Smart Metering Trial
Comments
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Yes, but unless you know the cost you are being charged and your electricity consumption you may have to top up whilst away. Of course you can always put loads of dosh on the app (or what ever it is) but i think many people may underestimate their usage.
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Good advice from WN there. Just shove what you think is adequate into the system and add a bit more as a safety net. You can get it back after if you don’t spend it all. Paying will be much like buying goods on line and that’s simple enough.
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I suppose it's possible that the payment method might put a few off but I can't see that metering per se will put people off. Although people seemed to have concentrated on the very small reduction in site fees that does vary across the year and later in the year the reduction is much bigger, when prices are probably lower already because of the season so at those times the value could look quite good? As mentioned by others this is an experiment so we don't yet know where it will lead. The two sites chosen are quite obscure so it won't impact the majority until it is rolled out nationwide.I suppose it's always possible that if energy prices go back to where they were before the Club could abandon the idea although I think that would be a great shame.
David
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Totally agree dt. We were on a CL at the beginning of March - when it was particularly cold. They have just introduced metering and have reduced their basic pitch fee by £5 pn. During the first 24 hours, we used the van as normal - space and water heating, kettle, FF, battery charger, small (500w) plug in fan heater in bathroom for 10 minutes whilst showering, occasional use of towel rail etc etc - all on electricity.
The cost for that first day at a fair 37p per unit was £10.20 - which came as a bit of a shock. Thereafter we ran the heating on gas and the cost for the remaining 6 days dropped to just over £5 per day. Not sure - but at Safefill prices, we used about £6 or £7 worth of gas for the week.
Very simple system for payment - work out usage for the stay and either pay by BACS or cash left in a cash box in the information hut.
All in all, a very fair system and one which permitted either off-grid use or pay for what you use and resulting in only a minimal increase in costs - if careful. Most importantly - it was fair to both owner and guests.
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It will certainly put me off using sites metered in this way. My personal choice.
The system IMO is best suited to those who stay on site for longer periods than ourselves as we generally tour staying between 1/3 nights.
I will keep an eye on developments as I wasn’t aware they were trialling 2 metering systems as someone posted earlier is to happen.
Hopefully members will be informed about that system if/when and where it is to be trialled.
Ps Thanks Kieran for letting CT users know whom you are.
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If you stay at Trewethett Farm the difference in July is £5.60 to £6.70. However, strangely, if the difference is just down to average electric use there is only a £3 difference at Altnaharra, where there are no facilities to use. Perhaps the electric is a lot cheaper in Scotland.🤔 Either way both make the proposed £1 July reduction for the trial look extremely mean.
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The system IMO is best suited to those who stay on site for longer periods than ourselves as we generally tour staying between 1/3 nights.
We do similar, could you explain why that makes a difference, I can’t see any relevance, the connection should only takes minutes to set up.
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I thought that might be the case. I suspect the variations in price have nothing to do with electric costs, more to do with what they think they can get. Although I’m not sure why at Trewethett Farm. We had one of the grass electric ones (only one we could get) next to the non electric variety and they were both highly sloping and a quarter of a mile from the facilities.😂
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If, as has been suggested, some will make more use of site facilities to avoud meter charges, the overall site running costs as a consequence will be back on an upwards spiral. It would have been interesting to see trials on a non facility site too as a comparison.
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It would certainly put us off using the trial sites, (not that we would use them anyway due to the prices) as we have a 15 year old van which is less well insulated than newer vans, and therefor needs to use more power to heat it.
I read the blog on CL booking about how to save on fuel use, 1 kW of electricity might heat the water, but would not keep the van warm when it is cold enough to need heating. Turning off the heating rather than just turning down would not be good, and our curtains would have no additional insulating effect!
Happy to use gas for heating and HW as puts out 6kW and we have refillable bottles, but the reductions on site fees are unrealistic, even for more modern vans.
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That would indeed have been a logical trial decision to make Brue. I think the metering trial will come as a huge wake up call to some visitors, in terms of just how much energy some visitors do use while away. I hasten to add that I fully respect the choices of others, it’s an individual decision how to take a holiday, how warm you want to be, etc…. But, it should be charged individually (per unit) as far as I am concerned. Facilities provided, or not, other running costs, averaged out onto pitch fee, fully agree with this.
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That’s a strange way of putting it. Surely the cost you pay includes for use of the facilities by all those staying on site. The way to encourage those who use their own facilities to continue to do so, would be to set realistic discounts. Our domestic rate is still pre price rise until November and even at that it would cost more than £1 a day in summer.
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There can't be anyone in the country, whether they camp or not, who is not well aware of the massive rise in electricity prices, over the past year. Perhaps this fact might mean that metering is a more acceptable way of doing things than just lumping all site costs together? It might be a rude awakening for those that don't pay much attention to how much they use but it will sharpen the mind to overall use. When we were last in German in 2016 we stayed at a site which had metering and the Kwh charge was 80 euro cents a unit (heaven knows what it is now!) so anything the Club charge will be good value in comparison!
David
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I didn't think it was strange Steve, it was a logical train of thought if CAMC wants to reduce energy costs as you say the discount needs to be an incentive.
There are all sorts of scenarios, eg some CLs have metering and facilities with a charge too. What is the best way to reduce energy costs which push up sites costs amongst all the other rising costs too. Why are some sites now so expensive? It's difficult to gauge, I don't envy the work needed to see how this can be resolved and improved!
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Those on site swimming pools will be causing some discussion I am guessing, they will use some energy to heat the water.
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I don't think it strange either brue, in fact I think it would have been a good idea, as you would get a more accurate idea of how much some folk use.
With a facility site folk don't have to heat water at all, I know we don't bother to. On a non facility site we do have yo so yes it would give a more accurate idea of usage.
Out of interest will the club be able to 'see' just how much some folk use? I know from past experience of metered sites some folk get a very nasty surprise when they go to pay at the end of their stay.
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From the way I have read the information from the club, the surprise bill at the end of your stay will be avoided. You prepay on the App and you can monitor your usage on the App and if you run out of money the power is cut off. So you are completely in control of how much you use and how much you spend.
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It won't effect us but I have to say a reduction of £1 wouldn't entice us to book a pitch. We've happily done off grid and used our own facilities. On site we might us the showers and loos but never the wash up area. It would need to be a greater discount unless the site was within walking distance of somewhere we wanted to visit to tempt us.
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We all do what suits us best......at present.
We never usually use the washing up area, other than to empty and rinse out our cafetière, or possibly the BBQ plate. Why take dishes away to wash when we can wash them in the van?
As to showers etc, as OH has special needs, it is much easier for her to use our excellent on board facilities than to traipse to the disabled room with all her stuff, especially if it is raining! I can go to the block, but again, if it is wet, much easier to use our own shower, I do not mind fetching and disposing of water.
So we do prefer to heat water and use our own facilities, rather than use the facilities block, which it seems would cost us a lot on a metered site, with apparently very little allowance for doing so.
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Exactly, on a facility site you find a mix of the way folk do things but on a non facility site everyone has to heat water for dishes and showers. Of course this can be done using gas but I'd hazard a guess that the majority currently use electric. This of course could change if meters become the norm.
I agree with you Baker's, a £1 discount isn't enough to tempt me back to full club sites. CLs and non facility sites or C&CC for us this year in the UK.
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