UK sites with metered electricity

In our early touring days, we used a lot of private Sites, and it was routine to be given a window sticker/piece of paper that displayed your arrival and departure date.
All it would need nowadays would be a different colour paper denoting “with” or “without” EHU. Perhaps to match the pitch pegs😂 Staff do a daily walk round, as part of routine Site duties, keep a note, tackle any miscreants if required with photographic evidence and then HQ boots them out with no refunds, and no rejoining within next 12 months. That should sort any thieving illegitimates out.👍

Working on a pre assumption that metering can be introduced at sensible cost, and pitch prices adjusted accordingly. The retail pricing basis and payment method can be settled.

Those members not wanting to use electricity at all, those wanting to burn themselves in front of their awning heater on a winter afternoon and charging their EV overnight, and everything in between could be very satisfied. The club would be doing its bit towards reducing carbon emission. Fairness would abound.

They gave us a hang on mirror card with date of departure on one C&CC site. Wasn’t very visible behind the silver screen though.🤔

😂 Put it in the side window, behind the blind😁 I had forgotten about Silver Screens😉

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

There has just been a huge (almost)-world-wide conference in Glasgow about reducing the rise in global warming.  One of the main contributing factors is the emission of carbon dioxide, and burning gas is a great contributer to that. 

So surely if The Caravan Club is being a responsible organisation it should be encouraging the use of electricity, which is increasingly sourced from renewables, and trying to reduce the use of gas on sites, if not actually banning it completely.  Perhaps we will soon see a ban on gas installations in new build caravans as there is on new build homes?

By the way, my 15 year old caravan has a timer for the main electric heating. I know because I fitted it myself.  

The Club are always extolling the point that they are into biodiversity but I have never quite understood what they means. Perhaps they do try and buy energy from renewable sources but that hardly cuts the mustard really? It would be good to have a clear statement from the Club how they are going to cut the use of electricity. I don't often see solar panels on site buildings, surely that would be a small but worthwhile start?

David

Solar is not such a good deal when considering finance alone.  According to the government's own calculator if I were to install "solar" panels now I would not be in profit for the first 28 years.   Accountants would be aghast at a payback period of over four years.

...whilst I can see the issue with using gas in a van (over electric....provided it's green electric)....however, for ALL my electrical needs (all my 12v stuff plus any inverted mains devices) using my own solar system must be better than using someone else's (paid for) electric (green or other wise)...

We have had a few threads about metering in the past. In 2017 the Club did respond to one of them and I kept this response and reproduce it here:

Thank you to everyone for contributing to this discussion. I have spoken to colleagues regarding this thread and have a comprehensive response from Estates who share your concerns regarding electricity usage on site.

As you are aware, The Club doesn’t charge for its individual electrical usage but within pitch fees supplies use the following:

* Drinking water

* Waste disposal including motor van discharge points and caravan chemical toilet disposal

* Facilities (where included on site) hot and cold running water, heated, shower and wash facilities disabled amenities etc.

Our pitch fees are set according to cost to supply pitches on that site (including rates, maintenance, wardens and security, cleaning and grounds maintenance, etc.)

We have no written policy to reduce our energy and utility costs but on redevelopment of our facilities we ensure they meet current regulations regarding energy efficiency and being well insulated as part of our building regulations approval. We are changing lamps to LEDs and water heaters to the most efficient on the market but as it stands are unable to “manage” individual member usage at their pitch.

Without individual meters on each outlet it would be very difficult to measure each individual usage and charge accordingly. Unfortunately there are some that do leave heaters on maximum all day and night including their awning which inflates the average usage which is why a SMART metering system would be the fairest and would undoubtedly reduce our site wide electrical usage and cost to members. The Club has as part of its environmental considerations considered “SMART” metering so that each individual pays for the energy used but it was considered cost prohibitive at this current time as SMART metering requires replacing every bollard on site with individual SMART meters, a method of cashless payment and investment in software and a network of IT systems to record, charge, store and manage individual usage. This has been looked into and would cost several million pounds to install nationally.

In contrast we are frequently asked to increase our electrical capacity to each pitch to prevent constant overloading, but our 16amp supply is our only method to restrict excessive freely supplied electrical usage.

As with all electrical systems they have to be maintained and tested periodically and as a Club we test our site wide systems every year to ensure site safety, we do this very efficiently and economically and considering the vast network and usage by members it remains incredibly reliable regardless of the environment and conditions our external electrical systems operate in.

As far as we know nothing has changed since in spite of the members and Club's concerns!.

peedee