Hello all For discussion at the next group meeting in 2 weeks (22nd July): Proposal to have a $1 charge per use for the shared Washing Machines in the laundry container, to pay for the electricity consumption.
The dryer has a charge of $1 for 30 minutes And the Sauna has a charge of $3 per use I feel it is fair that washing machine users pay their own electricity use.
The electricity rate for a load of washing is calculated like this:
From Google, washing machines generally use around 1500 to 2000 watt on a
warm water wash (although the new energy efficient ones can be as low as 500w on a cold water wash). For a wash time of around 1.5 hours, and at $0.27 per kWh, this comes to between $0.61 and $0.81. So it seems reasonable to have a charge of $1 per wash, which also makes it easy for me to calculate every month.
Note that the washing machine charge as proposed, is not intended to include any replacement cost of the machine, although extra cash collected above the amount needed for electricity consumption could certainly be put towards a fund for new machines.
Also please note that the Long Term Maintenance plan does not currently have any amount for replacing appliances. There is a sum of $2500 pa for maintenance and repair of the interior of the common house, including chattels, but this sum is primarily meant for plumbing, electrical and building repairs, and not meant for buying new equipment.
People can send me their thoughts on this before the next meeting. But I do not intend to conduct a discussion over email, so may reply only briefly to your message
Regards Min