ANTIGO — At a meeting last Wednesday afternoon, the county board’s forestry and recreation committee approved a motion to set aside $290,000 in the county’s 2025 budget for a capital project to add electricity to the Perch Lake campground.
According to Langlade County Forest Administrator Al Murray, county officials hope to complete the project in order to increase the one-year-old campground’s occupancy, which during the past season was only at roughly five percent of its capacity.
“People when they go camping, they want to back their camper in and plug in,” Murray said. “Pretty much most campers are demanding to have electric now. Even with the occupants that we have at Perch Lake, we allow them to use generators. But there’s so many people that use CPAP machines and stuff like that. A lot of the campers don’t like the generator noise, but we have to allow them to use it, because it’s a medical condition. So there’s so many things medically that require electric that a lot of campers just want to have that electric, and it makes the campground much quieter instead of having generators running all around you.”
The potential project will likely entail the installation of several 800 amp electrical distribution panels on each of the Perch Lake campground’s five restrooms. The panels would send power out to RV service pedestals that campers could plug their campers into at each camp site. The 800 amp design was chosen in favor of other less powerful options.
“Just to meet the need of the current campsites, the design that the electrician came up with is three 600 amp services and two 400 amp services,” Murray said. “That would just provide us what the current demand is. If we go to the 800, then we can run new lines off if we add campsites or if we add a cabin or whatever. We’ve got expandability.”
He calculated the project could be reimbursed through rental fees at the campground in approximately 10 years time, an estimate based on a comparison with the Jack Lake campground, an electrified site with a high occupancy rate that county officials hope Perch Lake will soon boast as well.
“Essentially, it’s based on the average occupancy that we have at Jack Lake,” he said. “But it’s based on getting that occupancy over that 10 year time. Then it’s only based on 20 percent of the income from that. So even if the occupancy is off, we’re still only utilizing 20 percent of the revenue for that return calculation.”
Murray said that although a certain small group of campers may wish to keep the campsite’s remote nature intact, most will be pleased with the change, which will ultimately benefit the county as a whole.
“We have some significant investment in the campground,” he said. “The campground itself cost about $550,000, so getting that occupancy up there and getting that revenue generation helps pay off the whole project a little bit sooner than without electric. Quite frankly, the county board’s concerned with the lack of occupancy there with the investment that was made last year to get it up and going.”
Langlade County Administrator Jason Hilger expounded on the potential benefits of adding electricity to the Perch Lake campground still further.
“It’s a great thing for the county,” Hilger said. “It should be great for the Elcho area, because more people will be there. They’ll be shopping, they’ll be spending their money. I think it’s a great thing for Antigo businesses. As campers come through town, they’ll stop to visit our restaurants or businesses, and I think it’s good for the tax base, because some of the people that come camp will fall in love with the area, and they will buy homes or invest in businesses in the area too.”
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