Electric Hook up

Surely the non-electric option is just that - no electric usage? Therefore, no use of the bollard or electrical infrastructure equals a bigger fee reduction🤷🏻‍♂️

Agreed, I miss read the discounts.

peedee

I think CS raises an interesting point in one of his posts. He asks whether metering is what members actually want? Going by past experience of major changes within the Club there seems to be quite a body of members that prefer the status quo? It seems daft to me that the Club will base its decision on what happens on two quite minor sites? If some members struggle with technology they are unlikely to want another layer imposed on them. The only information we have been given so far is facts and figurers on the reduction of use but none on the acceptance of metering. Is it possible that metering will be abandoned? If the Club were to extend the option not to connect to the bollard for a reduction in fee fees might that not meet the needs of the majority who are arguing for the change without going to full metering? Those that want to the self sufficient would be quite happy. However introducing metering will seem to many members just a smoke and mirrors decision because they will still pay as much in total if not more.

David

If we come onto a site for a holiday, is the first thing we want to do is to have to set up an account for our electricity usage? As a previous response said, if we go to a hotel is there a meter to record our usage?

Despite the previous responses regarding some folk leaving the heating on all day whilst they are out, has anyone actually seen this? Rather than worry about do have we have enough money on the meter (we have been to cottages where you had to feed the meter with coins), is it not simpler to include the average cost of electricity in the pitch price? To upgrade every pitch to something that records electricity usage, pay a third party to monitor and administer the payment system, seems very over the top. Why not extend that concept to water? We are mostly now on water meters at home, so for the service pitches why not record the amount of water used?
 This all seems a “sledgehammer to crack a nut”. The cost of everything we use is shared amongst all the users. Some will use more, some will use less. At each point in the process we will either gain or lose. That’s life.

KB, upto a point I agree with your post....why bother? There are certainly simpler ways to manage usage accurately without third parties getting involved nor having to open accounts online etc...

how do I know this?....because our long term winter site does it....by recording the meter in the office at the start of the stay and again at the end...and then prepares a bill to go with the one for the site stay...

of course, contrary to most UK sites, we pay in arrears so we know exactly what we've used and need to pay for, rather than loading cards or accounts prior to usage.

...back to why....probably because (as I mentioned above) the electricity component of the pitch price is now so large that it has driven the pitch element of what we pay everyday (added to the occupant charges) to pretty high levels.

The club must realise this and is looking for a way to reduce the headline charge and if some customers can manage without electricity the club can give them a 'reduced' daily charge which may not (seem to) be so 'out there'.

couple that with the huge move towards motorhoming and the different style of touring it can bring over caravanning (more stops but shorter stays) and the desire of owners to make their vans more autonomous with solar panels, larger batteries, big water tanks etc and you'll see that more and more can stop at a site for (say) two to five days and not need water, waste or power...

again, the club realises (must realise?) this and (as part of its 'and Motorhome' name change) is perhaps trying to cater for this type of shorter, less dependent touring style.

agreed, it won't suit everyone and therefore the club needs to retain some form of status quo, hence my favouring the simple 'EHU/non EHU' option over metering as I agree it's a sledgehammer.....etc, etc.

I don’t think the majority of Club Site users will prefer metered bollards. Some won’t want to be bothered with the tech side, some won’t want to be watching their spend, some (us included) won’t consider the discounts given on already high fees enough to tempt trying a metered pitch.

Conversely, if the Club doesn’t do something, it runs the risk of everyone still filling their boots with power consumption as it’s an inclusive price, and others being utterly priced out of using Club Sites so they go elsewhere.

Its time for some honesty about how pitches are actually priced, what element is the power consumption, what is infrastructure/staffing element, and what is profit?  At least that way Members will have an idea of what their pitch spend is going towards, and make a much better decision about if they are happy to support the prices as they are. In the past, there might have been an element of some of the popular sites, with higher prices, helping to keep some of the less popular sites going, and open for a longer season. But I don’t think this is quite the same now.

