The lure of ehu

what 'comforts' do you think folk (you) are (would be) missing out on when they aren't on EHU?

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

..and to you....taking the boat to Cadiz a little later...

Everything in our van works extremely well on gas with the exception of the microwave. I can even run that via a 1kw inverter but only if the engine is running for that brief period. The TV works from 12v all the time anyway and we switch to gas rather than mains kettle, plus gas heating, fridge and gas hot water regularly, both between sites and on days out in the van. 

I think in the UK the manufacturers, to some extent, have encouraged a reliance on EHU, and this has been compounded by most sites providing a full 16amp supply so that now, most use mains for most things because they can. That the electricity is included in the price or as some would say is free, has only furthered the tendency to use it as it has been paid for.

Only when you look at the lower charges for site fees which allow people to opt out of EHU and a fee of say 3, 4 or £5 per night does it dawn that actually we are paying an awful lot for EHU in a year, and much of the time that isn't actually always necessary for some of us.

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Morning

The last four words of your post pretty much some it up "for some of us". The "demand" for non ehu on our sites is so minimal, the non ehu offered have next to no take up. Even if standard pitches were offered with a choice it wouldn't be worth the admin. Just my experience of course

As an aside, here in my rv in Spain I run everything on gas as it's cheaper than the metered electric. I have 240v and 110v systems but with a 200 watt solar system I regularly "give back" my monthly allowance. 

I'm going to post in the motorhome section as I'd also like some advice on solar for my pvc.

Cheers

JK

Boff – Thanks for replying. I’m sure everyone had a good time at the rally.  Enjoying time away, IMHO, is what owning a leisure unit is all about.  Good luck for any future time away.

Jollykernow- Interesting info re non take up of EHU.  

The "demand" for non ehu on our sites is so minimal, the non ehu offered have next to no take up. Even if standard pitches were offered with a choice it wouldn't be worth the admin. Just my experience of course

But isn't that because we are encouraged to use electricity in this country, especially on Club sites. If it was metered and had to be paid for you may end up with the situation as in Spain and other countries although the price per unit here is not quite so high but is nudging up.

You forgot to mention how low your pitch fees were JK

peedee

I think that everyone has missed the main point of my post.  The take up of non ehu was minimal about 10%. Yes I know that the cost saving was trivial but this a group of caravaneers who are used to being off grid for example most people would have had refillable gas bottles.  One person did use the ehu to charge up his PHEV.

JK I would agree with Peedee there is no encouragement not to use ehu infact if the club spent 10% of the effort perusing sexy marketing initiatives in advocating low tech alternatives to full servicedsites  Tesco car park type sites then we would all be better off. 

@JK if you want advice on solar for your PVC then may I suggest you define what you want to achieve.  Your need could be anywhere between keeping the battery topped up when it’s in storage. To running the microwave fridge air conditioning from a solar panel.   The answers and the costs are going to be very different.      

 

Minimal?

If you ever used Aires and many campsites in France, Northern France as well as the sunnier South, you'd notice that most Motorhomes do not use EHU – mainly because it isn't available.

Walk around the 200 + Motorhomes on the Honfleur Aire and at least 150 will not be on EHU – there aren't anywhere near enough points to give the electricity but people manage to stay there overnight without any electrical problems.

They manage very well without paying for something they don't need and when we stayed on a few campsites in France last year there was either no EHU on site or you could choose between paying a different price for an EHU pitch or a non-EHU pitch.

And these sites were full or almost full.

We run mainly on gas (fridge/freezer, heater, hot water) and the leisure batteries and Solar panel maintain the lighting, TV and USB charging.

We can spend a month away without needing hook-up and having to pay for something we don't need seems a bit silly.

But in this country there's a different attitude to pricing on most sites and we have to accept that but it is one reason for us heading across the Channel to more acceptable Motorhome friendly parts of Europe.