Smart Metering Trial

Posted on 02/05/2023 10:51 by brue

It's likely, as previously suggested, that there will be increased usage of onsite facilities to mitigate the meter payments which will unfortunately push up running costs further. Reading through Wyatts Covert reviews a variety of people use this site, some are work based and I would imagine they won't want to pay extra if it can be avoided?

I agree with DK on his estimates but I think domestic fuel costs are predicted to lower by mid season.

Quick edit

I had forgotten it's optional I think? So will people take this up if there isn't a good incentive?

Posted on 02/05/2023 11:17 by KjellNN

Having just returned from a 3 week trip in April, when the weather was cold, wet and windy on the majority of the days, I kept track of our use of electricity in the caravan over about 18 days.

We were mainly on CLs, had heating during the day/evening, when "at home" ,  at 21 degrees, reduced to 18 when out, and to 13 for 7 hours overnight.  We have a 2kw Alde system so heating from very cold takes a while, so we do not turn it  completely off when on a site in cold weather.

Being 15 years old, our van is not as well insulated as newer vans, and when arriving on a site we usually start the heating on gas for about an hour to get things going

We heated water for dishwashing and showers (average 1 shower per day in total) , but I did use a site shower on 4 occasions,  We used an electric kettle and toaster, and cooked using mainly electricity supplemented by gas.

Our average daily use of electricity was 22 kWh.

At home,  we use in the region of 10 kWh  on average per day from the grid for lights and gadgets, cooking, dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, fridges/freezers, and the very occasional use of an electric fan heater, but also an average of 5 kWh per day from the panels on our roof.

While away in the van, the use of electricity from the grid at home dropped to 3-4 kWh per day.

Posted on 02/05/2023 12:03 by DavidKlyne

Kj

Be interesting to know whether the Alde system uses more power than the Truma? We never leave the heating on in the van when we are out, unless we are just wandering around the site. One of the advantages of the Truma system is that it does heat up pretty quickly. However if your consumption is typical I imagine quite a few people are in for a shock with a metered supply?

David

Posted on 02/05/2023 09:52 by SteveL

The £1 reduction in site fee for July is  therefore totally unrealistic. It is only just about going to pay for the fridge and charger. Most folk would heat some water and boil the odd kettle. The £2 for August is perhaps more realistic.

Posted on 02/05/2023 12:03 by DavidKlyne

Kj

Be interesting to know whether the Alde system uses more power than the Truma? We never leave the heating on in the van when we are out, unless we are just wandering around the site. One of the advantages of the Truma system is that it does heat up pretty quickly. However if your consumption is typical I imagine quite a few people are in for a shock with a metered supply?

David

Posted on 02/05/2023 11:58 by Takethedogalong

Is it possible to use the fridge, but not the freezer in these modern outfits? I wondered, as this might be where a bit of a compromise could be made, if it’s not an absolute necessity all of the time.

Our outfit only has a small fridge, and a little freezer box, so we seem to manage ok in terms of consumption on EHU, and if we use gas. It might not be what folks want to do, I appreciate that of course. We usually carry enough fresh/frozen items to give us 3-4 days worth of meals, but we are of course out and about in our outfit at least every couple of days, so it’s easy just to pop into a shop and get things fresh.