Electricity meters
Comments
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I always assumed, perhaps wrongly, those seeking non EHU pitches were looking for a much more economical site. Is say a £3 a night saving going to get many takers on a peak price of £30 a night for two? I know the C&CC do it, but they have a lot more tent campers, for whom they are catering.
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i dont think 'economical site' is necessarily the right word, Steve (somehow smacks of downmarket and sounds like they have a lesser stay than others?)...they want the same sites.....for less, as they are using much less.....around a quarter of the daily pitch cost.
.....rather 'non-ehu'....in the same way you, or others might choose 'serviced pitch' or 'super pitches' or 'euro pitches' on some sites....
its just picking a different option off the menu...not better, worse....
as to the £3.....that may be your idea of what you think the difference might be, but its certainly not the market 'going rate'....£4.50 to £5+ is nearer the mark (CCC almost a fiver? i think).....ive even seen one New Forest site charging £7.50 for a hookup....
now, at £5 a night, a 20 day tour is £100 difference on the trip, and for those who tour far more extensively than this, it could be much more.
its often these folk who then 'double up' on the savings by not substituting a lack of ehu with expensive Calor (where would be the saving?) but by finding a much cheaper source with refillables.
more economical, financially yes.....but 'economy holiday' no.
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I'd say SL has it right BB, the definition seems to be what 'off gridding' is all about-
economy
[ih-kon-uh-mee]
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noun, plural economies.
1.
thrifty management; frugality in the expenditureor consumption of money, materials, etc.2 -
Lol, Rocky, of course i know what economy means, however i (and a lot of this thread) was talking about (say) using a CC site without taking up the cable....
whilst there is (should be....) more 'ecomomy' financially in this scenario, we cant have the CCers associating their sites with 'economy' (dare i say 'budget') can we?
google is my friend, also
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If I were an off gridder BB I'd be happy to be called-a seeker of economy/budget sites. Wear your commitment with pride, words are nothing, actions all
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but doesn't that sort of imply you have to use a club site? Don't want to pay for the 'extra' or don't need EHU? then go to a site where that happens?
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And only if you want to stay on a club site? Are they so good that you have to use a club site?
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as to the £3.....that may be your idea of what you think the difference might be, but its certainly not the market 'going rate'....£4.50 to £5+ is nearer the mark (CCC almost a fiver? i think).....ive even seen one New Forest site charging £7.50 for a hookup....
I put £3 BB because at summer peak, at least, it would be the absolute most that anyone would consume, and should still contain enough for the bollard maintenance. Given that and the fact the CAMC can sell the pitches at full price more or less every weekend. Why would they want to offer a larger reduction. Might work in the week I suppose, same as mid week discount.
Of course I suspect take up in the winter would be less, as only those with refillables would be tempted to take it up. Even if they reduced it by £7.50, given how much gas my Alde will gobble.
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i dont think 'economical site' is necessarily the right word, Steve (somehow smacks of downmarket and sounds like they have a lesser stay than others?)...they want the same sites.....for less, as they are using much less.....around a quarter of the daily pitch cost.
I am not sure I understand what you are getting at here BB. The pitch cost currently at Chatsworth is £9.90. Are you suggesting that a non EHU user should only be charged £2.50?
Never going to happen😉
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That is your usual answer CS, surely you can do better than that.
By the way some of us do vote with our wheels, increasingly so. I have just had a thoroughly enjoyable 4 week tour of Wales, started off in the north and finished up on the Brecons. In that time, I only used one Club site for 5 days and that was a no facility one. My next Club booking is on a site I know and is on an economy pitch for 3 nights.
peedee
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I really can't do better, at the moment you cannot buy what you want at a club site, fact. So what other option is there PD?
I was reading some back issues of the magazine last night that were lying in the caravan. It said that the club surplus was something like 4 million for 2016, lots of new members, booking up on 2016, sites full....
