WordNet
n. the expense of maintaining property (e.g., paying property taxes and utilities and insurance); it does not include depreciation or the cost of financing or income taxes [syn: operating expense, overhead, budget items]
Wikipedia
Operating costs are the expenses which are related to the operation of a business, or to the operation of a device, component, piece of equipment or facility. They are the cost of resources used by an organization just to maintain its existence.
http://www.operatingcosts.com
Usage examples of "operating cost".
Not only were Earth operations not losing money, but ore-sold values were five hundred times the operating cost.
In the early days, the greatest advantage of steam locomotion was that it had a lower operating cost.
For the horse-drawn trains on the B&O railroad, the 'crew' was 42 horses and 12 men, and the total operating cost was $33/day.
He had never expected to see one of the pioneer Morris trucks, the first fuel-cell design to achieve commercial operating cost, full to the brim of children aged between nine and fifteen waving and grinning over the tailboard.
Yes, it was falling apart, with half its systems questionable or totally dead, and with an operating cost that would make an Imperial baron blanch.
Our main interest will be in aluminum, magnesium, and copper, but we hope to extract enough precious metals to pay for a large part of our operating cost.
Now, we've got a situation here where I can't even calculate a fixed operating cost.