Metered EHU cost
On a recent trip in the UK, the site had metered EHU (not a Club site). On arrival they said there was £3 per day included on the card and it would cost about £1 to £2 extra per night as per other users.
we hook up and had £48 showing on the meter screen at about 4PM. The next morning at 7AM I checked and it said £36.70 left. Which meant around £20+ for the day
We have a 2 berth Swift Conqueror, Alde heating, Dometic fridge. The heating I set at 20 until 10PM and then 16 during the night. The fridge was set to 2 and the TV was on 12v. We used gas to cook.
The site said it was the Alde heating system its not very efficient. They weren't very helpful, there where other problems with the site so we left that same morning.
Why did it cost so much?
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How many kWh's did you use? That is more of a benchmark than cost alone as they price per KWh may be high or low depending on the price the site pays.
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@Wraith I thought perhaps wrongly that when metered the price per Kw hour had to be, or in any event certainly should be, displayed somewhere? Was it given to you?
As @Tinwheeler says unless you know this you can't know how many Kw/h you used and if your heating is efficient or not.
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Sorry not displayed within site or when booking, but just found it by Google search, We've never been to a metered site before.
It says 0.30p per KW/H we were there 15 hours so it should have been £4.50 but it wasn't. it was nearer to 0.74p per KW/H, if my understanding is correct.
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But how many units did you use? Unless you know this, you cannot work out if the amount you paid was correct. It would only be £4.50 if you used one kwh (1000w) per hour. Your heating, fridge, battery charger and anything else would all come out of that. I'm willing to bet your heating alone consumed more than 1000w per hour.
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@Wraith I think you will find that the Alde heating, as nice as it is, tends to be more power hungry than the Truma heating. The max setting is 3kws so that is a nearly £1 an hour whilst on maximum. I appreciate that it won't be on maximum all the time as I understand it has two elements, one of 1Kw and another of 2Kw but even running on the 2Kw setting its 60p and hour. As others have suggested its better to look at the Kw hours used rather than the cost if you want to work out where the power was being used.
David
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I have found that the way to save on electricity costs on metered sites, is to use gas for heating and hot water. We have Safefill, so gas is cheap and I estimate that we use about £1 worth of gas per day - the last time being at the beginning of this March. It's even less in the summer. This last time we were away, electricity charged at 23p per unit cost me just over £1 per day - so considering the CL had reduced pitch fees by £5 per day when metering was introduced, I was well in front.
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One thing that springs to mind here is how inefficient the heater and the insulation is compared with a house. We live in a comfortable 3 bed detached bungalow with electricity our only power source. I've just checked my air source heat pump and we averaged less than 4 units a day last week for heating and hot water.
Colin
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@Wraith Did the meter have a facility to show the electrical units rather than the cash credit,and when you say you have the heating set to 20 in day time and 16 at night but what Kw setting was the Alde on? One other thing to be aware of when on metered electricity is the cost per kw could be on a commercial tariff,and these can vary depending on what the site pays.
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Wraith………You cannot really extrapolate your figures to say it would cost £20 per day as you are using different appliances and amounts of power at various times in the 24 hours.
We have Alde heating, but ours uses a maximum of 2kw being an older model. Our van is from 2008, so not as well insulated as newer vans.
We have used some metered pitches, and the max we have ever used in 24 hours was 40kWh, thankfully not metered, it was pretty cold. At 30p per unit that would be £12.
We know from experience that our fridge/freezer uses 4kWh per 24 hours, so that would be £1.20 on your site, the rest would be some battery charging and , mainly, your heating and hot water.
You used £11.30 over a 15 hour period, possibly about £10 of that was used by your heating and HW, so around 33 kWh, which is not dissimilar to our use way back in 2009, but we do like it warm! We set heating to 22degrees for sitting about, but only 14 degrees overnight. If we go out for any length of time during the day, we turn it down to 18 degrees.
Like richardandros, on a metered pitch these days we would use the heating on gas as we have refillable cylinders, and that is much less expensive than using electricity, but otherwise we just operate as normal.
The only way to keep costs down on metered pitches is to use less electricity, either by lowering the thermostat or using gas.
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One thing I think metered electricity does is provokes thought!
We are so used to instant power, heat, heat hot etc. That we don't give much thought to cost! We have a bill, and or a smart meter at home and are in control of it ourselves. We never consult our smart mater! We are happy to pay when the bill comes in 🤔. We have control over it - no kids at home leaving things on, lights on etc.
Some folks are prolific users others misers. Newer vans are power hungry I believe. Imagine paying for others use then? Tgeres been a very large increases in electric prices too. It's either those providing pitches increase their charge per night, to more than compensate for expected use. A bit of a guessing game. Some folks paying more than they need because they're careful or frugal and others having everything one and doors and windows open etc.
Much better and fairer for all to pay for what you use via a meter. That way the site owners can know what their outlays are and more accurately calculate the costs involved in letting a pitch.
It's also a good lesson in being responsible for our useage.
As far folks who want to use it however they like, as they're on holiday, it's easy just a bit more spending money to take. None of us know how much is allocated for electric/gas if we hire a hotel room or cottage. But owners of these establishments do have access to override settings if a prolific user arrives. Those who let pitches don't. It's up to usually go look after our planet and this is one way it can help.
