New CL: fantasy price

Tinwheeler we have a CL open all year and the CL DD is £248 per month which includes information hut with laundry facilities and 16amp hook ups, the shower block which has its own metered supply is £40 per month, the greatest usuage in one day on the CL alone in winter was 220KW it is always far in excess of our own usage in the house. Hope this helps.

 

..And your costs do not show the cost of testing all the site equipment

We have recently returned from a trip and was chatting to a CL owner and he told me that the electrician who checks his hook-up points told him that a caravan uses an average of £3 a day electricity. That would equate to £90 for a month, I dont use anywhere near that at home and we have all the usual gadgets on, TV, Internet, Laptop, not to mention the usual white goods. He is increasing his pricing by £3 a night on the strength of that.

 

Surely the CL owner was already charging something for the electricity being used on the pitch in the price per night. So he was now going to charge an extra £3 over and above that amount, thus making a profit on the cost of the electricity, which a TW said, is illegal. 

It's only illegal to exceed the cost price if the CL is selling metered electricity by the unit. If the charge is described as being for use of the EHU point, for instance, there is no restriction.

I guess the lesson here is to always ask the price before booking. Then you can make an informed decision whether you want to stay there. 

It's only illegal to exceed the cost price if the CL is selling metered electricity by the unit. If the charge is described as being for use of the EHU point, for instance, there is no restriction.

Which is why CC generally choose to charge an inclusive fee whether or not you want EHU; and C&CC (who offer both options) are not interested in metering!

My own calculations suggest that about £1/night is the approximate useage in summer, and £4 (upwards) in mid-winter. 

I have (inspired by Kjell) installed a meter in my 'van to gather some actual data ......but it's likely to take a long  time as we prefer basic sites anyway, and only take EHU if staying somewhere where it is included by default in the fee.

I haven't kept up with this thread but the by the heading the gist is Peculiar Prices.

I've just found a cl that charges according to the length of the van. up to 6m £13, 7m £14 and over that £15. How do they explain the reason for that. 

Could it be the increased heating requirement (leading to increase in electricity usage) depending on size harry.... 

Gibbo, thanks for your figures but my point is that £3 per day consumption per EHU is an overestimation by the electrician referred to earlier. 

In 2013 Npowr reckoned that the standard tarrif worked out at 19.87 pence per Kw Hour. With WHU most, if  not all caravaners will be using electricity for heating. So if we say over 20p per KW hour I can well believe that in coldest 5 months of the year it would amount to around £5 or even more a day. Obviously there are less folk using sites at that time of the year. Given the cost of providing EHU I do not see £3 a night charge as anything but reasonable.

The issue of electricity usage by members on CL's was covered extensively in a former post.  Unfortunately the unsophisticated 'Search' function of CT doesn't allow me to find the thread. Suffice to say that I have it on good authority that the Club would have installed meters on it's own sites  - but retro-fitting them would be a massive investment.  For now it just swallows the cost of electricity, however it's a major cost in the running of club sites.

For CL owners, I think it's sensible for any new owner to consider a metered system.  Whether they then choose to charge per kWh @ cost or include a certain amount of elecgtric per night in the Pitch Fee is up to them.  We include 10 kWh per night in our fee and charge 15p/kWh thereafter which is the cost price including VAT.

Through the summer months this amount is rarely exceeded, however in the early Spring & Autumn some visitors might be charged a little extra on departure to cover the costs.   We feel that this is a fair and reasonable system and the vast majority of our visitors agree.  

In fact only yesterday a visitor said 'I expect to be using a fair bit of electric as I'll be having a fan heater on in my awning when my grand-children (very young) come to visit & I'm happy to pay'..

That seems reasonable CG. 

Potential new CL owners concerned about return on investment with only 5 vans allowed might also consider not putting in EHU at all. At least at first. 

Many new Caravans are now being fitted with Solar panels and as their cost continues to fall as a retrospective purchase, many customer Caravans do not need electricity at all. If the site is not a 12 month operation then a very real case can be made for no EHU. 

There is (at least) one enterprising CL owner that has found it cost effective to loan a freestanding panel rather than install electricity.