UK sites with metered electricity
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We have used metered sites in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Holland.
As DK mentioned, some have had remote metering from the office, some have asked us to read and note or photograph the meter on arrival and departure (without them checking), others have locked EHU boxes and someone who comes to connect and disconnect you and note readings.
On a Dutch caravan club site they gave us a plug in meter which was read when handed in and returned.
We like to know what we are using when we cannot access the meter, so we have a device in the van that records our consumption. The figures can be interesting!
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Interesting discussion. I had wondered how the club would proceed as Electric vehicle charging becomes more common place?
Stopped on quiet a few Dutch sites that have remote electric monitoring, most seemed to favour charging a deposit on check-in & then refunding you any unused credit on departure. A couple of sites actually issued a swipe card that you used in the showers & for Hot water at the washing up area - so the technology is there.
Out of interest I found the following on the CL Owners group website regarding consumption. I quote:-
The average consumption of Electricity by a Member on an All Year Open site is 12kWh per pitch per night. Based on data over 5 years over 2 CL's. However, a large van, running mainly on electric, can easily consume 30-40kWh per day during winter months
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With all the discussion on climate change I really don’t think it will be too long before the Club has to consider metered electricity or it will get bad press. Reducing the amps will, as some have said, cause many problems with shared bollards and having to be reset. Many now use their vans in the autumn and winter months, which are often cold in this country, so use more electricity, which is fine, as long as it’s not wasted. While the price is all in its too tempting to use more. We really do all need to consider how much power we use, and it’s not all about the price.
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The Club intends to streamline arrival payments, I am guessing that you will be encouraged to pay by card before or on arrival. The same card could be debitted with your electricity usage without the trouble of going to the office on or just before departure.
peedee
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I did read what you said, but was pointing out, for information, that some vans do already have a timer for heating that can be used if desired.
The Alde system is quite sophisticated, but not all functions are easy to use. In the past many have said that they just turn the heating on and off manually as they cannot figure out the control system, which is a pity.Certainly not worth buying a new van just to get the latest technology, which is why we have a 13 year old one, but last time you mentioned pensions you stated yours was higher, which I can well believe, so how do you now reckon you are not as rich as me?
I have no idea how to check what I may or may not have said in old posts, so feel free to post a link. I find it unlikely I would have been able to post accurate details of my pension income........I would have had to ask OH to tell me that first!
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If you are not bothered, why join the discussion?
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you really want me to post that info Kj? You once posted that another poster's income was a third of your post tax pension. It doesn't take a mathematical genius (like me
) to multiply that amount by 3 to get yours. I often think there is two of you posting (not a negative thing btw) 1 -
The European sites charge 2 to 3 time the electricity cost. They don't care if it reduces consumption or not as they make a tidy profit.
Don't think you are allowed to that unless you are an electricity supplier in the UK. Still anyone can be one of those!!!
That's why the UK model is a difficult situation...
I was also going to add how on earth can you buy a new waterproof consumer unit with built it remote electricity meter, wire it in, test it and certify it for £50. Try £500...
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You're taking my quote out of context for some reason. You posted:
The Club should go public and tell us what the average electricity consumption is on each occupied pitch / on each site seasonally, so that awareness can at least begin.
I posted to say I'm not bothered about knowing what these averages are. To make it clearer I have no interest in these figures. I did not say I wasn't bothered about the discussion did I?
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I did ask upthread where your £500 came from and I did say mine was rough estimate and I posted that I had no idea. I'll take your word it is £500, which mean even the smallest of sites it will cost a lot, and the smallest one I use has 50 pitches will cost £25000, My last site had 166 pitches.
I have long stated that the expense would be prohibitive even before the AGM and now the club and you have confirmed this. It is not going to happen anytime soon, which I'm pleased about to be honest. The club only accounts for 10% of caravan sites (if that?) so those that want metering must be able to find a site somewhere
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Restricting use in surch a manner doesn't give those that want to pay for more any chance of doing so. Metering is far more a flexible solution.
Going back to the OP's post add Banks Farm on the Gower to your list.
peedee
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Coming back to a nice warm van in cold weather is nice, we do it. I set the thermostat lower but enough to keep the chill off and yes I would more than likely do the same if metered.
However there is a difference between keeping the chill off and running heating so the van is like a sauna.