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I think you're absolutely right @Bakers2 . I've posted on here, before, that the first time we encountered metered electricity, we used the van as I normally would - not extravagant by any means - but just powered everything from electricity. The 'bill' for the first 24 hours was £10.60!! - but it was cold - -5 the first night. To say I was shocked is an understatement. Simply by switching to gas for hot water and heating more than halved that cost and that's what I've done ever since. Our Truma heating is much more effective running on gas, anyway.
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But owners of these establishments do have access to override settings if a prolific user arrives.
Really? I've stayed in lots of hotels and holiday lets, in fact three to date this year, down over the years not one has had access to override the heating and of course AC in warmer climes and never heard of that happening. They, the holiday lets, all in my experience have timers but also give full instructions on how to boost or change their times to suit those staying. I assume they want you to enjoy your time away. The contract clearly states all electric/gas is included so I'm not sure where they would stand if they went against that .
Newer vans are power hungry I believe. Imagine paying for others use then I don't actually, not one bit, I just agree to paying the going rate for that week for me. I do that even on a campsite. My contract is with the club who pays the bills not someone else on site.
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Yes they do if they have the right systems fitted! Think remote controls.......
They can override if hirers set the thermostats to very high temperatures.
It can, and has saved larger bills, and hirershave never complained. Obviously you don't turn down too low 😉
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@Bakers2 Yes we have a control on our phones that allow control of our house's heating but I wasn't really disputing that, what I said if you re-read my post is that in my experiences; of (a rough count here) of approaching fifty to sixty+ holidays lets in the last ten years; is that it's never happened to me and I've used all of the major companies and small/minor AirB&Bs. They may have the access but I've never heard of it happening to anyone, and they would be possibly - not a legal expert, breaching the terms of the holiday hire when it states all fuel included. As I said every single one has given myself full access to heating temperatures and times for us to set and use. I do wonder how they price keeping a hot tub heated all day in freezing outdoor temperatures but that's their lookout not mine.
Certainly I've never any setting overridden in a hotel which you alluded to.
Obviously you feel strongly about this and I wouldn't dream of telling you what to do but perhaps don't use campsite without metering?
As for myself my 'contract' or my payment is with the club and I certainly won't waste any of my holiday time worrying about the power hungry unit pitched next door, or anywhere on site. I'll just enjoy my time away exactly the same as a holiday/let or hotel.
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B2, how does that work if a holiday cottage owner lives hundreds of miles away or, as was the case with one we rented, in New Zealand?🤔
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When we lived in Austria in 2017-2019 (Mrs was on an overseas assignment), we would remotely turn on the heating in our home in the UK during the colder months on the way to the airport, so that the house was warm when we arrived. Our Hive thermostats are controllable via the App from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.1
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I've had a lot of dealings with energy costs over the years, having spent 30+ years in an industry where energy is the second biggest cost after staff salaries. I also run solar PV and storage batteries at home (it's a long game, but the savings/ROI are huge). The first question I would be asking of a metered EHU arrangement is how much I'll be charged per kWh.
At home, we have a hot tub, air-conditioning, a server running 24/7, a heat-pump cooled ice bath, use a tumble dryer in the winter and our leccy costs would be about £10 a day at standard variable rate. With Solar PV and batteries, it's obviously much cheaper.
If someone was charging you £20 a day on a metered EHU, they were ripping you off. At sensible pricing, that's ~60 kWh. It would be so hot in your van you'd be sitting around in your underpants having a sauna.
Metered EHUs are becoming a thing nowadays - make sure you ask what they're charging per unit. Bear in mind a caravan/motorhome site will be an industrial 3 phase supply user, with appropriately priced unit rates (cheaper than the domestic rates you pay at home). Don't get ripped off!
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I confess to being clueless when it comes to electrcity and kilowatt hours and what appliances use what. All that interests me is what my electricty costs. Given that ignorance as my starting point, I wonder what I am missing in this dicussion. Some of the figures being banded about confuse me totally. So, for example, GraemeF says that his leccy costs would be about £10 per day. So I have all the usual everyday appliances - two computers (one on permanently), kettle, toaster, fridge, chest freezer, cooker and hob, fan heater in office in winter - all using electricty. On top of this I use a tumble dryer all year round (to excess according to some friends), I have two airconditioning units, used extensively on warmer days (not just when hot) and occasionally as a supplmentary heat source in winter (my main heating is gas). I have always regarded my electricty use as extravagant.
My average usage since 2010 is 318 units a month and the average cost is £57 a month. Obviously this has gone up in recent months so, for example, in the last 24 months my average monthly cost is £82.64 or about £2.70 a day. Does this not make £10 a day very, very high?
Even if Wraith's cost were half what he suggests, surely it is still extremely expensive. Or what am I missing. Apolgies in advance if it is obvious.