Now this seems to indicate (to me anyway) two things
1. club sites are popular just the way the are and offering what they do, so why change anything?
2. the club is making a lot of money and (and I have said this before) perhaps from selling electricity the way they do is a nice little earner and again why change?
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sorry if i wasnt clear Steve.....what i was saying that (where sites operate it) there is a charge for EHU which varies, perhaps depending on the type of site or location...
CCC have their 'rate' (just under a fiver, frm memory) and ive just checked the New Forest site (Red Shoot) and its now £6.50 so that has come down since 18 mths ago....
so, of you go to a CCC site, the pitch price will be around a fiver a night less if you dont take it. similarly, at Red Shoot it will be £6.50 less.
no doubt, these prices, and those at typical commercials ive seen (say £5) do their sums (no doubt understanding that in summer more folk use less electric and in winter less folk use more electric) and come up with a cost per pitch night based on their occupancy levels.
importantly, they then put this cost against what they think is the local market rate (including bollard rental if required to ger around reselling regs) and then come up with a customer price for the service.
the £3 figure you stated may have some, little or no accuracy, i dont know, as i dont know what occupancy rates CC have, but at the end of the day, only the customer can know if the saving is worthwhile or not.
a few, but probably not many (who do this sort of thing) may take it up for £3, all (i suggest) will bite hands off for £7...thats why the pricing is geared to the market.
to keep in the same field as CCC, CC would need to pitch their figure at a similar mark......should they ever consider this option, of course
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Should not have to, to use or not to use,that is the question,it cannot be that difficult for all members to have a choice.😡
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well at present it is impossible to have that choice, and as the club appears to be catering very well indeed for its customers in offering EHU and indeed looking at the CCC where it is an option it appears that everybody opts for it, so why should it start to charge for EHU? Just because of a minority who would like that choice?
But again the statements appear to imply that people have to come to a club site. The majority of club site users appear happy otherwise why do they keep coming back and filling up sites rather annoyingly when you want to book one?
It doesn't affect me either way as I'll still use EHU.
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I was looking through a list of the sites that were once operated by The Caravan Club and are now gone. I noticed that only one of them had been equiped with EHUs. We know how slowly the CC moves on things but it looks as if sites that could not be provided with this facility were steadily removed from the network instead.
What hope for motor caravan waste points in the next decade?
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The point made about 'choice' is a good one. One of the key elements of superb customer service is to provide choice.
It seems to me that there are three main business models:
- An organisation provides its customers with various facilities and charges everyone the same, whether they use the facilities or not.
- An organisation provides various facilities and charges for each one separately according to demand.
- A hybrid where an organisation provides various facilities and charges for only some of them e.g. WiFi.
But it's the organisation that chooses which model to apply, not the customer. Where the customer exercises choice is to decide which organisation gets its custom. A bit like choosing between a full service airline and a budget one.
An organisation could, of course, find out what its customers want and change its operations to suit.
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A good post, but how do you know that the club hasn't found out what it's customers want? The evidence of full sites, increasing membership, good income might suggest it is has done so, found a winning formula and carry on doing just that?
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They were by no means full this peak season CS in fact I would say site income could well be down for that period this year. Even off peak its only the week ends that maybe full. There are any amount of pitches in the week unless there is an event.
Where did you read the 2016 accounts CS, they are not normally available until the 2017 AGM in October?
peedee
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well it could vary across different sites but the ones I've been on (and out of school holidays) are been pretty full. The site I'm on at present filled up on Sunday with under 10 pitches out of 156 unoccupied. I'm away later on in Melrose and I notice it's pretty full till about October.
Also, apart from the 'complaints' on here about not getting pitches on page 52 of the club's June magazine the director of marketing stated that since the rebrand there had been both an increase in membership and an increase in members using sites, over 2016 which had a been a great year
also on that page from the director of Finance: 2016 had been a successful year... revenue was up by £3.5 million and a surplus after tax of £4.2 million
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To be fair, I never actually suggested that the club had not asked its customers. I simply said (and, I suppose, inferred that it would be good practice) that an organisation could ask its customers.
