Having lived in a manufactured home for years while stationed in Jacksonville, Florida and the area around Norfolk, Virginia, while serving in the Navy. I understand the consistent problems that come along with this type of home ownership. Unless you own your own land, you are caught between ownership and rental of property to park your home on. And even then, my rental space for my home cost as much, or more than my house payment. And utilities were the number one reason for raising rates.
Having lived in a manufactured home for years while stationed in Jacksonville, Florida and the area around Norfolk, Virginia, while serving in the Navy. I understand the consistent problems that come along with this type of home ownership. Unless you own your own land, you are caught between ownership and rental of property to park your home on. And even then, my rental space for my home cost as much, or more than my house payment. And utilities were the number one reason for raising rates.
I’ve dug at SDG&E many times, but in covering the story about the transference of a master meter system to individual meters that give owners more control of their utilities is one of the best programs that I have seen SDG&E get involved with. It is my hope that the Mobilehome Park Utility Upgrade pilot program is a success. It will take a few years to find out, but it seems to be a solid idea that benefits not only the residents of manufactured homes, but also the owners of the mobile home parks. With the master meter system, owners are responsible for all repairs because they own the pipes and lines that connect the electricity and natural gas. With the switch, all of the responsibility of maintenance becomes the responsibility between SDG&E and its customers, now the residents of the park.
Funding for these projects, just as any maintenance of SDG&E’s utilities is covered throughout all of its customers. This is nothing new as every time it has to make repairs to old lines or pipes, it is we the customers that foot that bill. With more efficient and safe infrastructures, it is a cost I personally do not mind absorbing and I do not believe that programs like this is what drives our energy bills up.
It is also my hope, being a former manufactured home owner that the savings that the owners have in switching off the master meter system, is that they will pass along these savings to their customers. This not only has to be a savings of money in having to deal with the entire utilities of a large mobile home park, but also should relieve much of the stress that mobile home owners face in dealing with the every day problems. A little more peace of mind can go a long way.
I get several complaints about mobile home parks in our areas, but most of it has to do with control issues, like a Homeowners Association dictating what residents can and cannot do. Much of it is trivial, but there is nothing trivial about lot rates going up. It is estimated that 55 percent of mobile home owners make less than $30,000 per year and 32 percent of mobile home owners are 50 years of age or older. These numbers are rising, with the numbers of single family households, divorced, widowed and moderate income people finding manufactured homes an affordable choice for home ownership.
This pilot program really does seem to benefit everyone involved, including SDG&E. And I love when I see the people that work for SDG&E get involved with for our local communities. I see its representatives at just about any community event I go to, and if I do not see them, they are a major sponsor for many a cause.
I’m still not fond of the large utilities in general. We conserve water better than told and our rates go up because it is not making as much money. The newer tier system with SDG&E is killing my family’s checkbook, forcing us to go solar to get off the grid as much as we possibly can. But this time, I am in support of this pilot program and hope that it works. It really does seem to be a win-win situation for those who own and live in manufactured homes.
