Smart Metering Trial

Trouble is Steve everyone is judging the pitch price reduction on the minimum reduction which is what £1 or £2 a night? But what about the greater reduction later in the year which can be as much as £6? Now YT would have us believe that the electricity usage is far greater especially those that have a stonking great fridge/freezer. I just wonder how many have that size of appliance in their caravan/motorhome, certainly not everyone. Just an example I have just had my motorhome linked up to the mains at home prior to going away. OK I only have an under the counter fridge but my electricity usage has come to about £1 each day over the two days, probably a bit less, whilst it was connected. OK it would have been a bit more had I used the water heater but I suspect those that use the site facilities might not bother the heat water? So where does that leave us, it seems that at this time of year perhaps £1 to £2 might be an accurate reflection on daily electricity usage?

David 

 

 

We do have the large fridge freezer, as do many others, although don’t now use any other electric appliances such as a kettle, toaster and coffee maker. However, as caravaners we did, as I suspect do many others. You only have to see some of the posts on CT about how little gas some get through because they use electric hot plates and mini ovens. So even without the water heater, which I doubt many don’t use at all, I think £1 / £2 is pushing it at any time of the year as any sort of average usage. As current pitch prices are based on that usage, surely we should be seeing a more significant reduction, Reductions later in the year may be more realistic, however a significant number of members take their holidays in July and August when prices are greatest and reductions least.

The metering will stay as its a money spinner 

I'm just looking at prices for a 'commercial' we use...now 'electricity' isn't sold by metering but by the 'service' of having hookup...and it varies by the type of pitch you choose....

4 nights grass pitch...the saving/cost (depending how you look at it) is almost £40, a tenner a night...

4 nights HS super pitch...difference is almost £67, £17 a night.

4 nights Premier pitch...difference £92!....£23 a night!

to illustrate further....the middle option Hs Super pitch with leccy costs roughly £45 a night, comparable with a club pitch, yet the reduction per night for not hooking up is £17!...brings pitch down to £28. In this sunny weather surely a no brainier for anyone with a solar panel?

They must be using a different 'algorithm' to CC🤷🏻‍♂️

 

There are a lot of caravans and MHs that do have the taller  fridge/freezers.  Some are tall and narrow, others like ours are shorter and wider.  I would not call ours "stonking", it is in fact of a lesser volume than many newer vans have, yet it  uses around 4kWh per 24 hours, which at that stated CAMC price of 42p would be £1.68.

The site we are on at present is several miles away from supermarkets, and we do not want to spend too much time shopping, so we have come fairly well stocked, with 5 mouths to feed supplies soon disappear!   A small fridge with tiny ice box would be no use at all here.

Looking at new vans recently, with our daughter, we discounted anything that did not have a decent sized FF.

And how many, even on a full facilities site do not usually heat any water at all?   Very few I would think.  Possibly more MHers than caravanners will normally take  dishes away to wash, but with metered electricity I can see the queues at the dish wash getting very long!  But what a faff having to take dishes away to wash, reminds me of metered sites in Germany where the charge was 75 cents per kWh.   We heated water by gas.

And I bet most people will have an electric kettle, probably a toaster too, and would normally use the electric ring on their hob if provided.

Then TV, charger, lights, microwave.........

The allowances CAMC are giving, at any time of year, are just not good enough, especially when you take their high site fees into account.

 

KJ. This is the problem, those of us who genuinely don't use much ehu and are equipped to run without it are faced with site fees that support large vans with large amounts of equipment. We've never needed a fridge freezer or any systems that draw on too much power. When we first started vanning we used gas to supplement the ehu which wasted our gas so now we do what others do, small electric toaster, electric kettle etc but because we're not living in the van as we would at home we're happy to stock the fridge up a bit but then go shopping for small amounts of food or meals out etc. It's possible to use solar powered items, power banks etc to supplement ehu. When we're off ehu we can manage very well without the microwave it becomes a useful cupboard. Shock horror we've even washed up in the same water all day...I remember relatives who lived on an island with a poor water supply having to do that in their guesthouse! 

I realise some are going to find metering to be quite a trial and quite expensive unless they learn to adapt.

I can only agree brue, despite having a large twin axle van!   Metering will be much fairer.

We are used to metering from when we went abroad, and when faced with high electricity prices we would just change to using  gas where possible, not a problem for us as we have a Gaslow system.

We do not have a solar panel, have recently considered it but decided against as we may not be keeping the van for more than another year or two.

The site fees need to be reduced more so that the light users can benefit properly and not still be subsidising power hungry units......or filling the Club coffers!

Will not affect us as we have stopped using Club sites......too expensive.......but remain members to use CLs, 3 on this trip along with 3 CCC sites and 2 commercials.

I also agree with Brue, we are very light users of others' electric when on site. In fact, we booked the site I alluded to above only yesterday and we've been here since 11 am (shock horror, the receptionist said the site was quiet and we could come at any time....) and chose the grass pitch no EHU option...

with our members discount we only paid £50 for four nights.....

I topped up with lpg on the way here and am running the fridge on it...the TVs are 12v as are our charging USBs for phone, iPad etc. water pump is also 12v so we don't have any mains requirements, not even to turn on the mains leisure battery charger....also my BBQ runs on gas as does our hob and oven if required...

KJ mentions he doesn't have a solar panel but IMV it (these in our case) underpin being able to remain on site without EHU. Yes, those who drive off site can charge their leisure batteries as they do but many units stay on site (we choose to cycle instead). 

our three x 100w panels mean the leisure batteries are rarely less than full, even when charging the ebike batteries...

for anyone considering spending the late spring to late summer off grid I'd say 200+ watts of solar will make this so easy...

using non EHU CL sites might yield a swift return on the investment, however just going non EHU on a club site will probably never achieve this in most lifetimes...👎

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David, I agree...there's no typical usage...however the Club (and other providers) will be aware of rising costs across the site to heat water for showers and dishwashing, and to keep shower blocks warm and well lit. Some of this was mentioned when CAMC put up prices across the board a while back...

So it looks like we, the punters, will get caught either by base price rises (to cover those who use site facs) or by using the electric on your pitch by individual metering...

it's a hard ball situation now where costs, however allocated or paid, are rising in this hobby.

as an aside, we have this site to ourselves at the moment, it's popular with families but the kids are all at school but will fill at the weekend (hence our choice of date and the great location)

...we have heated shower blocks (with heated floors) at our disposal and, despite us having chosen a non EHU option, every pitch, grass or HS, has a bollard for water, drainage and EHU and we are 'trusted' not to hook up....although the electric system has a meter which may well link back to the office as with other sites we've used....

so our £12.50 a night gives us a 'non EHU, fully serviced pitch with top notch showers'...a bit different but very civilised...🙂