But, since you raised it, in 30 years of membership, I've never seen such a survey. Has anyone?
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There hasn't been a specific survey on the subject of electricity but there have been general surveys where there has been the opportunity to put forward views about it if you have thought about it at the time!
One can only assume that those who oppose the idea of metering are the heavy users after all the fitting of meters does not stop you using as much as you care to pay for. I would probably still hook up but use it very much in conjunction with my solar panel much in the same way as anywone who has solar panels on the roof of their house.
peedee
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"One can only assume that those who oppose the idea of metering are the heavy users ..."
That's a pretty big assumption PD - just how much can any outfit use at any one time?
One could assume (if such a survey were ever done) that those who oppose the idea are relatively relaxed when on holiday about whether some other folk are using a couple of quid's extra electricity than themselves!
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"One can only assume that those who oppose the idea of metering are the heavy users ..."
Indeed a completely wrong assumption. I just do not see the need for the extra expense involved in setting up the system.
As I assume there would be a reduction of some kind in the pitch fee and they could not charge more for the electric than they are paying, it would make no difference to my consumption whatsoever. We use enough to be comfortable and would not waste energy any more than we do at home.
I am fairly certain there are not many, on site, constantly burning 3.7 kw.😱
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SL, 'comfortable' that's the key word. I use Pods mainly in Forest areas, they supply a heater that I use for comfort in the Spring & Autumn periods. You need the comfort to enjoy your stay
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yes fair point.
well there was that pop up survey on here a few months ago and the results are in the latest magazine, but apart from that I can't think of any either. But then again I've not been asked by most of the things I buy/use? I often get how satisfied I was/am though.
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One can only assume that those who oppose the idea of metering are the heavy users
Yes, well I actually save all my washing (clothes, towels, linen) from my stays away from sites and bring them away and bring my washing machine and tumble dryer away with me as well and set them up in the awning, then with the awning heater on I do the ironing as well afterwards. I also recharge any batteries I have for drills and power tools. Also any DVD or CDs I have bought since my last stay on site I wait and play them in the caravan and awning. I also cook a lot of meals on the portable electric oven and then freeze them to use back home.
Seriously. As Steve says it would be difficult to use a lot of electricity on site. Most of the time it’s just the water heater and in winter the space heating and even then it is not running on full as it has a thermostat. I am opposed to meters as I don’t think the expense of fitting them is worth it as the money could be better spent elsewhere and would not lead to any extra income to get the money spent on fitting the meters back.
It's a holiday, would you ask your hotel to fit meters?
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Well someone is using all the electricity when the Club has to weight the pitch fee between £4 and £5 to cover electricity costs even at a weighting of £3 that is more than my average daily use at home and the electricity company keeps telling me my consumption is above average so I think my assumption is not that wrong and I am sticking to it.
I have had some considerable experiance of using metered pitches now and I know how much I use per day and it is no where near £3 at any time of the year.
In case you missed my quote from the Club in the thread about "What it cost to be EHU free" I'll repeat it.
The Club acknowledged in previous posts on the subject that a SMART metering system would be the fairest and would undoubtedly reduce their site wide electrical usage and cost to members, However, fitting such a system would be prohibitively expense.
What puzzles me is why the Club cannot justify it but commercial sites can.
peedee
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"The Club acknowledged in previous posts on the subject that a SMART metering system would be the fairest and would undoubtedly reduce their site wide electrical usage and cost to members, However, fitting such a system would be prohibitively expense.
What puzzles me is why the Club cannot justify it but commercial sites can."
But only a tiny number of commercial sites, surely - I mean the other big players like Haven, Morris, Park Leisure haven't done it have they?
Can you say just how many commercial sites have gone down this road, PD?
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