Figuring out budget for electricity and related items.
In Puerto Rico, you are likely to eat llighter meals (due to the heat) and cook more in the grill than in an electric oven. You also may have the opportunity to use a propane stove and oven so you will not need much electricity for that.
Another saving is heating, you will not have to run a heating system during Spring, Fall and Winter as in the states which tends to substantially increase the cost of your utilities in general counting the use of either either heating oil or Natural Gas.
You are probably using a tank based water heater in the states so it is constantly using some fuel and electricity to keep the water at the same temperature even when not in use. In PR you may want to look into an Inline water heating system which is very common in the island as it only heats the water when you try to use hot water, otherwise it just monitors when to come alive. Small units can be set under the sink, shower and other places or you can run a whole house unit.
Your air conditioner in the states is likely to be a window mounted unit which are not super efficient and they leak around the window. In PR you can use the same type or use a split units which while more expensive than a good air conditioner, they are a lot more efficient and seal better than a window mounted unit.
As you can see, you have a lot of opportunities to have lower bills overall (heating and cooling) since all you need is cooling.
So for Puerto Rico we are going to make some assumptions. We will assume that the worst usage of electricity in the states during summer months will be the same as in Puerto Rico. So we are talking a year round summer based on worst month once you move to PR. This will let us look at the worst case scenario unless you decide to use more air conditioner, and cook more with electric oven than you do in the states during the worst month of the year.
So get out your electric bill and take a look at the worst summer month in 2016. It does not mater if you run a pool or not, worst month is worst month. Take a look at the number of kilowatt hours used that month (KWH) and set that number aside.
Now Puerto Rico is going thru a lot of pain with the debt and the cost of electricity, so the KWH rate is high and soon it will be approaching the KWH rate of Hawaii which happens to have a lot of similarities with Puerto Rico. The current rate for Puerto Rico is about 23 cents per KiloWatt Hour. But we are looking at additional rate increases likely, so lets use instead 27.16 cents with is the rate used for Hawaii.
Assuming for a moment that you only use 500 KWH per month during summer months in the states and using the Hawaii KWH rate, your bill should be around $135.80 plus any other fees they decide to add. The formula in this case is 500 * .2716 = 135.80
Just change the above with the number of KWH you use instead for your own number.
You may spend less for all the above reasons I stated prior to the calculation but each household is different. Some of you will use a lot more electricity because you are getting acclimated to a year long summer like weather, but little by little your body will get used to it and the calculated value will become more like the norm.
Do expect your food bill to be higher to the tone of about 20% more since most foods are imported and some of what you eat in the states as staples are not going to be staples in PR.
GET A GENERATOR, electricity outages are common and can sometimes last several days. Some of the generators can be set online and power the entire house. Some models will sense that the electricity drops and turn themselves on and run until they run out of fuel or the electricity comes back. They can be powered by Gas or by propane and usually have a battery to run the electronics until a power failure occur. Check oil and battery and test it at least once a month.
Solar power is also an option but it has a high initial cost, but typically last about 25 years before major replacements of panels are needed. Unfortunately Solar panels do no good at night and produce less electricity during cloudy days. You can add additional panels to compensate and also get the above mentioned Generator so you are fairly independent of the grid and less likely to have to pay the higher rates coming in the future.
** Not recommending wind electric production since wind is very unpredictable and most turbines need a minimum wind speed to produce usable electricity.
Like always, your situation may be different, this is to help you figure out your budget. If you find that in PR you use a lot more KWH than in the states, see what has changed and adjust accordingly.
Rey