PS I do realise, of course, that metered costs on a site will be more than domestic costs, but even so Wraith's costs seem extraordinary to me.0 -
You don’t have to be any kind of tech wizard to work out how to keep electrical usage, and therefore costs to a minimum. Anything with a heat element included (kettle, heater, hot plate, electric oven, iron, hairdryer, toaster, tumble dryer, washer, dishwasher, air fryer, microwave to name a few) will send a meter whizzing, either at home or in a caravan/MH. Couple this with varying degrees of good/poor insulation, and the choice to sit in a virtual greenhouse for hours in lightweight clothing, and the electricity required to keep warm and comfortable is going to escalate.
It’s a choice to carry on using power hungry tech when away, as anyone does at home, but the metered cost should be ascertained before making a choice to use all the tech, to avoid any nasty shocks. Site owners cannot profit from supplying metered electric, but there will be different tariffs.
Simple guide to what appliances use the most power, and tips on how to keep costs lower.
https://powerni.co.uk/help/energy-guides/which-appliances-use-the-most-electricity/#title6
Re Wraiths costs……..it will be mainly the heating. You could grow Tomatoes at 20c, and 16c overnight in a small space would be stifling for many. A warmer top in the day would be better, and lower the overnight would be my suggestions. And don’t leave it on if you go out all day🤣0 -
The issue has provoked some problems. Meters certainly means a fairer way of paying for your pitch, with the heavy users paying more. It might hit families though as the more of you there are the more power you tend to use. My worry is some site owners might push their luck and add it small profit margin even though it is illegal.
You now have to consider what to use and if electricity or gas is your best bet cost wise. I tend to think electricity will still be cheaper and it is certainly better for the planet. That electric plate on the hob is now less attractive though. Ours is so slow we often still use as even though the electric costs us nothing on most sites.
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It’s been simple for years. On sites/CLs with no hook up or metered electric you use gas (or diesel nowadays) as much as you can. On all inclusive sites, we will plug in and still be reasonable, basically because it’s what we do at home. If we end up on an expensive site (and I count most Club Sites as expensive, other than the no facility ones) then sorry but we will fill our boots like everyone else. Electric kettle, electric heating, hot water. Anything over £25 and unmetered is fair game. It’s a rarity for us, but if we are paying a lot, then we will simply use a lot. However, our outfit has solar panels and being older, is much less of a power hungry unit. Club needs to offer good discounts for no hook up, or meter pitches.3
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We have just left a pitch where electricity was metered and I left my Alde system on 1Kw all the time. I found the consumption more than doubled to 9Kwh per day even though I doubt much if any heating of the van occurred i.e. it was just maintaining the hot water temperature.
ppeedee
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@Wildwood I think it’s a balancing act, and knowing what matters to you when touring. We can easily do a week at a push on gas in the Summer, but we wouldn’t be using the heating, minimal hot water for a quick rinse shower, I can do a lot of one pan hot meals on gas hob, and we live mainly outdoors, no TV. Small fridge. As we go out in our MH, we charge iPads and phones while on the move around, and have battery back up packs as well, plus a solar panel on the roof. Older outfit, so no computerised stuff, not much gadgetry. We only carry staple foods as well, like to shop local when out, so small fridge is fine for us two. Hence we are happy on free/low cost stopovers, without a hook up. There are some very nice C&CC CS sites that give a decent £15 per night rate, no hook up, but very nice showers, loos, dish wash, even PAYG laundry. Perfect for us.
Winter touring is a bit different, depending on how cold it is, but we have done stopovers without a hook up. Used gas to warm up interior in evening, just before bed, off overnight as we never heat van overnight. Evening in pub prior to bed🤣 But if you like to sit inside watching TV of an evening, heating on, everything else on electric, it is going to cost.0 -
I think the decision on whether to use gas or electricity depends entirely on the cost of the gas. If you have refillables then gas will be cheaper, if using Calor then it is more marginal. I remember doing the calculation several years back, but cannot now remember the figures to use.
We also have solar panels at home and it does make a big difference to the bills. Ours were fitted over 12 years back, took almost 10 years to pay for themselves, so it is a long term investment. Now they both save us money as we import less electricity, and give us income from the feed in tariff payment and the amount we sell to the grid. We still use about 3000kWh from the grid annually, plus gas for our heating and hot water.
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Well here's another surprise! Wouldn't be enough to tempt me but I'm sure that will be debated.
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I know all about the money off for taking a no hook up pitch, and even at the highest rate, the differential isn’t tempting. Appreciate that the Club has much higher overheads in terms of what it provides, so it won’t be easy for them. Same with metering, the differential in terms of what you get just isn’t great enough compared with lots of other options. But only if those options suit of course. It was the same with the camping pitches the Club used to provide, they were always at the top end of the price scale, compared with other providers. And always located at the furthest point from the loos🤣 At the CS sites we use, you get at least £5 per night off for not hooking up, so £15 per pitch, rather than £20. Full access to all other facilities. £5 off £20 is good value. £1.70 off £35+ is taking the mickey!🤣4
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The award winning family owned site on the outskirts of Cambridge which we visited many times - Highfield Touring Park - charges £26 in May and June - plus a full £6 extra if you want electrics. I recommend that site and their charging structure though not all of you will agree as they charge another £1 a night for a dog. 😁
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