"However introducing metering will seem to many members just a smoke and mirrors decision because they will still pay as much in total if not more."

Not necessarily true David - if it's done in a fair and transparent way. I've posted elsewhere about our first experience of metered electricity when we stayed at Skybarn Farm CL last March. Nicola worked out that the average cost of electricity over the year per user/night was about £5 and therefore reduced the pitch price from £25 to £20 when meters went operational.

We used our van as 'normal' for the first 24 hours and I was shocked to see that we had used over £10 worth of electricity - but it was very cold! I then switched to running the heating and hot water on gas (Safefill) and the daily usage dropped to just over £5 - so we were back to 'square one' or thereabouts.

When we went again in October (much warmer) with the same regime, electricity charges were £1.70 pn and I probably used well under £10 worth of gas all week. So I was well in front and quite pleased that we had made that saving.  However, we were, of course burning fossil fuel instead of using, possibly, greener energy.

ttda - makes a very valid point about transparency of pricing and somehow, I can't see that happening with the club in the same way that Skybarn has achieved.

Again, there are ways to minimise cost and using pumped gas is certainly one of them.

ive just read a post about someone changing to a diesel heater from gas as he was using one bottle a week at £42+ which is almost as bad as electric prices.

if you have Safefill as above you can switch to gas for the heating and knock the leccy usage right back but many members won't be kitted up this way leading to them being between a rock (expensive gas) and a hard place (expensive electric).

I can't see it happening but I agree with TTDA in that prices have just risen and risen without much detail into why it's happened.

the club won't be interested in revealing their financial breakdown but cost elements in all areas have risen and we, the customers, will just have to decide if we see sufficient value.

summer vanning can still be exceptionally good value by using THS sites at £10-£15 against club/commercial prices approaching £50.

winter vanning (in the uk) is going to become a problem as folk realise how much a weeks electric will cost in really cold weather or what they need to equip themselves with to turn to an alternative supply....gas or diesel.

weve been on a club site this week and, as the boilers in the block have been out of action as they are being replaced, we've had no showers for 5 days or toilets for part of the time (of course, no discount or even a free night!) so we've needed heat and hot water in the van...im sure we have used plenty of electricity which would have been a serious addition to the bill if metering had been used.

Whist spring and autumn camping will likely continue, i reckon winter camping will start to become too expensive for some vanners as the (slightly) cheaper prices at that time of year are more than offset by the electric costs.

I think Richard you are more prepared than most because you have the back up of your Safefill. Maybe I am wrong but I suspect that most members rely more on the supply from an electricity connection. If you ignore the high use visit but look at the one where you used a mix of metered electricity and gas the cost to you was very similar to the £5 reduction offered by the CL. I wonder what the difference would have been had you not had Safefill  cheaper gas? I think what I am suggesting is that if members see that with what they pay for metered electricity, less the site reduction amounts to about the same as under the current system some might just ask why are we going to all this trouble? The people that will probably notice a bigger difference are those that go away in the winter but I wonder what percentage of members hang up their EHU cables at the end of October and get them out again at Easter? I would suggest it is over the winter months where metering would come into its own but I think the Club have to be sure they are not taking a hammer to crack a nut so to speak? There is also the question of the operation of the system. Will it be a requirement for members to have some sort of computer device with them or a smart phone and we have all seen posts on here with people saying they would never own such a device! I think what I am basically saying is that the Club need to take a considered view of whether metering is really the way forward and will provide benefits for both the members and the Club.

David

I wonder what the difference would have been had you not had Safefill cheaper gas?

£10 would buy about 5.5kg at the Morrisons where we normally fill up. Calor charge £28 for a 6kg refill according to their website. So for most on a CAMC site £25.50 if they operated as r&r. I think I would definitely prefer things to stay the same if we still used Calor. As it is I would prefer no change, but not bothered if there is. Not much of our use is in very cold weather.