Power Plays (Dec 22 Mag, Page 56)
Comments
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I wonder how big a 'part' each of us needs to play...do heavy users need to play a bigger part than lesser users?
does anyone know if they are heavy users or not...compared to what, their neighbours with the awning heater or on the other side where someone hasn't bothered to plug in?
agreed, this is so wish washy it will achieve nothing (other than some thinking the club are 'on the case') so why not come out with a plan (perhaps implemented over a medium term) to show how it (along with the members) can reduce its overall consumption while being fair to those that use power at varying rates...
how could it do that?....come up with a business plan for installing meters, real costings, real implementation schedules and what benefits will be derived for all.
isn't this how most businesses tackle large issues?
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I didn't take too much notice of it. As you say it is just lip service and they are not tackling member usage on sites which must be the lions share of costs. Just asking members to be more careful just isn't going to work when the cost is all inclusive. That is just water on a ducks back and pitch prices will continue to rise, as they have done already, until energy prices reduce. Even if energy costs reduce, I think metering would still be a good investment.
On the subject of an average user, of which I am not one, your energy supplier does publish average consumption figures for your area. My bill is still horrendous even though we have cut back on electricity consumption and continue to try and do so.
peedee
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We have got to the stage with the Club that we don’t actually care what they do frankly. It’s unlikely we will use any Club Sites unless we absolutely have to, and once we get back,out and touring again, we intend doing more via Britstops. It’s very much only the CL access that has us staying Members.
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I doubt CAMC will ever come knocking to tell folk physically to turn the heater off or the air con which is also power hungry unit-either of these options would be a negative game changer re membership🤷🏻♂️
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The Club seem not to have a coherent energy saving policy for Club sites beyond a polite request? They will turn off LED lights in a toilet block automatically and probably cause some inconvenience in doing so, saving the odd pence here and there but won't ban heaters in awnings? They could reduce the ampage available but modern outfits are pretty power hungry so you would be driving members to use gas to supplement. That might be fine if everyone had refillable tanks but there are supply difficulties there and not all Club sites seem to be selling exchange gas bottles? The most straightforward answer is the charge for electricity in addition to the pitch price, this would mean installing meters which whilst the Club agree would be the fairer option they are obviously concerned both from the cost point of view and acceptance point of view. The introduction of deposits caused outrage in some quarters but at least one could point to the fact that they were fairly industry wide. We are nowhere near that in terms of charging separately for electricity as metering is still far less common in the commercial sector and of course the other Club does not do it. I don't think the Club have an easy decision to make but they do need to be thinking about some action rather than requests?
David
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Whilst C&CC don't have metering, they do have the option of EHU or non EHU. With CAMC, it's pay through the nose or push off.
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It would be interesting to see if sites are generally loss making out of season and are supported by summertime prices. If so, Brues suggestion could well be valid.
the site we are on has a note on its arrival flyer saying quite boldly that awning heaters are NOT allowed. The leccy supply is 10 amp but I can't see that makes a jot of difference (to us anyway) as our leccy kettle is a 900w one and doesn't cause a rethink of what's turned on every time we want a cuppa whereas with a 3kw one.......🤷🏻♂️
even having simple things like 12v TVs all helps reduce the mains load without any difference in set up...they just work all the time, EHU or not.
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I don't really care either for the same reason, we are also members for the CLs. However, it's interesting to debate any potential solutions, as some are pretty cheap and simple (option to plug in or not) while some will be a full blown infrastructure update and needs proper planning, costing and implementation.
the club could manage the former but it's based on trusting the members so that won't work (apparently) while the latter requires the full force of the clubs planning and implementation skills so.....dot, dot, dot....🤷🏻♂️
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Agree with the above. One thing that is different is that C&CC do have real amount of choice when it comes to selecting a non EHU pitch.
yes, they are grass, but in summer with the sun shining it's a better/nicer (for us) surface and there's loads of free power to be had.
the contrast with CAMC is that non-EHU (apart from a few places where it will eventually get lost in a 'redevelopment') its just lip service with the tiny number of pitches spread across the network.
we were at a site last spring and I recall the site had one non EHU pitch on the plan but I couldn't locate it (on the map it was tucked away in the dingiest darkest corner)...latest site map doesn't show it.
live just checked all the sites listed by the club as having non EHU pitches...of the 18 sites listed 4 don't actually have any, SQ won't have any going forward, 6 sites have just 1 or 2 and the whole network (discounting the 40 at SQ) is 50, of which 10 are at Altnahara and 10 at Cheltenham Racecource.
conclusion, spread extremely thinly across the network, so much so that I don't think it's really fair to say that this is a genuine network wide offering from the Club.
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It may well be they are not on offer as there is not that much call for them on CAMC sites YT. It could be different in May and June, but when we were at Altnaharra in mid September they were only minimally used. All the EHU pitches were in use on each night of our 4 night stay but only 2 / 3 of the non EHU.
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Yes, it is good to debate😁
I have promised myself if we find ourselves on a Club Site in the Summer, I might just ask politely if it is possible to have a no hook up opportunity. It’s only a few posters who seem to think that the majority will steal power, but I don’t subscribe to this. But if no one asks, no one will get. So a polite question, hoping for an out of the box thinking member of staff might just get a response. Even if it’s a negative, it might explain if it’s a blanket HQ policy. We won’t book a pitch, would roll in on the day. Pre booking excludes any form of asking, you have to adhere to progress onwards, options are excluded. But a polite request often gets the unexpected we have found. Certainly on small private sites we have used in the past, and some CLs. Just not sure the Club do anything beyond herding the masses into pre determined boxes.
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I agree, Steve. I also think the grassier non-EHU pitches are on lower lying ground very close to the loch.
You can just make out the tops of some vans on the low lying ground in the centre of my pic below the trees.
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yes TW this is confirmed by the site plan.
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Even if there was the hint of an affirmative, the wardens wouldn't have a clue how to price it, would they?
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For two people there are only three prices across the season...£16.90, £17.70 and £17.90
why would the club need to vary the prices by 20p!
for a single person it's £10.40, £10.90 and £11.00🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️...a 10p variance!
how about a single price of £17.50 for two people and £10.50 for one? Or is that way too simple?
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