Is EHU metering a good investment?

The Club do seem to be sitting on their hands on this one. They seem to acknowledge that charging for use is the fairer way of doing things but I assume they are concerned about the massive cost of installing meters across the network. Thus far they have not even thought to change the system over to meters on sites they are refurbishing where the costs could be more tightly controlled as probably new bollards are being installed anyway. I suppose there could be several reasons why they are reluctant to move on this. It would be likely that changing over to meters would take some time so you would have some sites with and some without. What would the situation be with sites on short leases, would it be wasted money? Are they just waiting for energy prices to stabilise so they need to do nothing?

David

The cost will not be massive compared to buying a site and refurbishing it!  I will be interested to see what they do with Steamer Quay and other refurbishments. I don't think it should make any difference to having some sites equipped with meters and others not after all it does not prevent members from not using EHU and by the same token it does not matter if they never equip sites on short leases. The longer it drags on I think the worse it will get because don't forget there is the spectre of the increase in electric vehicles hanging over the Club's head and members are certainly not going to cut back on electricity usage while it remains unmetered.

peedee

"the spectre of the increase in electric vehicles"

And this includes electric campervans.  I accept it may be some time before we see electric fully fledged motorhomes but there are now increasing numbers of electric campervans.  OK - some time before they become common.  One featured in magazines recently (cant remember which mags) which runs equipment off lithium leisure batteries and solar (massive amounts) and anticipates plugging in to pitch socket for charging vehicle battery on the basis that it will take no more electricity than "normal" non electric vans hooked up to use electricity in the van.  Can also charge from normal charge points.

The CAMC is envisaging electric cars charging at charge points in car parks.  Obviously not appropriate for electric campervans.

If we project forward five years electric campervans will be more common.  Five years is not a long way off in planning terms for the Club for refurbishments etc.  I just hope that, even though as DK says they seem to be sitting on their hands, a lot of appropriate planning is going on behind the scenes.

Aren't we more or less in agreement 4 or 5 units a day before heating? 

Based on our gas usage we are adding 10 units a day for heating, cooking and bbq. Hence when much colder in UK and maybe a fridge twice the size I don't think it's too far out at £20 - £30. The club may not though be paying the top whack commercial rate and of course this usage is winter not summer.

Without meters though and their current pricing it would appear that maybe summer pricing is subsidising winter stays??

Well I think it was you who quoted a certain sum per pitch to install meters and then the overall cost across the network was a few million, wasn't it? 

Do you know how much a site costs to buy and/or refurb? Even it's the same or more as a club user (you have said you're going to use club sites less and less and perhaps none I recall?) I would personally spend the money on new sites and refurbishments which will at least enable the costs to be recouped unlike meters and the 'evidence' appears to shows it what those actually using club sites really want.

... are certainly not going to cut back on electricity usage while it remains unmetered

Even with meters why would I want to cut back on my electricity usage? I don't at home and when I'm on holiday that is will be the last thing I will do. I won't abuse but I will use whatever electricity I need to enjoy myself, meters or not. And if you think sites prices will go down at all or even significantly with meters then as others have posted before you might be wrong as even you appear to admit:

I also think sites can charge for electricity supply infrastucture including meters to recover the capital cost over the anticipated life time of the equipment.

But then if you're not using club sites? 

OH has been looking at where we might go this year, April to October.

She has found quite a few CLs, and some small commercial sites, are now  saying that electricity will be metered.  Some are including maybe 10kWh in the site fee, others include none but have reduced their price and  made EHU optional.

It would be good if sites that do this included some idea of the price per kWh they will be charging.  Prices are likely not fixed for a long period, but it would be easy for those with web sites to keep their prices updated, and the price to be clearly displayed on  the site.

Without having some idea of the unit cost, one would have little idea of what a stay might cost, whether the stay would be affordable, and whether using gas would work out less expensive.

So far, OH has not found any site that is using metering giving any inkling as to the likely cost per kWH.

A good point, at the very least they should give the current (yes pun intended) price?

Kj

I think you will have to take that up with individual campsites as it will depend whether its a Domestic/Commercial/or contract price. Probably looking for a minimum of 50p KWh and perhaps as much as £1 a KWh if a commercial contract. You are going in the warmer months of the year so I suppose a rough guide of say £5 a day depending on whether you make use of your gas supply for more than cooking?

David

Our fridge/freezer uses 4kWh per day, so with lights, battery charging, TV and the toaster, we might get away with 5kWh.  

However, April can be cold, especially up here, and we would usually use our own facilities.  Many  CLs have no facilities anyway,  so it would be a lot more than that for heating and hot water if using electricity, even doing all the cooking by gas.

Luckily we have refillable bottles, so using gas for heating and HW is perfectly possible and not too expensive, but for anyone using Calor it could get expensive.  The only problem might be keeping the bottles topped up, depending on where we go.

Yes, one would of course have to ask the individual site, just puzzled why, if they are metering, they have not thought to indicate even the current pricing in their site details.   And keep the info updated.    There  is a big difference between 50p and £1 per kWh.

I think at £1 per kWh we might be going away a lot less!!

Yes we are, sorry but I misunderstood your post and thought you were saying £20 to £30 was the price of just running the fridge.

I note in todays news a big energy supplier is predicting prices of energy will remain high and he does not expect gas and electricity bills to return to the levels they were before Covid.

peedee