I feel your pain as I am in exactly the same situation at my VR.  We have tried discreet signs by the a/c units, a green guide and verbal reminders to the guests when they arrive, all with limited success.  Once we were actually on island but not staying in our house and stopped by while the guests were out (saw them leave for the day and we didn't go into the house) and noticed the windows were open and the a/c on.

Would it help to actually show them a power bill or at least tell them that your bill is far more than what they can imagine it to be?  Most guests are probably thinking, "I paid $2000 per week for this rental and so I can use as much of everything as I want."  If they can see that your expenses couldn't be met by your off season rate, they might get the idea.  Or they might not care.

The switches you mention are still unreliable.  One idea we had was to alert the guests ahead of time that there would be a surcharge if their electric usage is over a certain amount but gave them a generous allotment.  This does require someone to read the meter before and after.  It worked with our water consumption problems as that is also a big expense -- we have cisterns and if they go dry water must be purchased.

Larry

If you want to go with the surcharge approach, you may want to check into some of the options below:

For 110V appliances, including plug-in air conditioners, there are a number of monitoring products available.  P3 is one of the most well known - for its Kill-a-Watt product line:

http://www.p3international.com/products/index.html

Their most well known product is the basic unit, which is often available at online stores for around $20

http://www.p3international.com/products/special/P4400/P4400-CE.html

They also make a sensor based solution that can accumulate usage from multiple plug ins throughout the house:

http://www.p3international.com/products/consumer/p4200.html

Unfortunately, all their products require someone to physically look at the meter to record the usage after each guest.

There are some internet based solutions, although I haven't spent much time reviewing them

http://www.smarthome.com/_/Solar_Energy_Savers/Power_Monitoring_Appliance_Efficiency/_/P/1SP/nav.aspx

If you want to go very high-tech, the insteon familiy of products can include a PC-based monitoring that I believe can then upload results to you through the internet.  But again, I haven't investigated that claim very deeply.

(There is also the very old X-10 technology - not very reliable, and the emerging but may possibly be orphaned Z-Link technology.)

Hello Friends,

Congartulation to all of you. It is very interesting topic to be discused in this community. I am very much glad here to take part in discussion. I would be more than happy to share my viewpoint and experiences on various other topics, as well. I hope all members of this forum will assist me and gain my knowledge and experience.

Thanks a lot.

Mike Willson

Roslyn Vacation Rentals

I put this in this year, and it works great.  http://www.amazon.com/Thermostat-temperature-available-Completely-Tamperproof/dp/B0030V6ULO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346344719&sr=8-1&keywords=chicago+controls+thermostat CAnt turn the AC down less than 73.