The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the consumption and electricity costs used by equipments in a commercial broiler chicken house. A total of 10,500 broiler chickens were allocated in a poultry farm with 12 m of width, 80 m of length, during the periods of June to July of 1997 (winter) and October to December of 1998 (summer). The consumption of electricity by the equipments such as fans, fogging system, lamps and feeders was measured. To determine the expenditure with electrical energy, the prices were obtained from 'Companhia Paulista de Força e Luz' (CPFL). The results of this study showed that equipment management affect the broiler production cost, being estimated at 0.1306 kWh of energy consumption per chicken at a cost of R$ 0.0201 during the winter and 0.1891 kWh of energy consumption per chicken at a cost of R$ 0.0291 during summer period.
consumption of energy; cost of energy; broiler chickens
