Whats it cost to get EHU free?

Plus 1

We've always had a solar panel on our motorhome, it came with it when we bought it. For years it was great at keeping the engine and habitation battery charged. We did one night off grid about 7 years ago in the height of summer in the north of Scotland and one weekend. No invertor didn't know/understand even if someone mentioned them 😊.

We knew nothing about living off gird nor how to search for such info on the Web,  and if we found any info we didn't really understand 😲. Thanks to CT, and Merve in particular, we have had a 5 days off grid and we're able to charge phones and watch TV. We probably won't be exclusive off grid but it's good to know it's available. As posted earlier we purchased a small invertor about £20 and that's been our total and LED bulbs only 4 years ago but have just bought some much cheaper ones to do all the lights, well known auction site 😉, as a result of off grid we actually prefer the lights with LED. So this won't have been our last experience. Total outlay less than £50 but that was almost recouped on our first off grid experience!

If at a later we decide to go more off grid I know about cheaper alternative sources of gas thanks to CT, mainly Merve, who has great enthusiasm and is happy to share. I also feel happy to post 'dumb' questions 😆. I tried to ask in Maplins once and went out feeling like a time waster and thicko 😢.

Alan, i guess in the past, the demand for EHU was driven by ability of caravans to support it, initially the addition of electric powered heaters (in lieu or combined with) the gas ones of the time.

add in the boom in the number of domestic electric appliances (tv, kettles etc) and the upgrade of caravans to reflect the desire to have these with you and you have a large driver for electic bollards...

so, sites installed them and charged a tidy penny for their use....

however, customer demand is a fickle thing and choice is king these days, so with new technologies (solar panels) comes a desire to maintain the use of 'gadgets' (with even more in use now.....phones, tablets etc) but to power them yourself.....

so, while there is still a great swathe of vanners who arrive and hook up without giving it a thought, more folk are taking the time to investigate the latest ideas for power generation.....and for many reasons....site cost, location flexibility, even 'doing your bit'....

this new desire to be 'flexible' in how power is sourced has led 'some' sites to be flexible in how they respond to this desire....with CCC being at the forefront on pitch type and power (or not) choice.

i remember my first long winter trip to Spain around 7 years ago and discussing the power options with guests on site, and which devices to power with which fuel for the best performance/value....(remember, many here are on site for upto 6 months, so costs can rack up)

....many ran their fridges and hot water from local bottled gas (cheap and available) and kept batteries charged with solar panels, which in turn charged phones and tablets, and powered TVs.

appliances actually driven by the ehu on the pitch were few and far between, with inverters being used where possible.

my point is that, back then (and earlier no doubt) customers were savvy, knew what they wanted, there were plenty of them (sites full over winter) and the sites reacted by giving them what they wanted in terms of flexible power supplies..

today, with ever more focus on 'resources' more customers are becoming familiar with different ways of doing things, and want their suppliers to 'join in'.

the site i was talking about was Bonterra Park, i can just imagine the effect on long term clients if the policy were an extra (say) €5 a night , take it or leave it.......in fact, im sure many would leave it.

I wonder if many main UK caravan sites are reversing policy to now provide non EHU. I know some have areas of site without EHU but wonder if any are allowing non EHU rates for pitches which already have bollards in place. 

If at a later we decide to go more off grid I know about cheaper alternative sources of gas thanks to CT, mainly Merve, who has great enthusiasm and is happy to share. I also feel happy to post 'dumb' questions 😆. I tried to ask in Maplins once and went out feeling like a time waster and thicko 😢.

Yes there seems plenty of help available on the forum from members

i think it varies....obviously CCC have a flexible policy, but this might mean being sited on a non-ehu pitch (one reason why we didnt use this option at Salisbury as we were with friends who wanted ehu).

others who use CLs have reported that owners are happy to 'come to an arrangement' re use of the bollard or not.

even the site i was on this week, Crealy, had a non-ehu policy, although i didnt know it!.....so, ask away, perhaps?

again, back to Bonterra, they have locking bollards, and following check in, one of the site maintenance guys arrives at your pitch (usually within 5-10mins) and unlocks and hooks you up.

on departure, just pop into the office the night before, someone reads the meter in the office (all wizardry here) and you can settle up at that point, no one seems to worry that you might 'use a bit more' before you actually leave.

you will also arrange a time for 'the man' to unhook you and away you go.....if hes a bit early, no worries, we can all do without electric for ten minutes.

so, no waiting at check in or check out, but there is a resource avalible to carry out this simple task as part of their maintenance duties.....

so, flexible can work without detriment to the customer, but it needs to be resourced....and the single warden 'model' is definitely a drawback to changing the CC current processes.....their 'daily duties rota' leaves no time for things not already factored in, and this is the big difference between club sites and commercials, here and abroad. 

In the UK on main sites that I have come across the pitches without EHU are in a separate area of the site. Different system 'over there' it appears in some cases. I wonder if traditionally electric costs were higher abroad and gas cheaper as there always seemed more usage of bottled gas in some areas of Spain and France than in the UK

My personal view on this issue is that I can't see the point in spending hundreds of £s just to save a few quid on lekky

The reason we wanted an SP, refillable gas etc is not to save a few bob but to be able to enjoy the MH using Aires and other places that are off grid, being able to save a few bob and a few minutes in site not having to plug in EHU is a bonus.  Plus in the MH the fridge is on gas all the time when the engine is not running so having cheaper gas is also a bonus.  We have 1 Gaslow and 1 calor lite bottle so have a reserve if we are unable to fill up at any time.