At one time there was a CL owner who posted on here that he had a separate meter for his CL and could see what was being used. He noted that on one day when he only had 1 van on site that the amount used was way in excess of what he used in the house. Some folk don't bother, that is the bottom line. Meters would make folk more aware of what they use.
We don't have Alde heating but our vans do have the ability to set timers for the heating if we so wished. To be honest if its cold when we return at the end of the day I just put the fan heater on for 5 minutes until I turn up the van thermostat and it kicks in.
Solar panels can now store the excess power to batteries which you can then be used later in the day when the sun sets, might be another way the club could think about for the facilities block and site lighting. Not good enough to power bollards but if they were metered it would cut the overheads for the club sites.
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If you research Secondary Supply Agreements you will find how complex an issue it can be and, no, anyone cannot become an electricity supplier. You are correct in saying that profit cannot be made from reselling electricity under the terms of a SSA. Europe does its own thing and the regulations in the UK are quite different.
Edit: The screenshot below is a snippet from the club's guidance to CL owners. The whole pdf can be viewed here - https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/globalassets/pdfs/content/about-us/setting-up-a-cl-guide.pdf
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Without meters and with looming huge rises in utility costs pitch prices are going to increase substantially. Personally I prefer to moderate my own usage than pay an all inclusive fee for "the blazing light brigade"
I don't expect the club will ever go down the metered route but I'm sure long term CL owners will consider it.
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"the blazing light brigade"
Gee, Brue, you say the nicest things about your fellow members 😧
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Our new neighbours are a conundrum. Two very nice fully electric vehicles on drive.👍 And a gas fired patio heater for sitting under.....😬
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Hmm 🤔
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"Personally, and yes shame on me no doubt, I am not bothered about how much is used and don't want to know. I just want to have a holiday."
This is what you posted.
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PD posts....
"First of all not all Spanish sites do it, some have inclusive prices as well?
These are usually only applied to short stays where you pay more to pitch. Long stays are metered and the pitch price is much much cheaper."
on our winter site, stays of upto 31 days at set at x per night, inclusive of 4kwh per day....notice, this still needs to be metered to check one is within the allocation, even if it's 'included'...
stays beyond this are at a lower rate but all the electric is metered and charged, this year, at €0.40 per kWh.
so, the meters are used for all stays, it's just the pitch price and charging mechanism that's different...all super slick, using modern technology in umpteen languages.
again, could I see the Club being able to set up and administer something like this....?....
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ianUK wrote...
"The average consumption of Electricity by a Member on an All Year Open site is 12kWh per pitch per night. Based on data over 5 years over 2 CL's. However, a large van, running mainly on electric, can easily consume 30-40kWh per day during winter months"
this is interesting as from my own experience on metered sites (albeit abroad) and TG's earlier posting, we have no trouble at all in operating inside the usual 'free' 4 kWh per day.
remember, this is in winter so some heating will be used...however, a different mindset will also be used😉
for folk to be using three times this amount (or even ten times!!) it simply beggars belief...
if this sort of usage is being replicated across thousands of vans on hundreds of CC sites then someone in 'accounts' must surely have been given the task of lowering this huge total.
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I'm not sure what you're trying to say or point out. Your original post and my whole post reply is on page 9. I'll leave it there.
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BB I can also operate within this 4Kw limit but only running the fridge and occasional use of an 850w kettle. We cook solely on gas, everything else in my van, except water and space heating, runs off 12volts.. I have never actually checked what water heating and space heating would use if run on electric but those that have come up with figures approaching 40Kw in the winter. A thermostatically controlled 2Kw heater run for 12 hours per day could easily use 24Kwh over 24 hours I reckon 12Kw is a pretty conservative figure given what some LV owners could be using with all their domestic kettles and electrical cooking devices.
peedee
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Number of points. This 40Kw figure is indeed mind-boggling. That is practically as much as I use in a 3 bed detached house with all the electrical appliances that one usually finds therein.
CAMC can't profit from leccy? Maybe not but can they not make a standing charge for the use of the bollard plus a relevant tariff for consumption. That enables recouping the cost of metering.
I think it was Corners protesting that he didn't have Alde with a timer for heating. I haven't either but many of us have Truma and, whilst I haven't examined its capabilities to the full, I'm sure it has a timer function, presumably to turn stuff on at a set time.
Quick solution for CAMC to start to make a small difference. Ban electric heaters in awnings (often empty if posts on here are to be believed). Bit draconian to stop them using their own gas, however detrimental to the planet.
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