Master Metered Electric

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1

Hi All - Does anyone have experience with master meter electric? We are looking at a park that has this. Are there any owners out there that can share experiences (good, bad, ugly) regarding owning a park with master metered electric?

Thanks,
Matt

2

I almost bought a park with this too, but backed out for other reasons. You can submeter electric just like you can water or gas, which is probably the least expensive option.

If you already have someone checking individual water submeters then this should only be a small incremental responsibility, and a huge expense off your books. Also the quote I got for installing submeters was about 10% the cost of installing new power poles, meter loops, and clean up of the old stuff. This was in a small 10-pad park in Texas…

Once you take care of the other big items and get the Park more profitable then you can decide if you want to spend the money needed for individual utility meters.

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Jhutson,
Where is the park located?

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It was in San Antonio metro area.

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There are several issues with Master meter electric and it is important to understand them. Here are a few:

  1. You are responsible for the transformers. The transformers can cost about $2,000 and with the electricians running at $100/hr, the cost can add up pretty good. In one park we were studying, the owner was losing 2 to 3 transformers every year. It is one of the head aches that you should be aware of.
  2. Reading the eletric meters and charging the residents is now your responsibility.
  3. In many of the older parks, people use many window units and that pull lot of power. Which in turn may bust the transformers or load the lines causing lot of sparks to fly around and caused more fires. Another big head ache.

I am sure there are many more issues. Frank doesn’t like electric and gas master meter for good reasons as it can be life threatening and people can lose sleep after buying these parks.

Hope this helps.

1 Like
6

I am really surprised that there isn’t some form of surge protection or master electric panel between the transformer and the homes that would prevent the load you mentioned causing a transformer outage. Usually (or I thought) transformer outages were caused by a distribution line surge, which is caused by lightning or maybe a downed limb where load could not be shed by the utility.

Anyway, the Park I looked at was so small that the transformers were not the Park’s responsibility. Definitely good to get coverage on this though, and good items to consider from @DallasMHP