I just got my first power bill since starting to use the tent, and it was a pleasant surprise. From some very basic (and potentially off) calculations based on power consumption estimates, it seemed like the generator consumed about one third or one forth the power of a central AC unit for a one bedroom apartment, on an hour to hour runtime comparison. But, AC units generally don’t run for 8 hours straight at a time (at least in apartments). At any rate, I thought the generator might use roughly half the monthly power, or a little more, than my AC in my Sonoran Desert apartment (there were still 100+ degree days early this week). So, I was thinking maybe the bill might be 30-40 dollars more than my previous bill.
So, I was pleasantly surprised when my power bill was actually 5 dollars lower than the previous month. That month was the highest of all electric bills since I moved here about 5 months ago, but even then, was only about 20 dollars higher than previous bills. I didn’t think I was using the AC that much less (maybe I was). But, it’s also possible that I was using more power, but it was very cheap, overnight power.
Many of those nights I only used it for half the night as well (like, 3-5 hours), so that could be a factor, too. But, it would be a good guess to suspect that one of those generators is going to cost somewhere between 25-50 bucks a month to run every night for roughly 8 hours. Maybe more if you’re in an area that is really trying to “fight climate change” or “reduce their carbon footprint,” because those things directly translate to higher prices for gas and electricity.
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