Non EHU site 289

To Tw,

I stand corrected with your explanation re EHU onward sale but in essence it means the same, it is covered by EU law. You are correct we are charged to hire the bollard (pitch fee) and years ago it was always pitch fee (a very low price) PLUS EHU (always a higher price) and were as we are now charged a higher price in summer and lower price in winter.

We as humble members don't know what proportion of the pitch fee covers the cost of electricity but you can bet your bottom dollar it's the biggest portion and pitch fees can be in excess of £13 the cost of electric is in there so where and they always more than the cost of an adult per night!

Yes "off grid" means off the national grid for electricity.

As rightly pointed out our club caters for the majority of its members, certainly not all of them, as I said there are I think now only 10 of our club sites left offering basic pitches with them only having one or two pitches on each site. The C&CC the other club that I am a member of, do offer, on most of its club sites grass pitches without EHU.

Thank you for your views they were interesting and give food for thought. Enjoy you motorhome trips, keep safe.

I still cannot follow your logic of being charged more in summer than winter.

Pitch fees are higher in summer - that's market forces in line with the whole industry - but not electricity prices. On CAMC sites you do not pay a known cost for electric. On C&CC sites you pay the same cost year round.

I would disagree about electricity costs forming the largest part of pitch fees. That's not logical as other organisations charge in the region of £4 p/n yet you quote pitch fees of £13 p/n. I think the largest part of pitch fees will be eaten up by the general running costs of the site - maintenance costs, wages, water, business rates, waste disposal, gas and electricity. Think about it and it becomes clearer that the electricity used by vanners on pitches is likely only a small part of the total.

My last and only comment now to you is, do you know how much per day you use on electricity in your home, nothing like £4 per day I suspect. I have been on metered elect pitches in winter and been charged £1:50 per day so £4 is expensive. The pitch fee at Chatsworth house club site peak times (school hols) is £13:40 go look? Using your logic where does the cost per adult go towards then?

You keep moving the goalposts, Casandra.

Have a good day.

My last and only comment now to you is, do you know how much per day you use on electricity in your home, nothing like £4 per day.

If they heated a living room with electric all day in addition to lights and cooking I suspect that in Winter £4 a day would be cheap.

Casandra,

We debated electricity to death here a few days ago, you might want to have a read of it here since you are reraising issues discussed only recently....

Here

I understand, from reading Merve's threads in the "Tips" section that there are off grid sites (presumably part of the CL network?) from £4 a night and these may be of interest to you....?

Hi Casandra , I don't worry anymore about charges. I don't worry about how much for this and how much for that. I don't even worry about how much gas I use!! Actually, it's irrelevant now that modern technology is here. The CAMC caters for the vast majority of campers who, for one reason or another, choose not to be off grid.  The CAMC are happy to charge and the campers are happy to pay. I was happy to pay at one time- only on CLs- with 4 Kids, I always thought Club sites too expensive. But, you are right- EHU is the 'norm' for many many sites both Club sites and CLs throughout the realm. Finding non EHU is becoming a hunt. Hence, the caravan industry continue with their headlong dash to produce vans which are heavily dependent on power - EHU power and so EHU is supplied because it is 'required '. A very accurate description by Bolero Boy- "the CAMC is a holiday business selling pitches" Many of us on these threads have rejected the 'norm' and have decided we want to do our own thing without the support (and cost) of a bollard. We know that we don't need a bollard. Although folk have been off grid in the past, and as you point out, it was more common to find non EHU sites than EHU sites. It is now so easy to be offgrid and have a perfectly comfortable holiday with everything you ever had with EHU. The modern technology we see today has revolutionised our hobby but that knowledge has not, as yet, seeped into the consciousness of the 'standard caravanning public' I know this from my contact with them. When I have spoken to them, and I have spoken to a lot, over the past 4 years about how one can be offgrid now with SPs , Safefill, low watt pumps, lights etc , and save oodles, into the bargain, it is obvious that most of them have no idea of what is now possible- in fact, the reaction is one of amazement, not acceptance. Even non EHUers haven't heard of Safefill!!  The EHU rules! And so we happy band of brothers continue to camp and to support the small guy who has a bit of land with no EHUs. We have just returned from the Lake District from the site I mention above having had a fortnight virtually by ourselves in a remote location- No EHU - bliss!! £80- I'd much rather support a small farmer than a multi million pound company-  Most suffer with the herding instinct where they have to be with dozens of others and the EHU brings them all together- there is nothing wrong with that - it just ain't our bag- or yours it appears!

Merve...the wheel has already been invented and 'camping' has been around longer than the wheel.

But I do respect your intense enthusiasm and knowledge even though it gets incredibly boring.... but that's my fault for reading some of it

You are forgiven EJB! 😂😂😂 No offence taken. Yes, I love my caravanning and if others do it differently, - great! - as long as they enjoy it, what the hell? 

Seems to me that there are two ways of enjoying our hobby. When we bought our Motorhome last year we were encouraged to consider wild camping because it has refillable gas tank, large water and waste capacity and a solar panel. In fact, we seldom need EHU but because it is included in many sites in the U.K. and, for example, with all ACSI sites throughout Europe we connect up out of habit.

The fact is that as our vans have become more comfortable and even luxurious there is a greater need for electricity. If you have an air con unit for example they are quite power hungry. If you can't manage without a microwave you need EHU. TV, satellite etc. are can be big power consumers. Yes, you can overcome this but with quite a large investment in extra batteries, inverter etc. which is not warranted for the very high percentage of occasional campers.

Sorry to disappoint the evangelical off-gridders but you have a minority hobby which is going to become an even smaller minority as vans become even more elaborate. Mains supply will be considered essential for most people who caravan or have a Motorhome (and even many campers) and more sites, including CLs, will be adding EHU.