule that says you're not allowed to meter power for resale, but as long as you're not actually selling it by the KWH but rather just using the meter as a guide you'll probably be OK. I have a couple of private meters set up on my place to measure various stuff.

[garry]

Hard to compare California electric rates to the rest of the country.

I ran an oil filled electric heater 24/7 on medium and a small cube type 1500W electric heater on low with thermistor set for 65 degrees it would cycle on maybe once an hour depending on outside temp my electric bill went up just over $40. However that was in MS and they have milder winters than VA.

For propane have a large tank delivered just for the winter and use the furnace as needed.

The lights, refrigerator, hot water if on propane, converter and TV will add just a very small amount of electric I would guess $10 to $15.

At a minimum I think you will be looking at around $55 but less than $100.

Please let us know since this question may come up again and we would have a better guess to pass on.