The lure of ehu
Comments
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what 'comforts' do you think folk (you) are (would be) missing out on when they aren't on EHU?
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..and to you....taking the boat to Cadiz a little later...
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Everything in our van works extremely well on gas with the exception of the microwave. I can even run that via a 1kw inverter but only if the engine is running for that brief period. The TV works from 12v all the time anyway and we switch to gas rather than mains kettle, plus gas heating, fridge and gas hot water regularly, both between sites and on days out in the van.
I think in the UK the manufacturers, to some extent, have encouraged a reliance on EHU, and this has been compounded by most sites providing a full 16amp supply so that now, most use mains for most things because they can. That the electricity is included in the price or as some would say is free, has only furthered the tendency to use it as it has been paid for.
Only when you look at the lower charges for site fees which allow people to opt out of EHU and a fee of say 3, 4 or £5 per night does it dawn that actually we are paying an awful lot for EHU in a year, and much of the time that isn't actually always necessary for some of us.
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Morning
The last four words of your post pretty much some it up "for some of us". The "demand" for non ehu on our sites is so minimal, the non ehu offered have next to no take up. Even if standard pitches were offered with a choice it wouldn't be worth the admin. Just my experience of course
As an aside, here in my rv in Spain I run everything on gas as it's cheaper than the metered electric. I have 240v and 110v systems but with a 200 watt solar system I regularly "give back" my monthly allowance.
I'm going to post in the motorhome section as I'd also like some advice on solar for my pvc.
Cheers
JK
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Boff – Thanks for replying. I’m sure everyone had a good time at the rally. Enjoying time away, IMHO, is what owning a leisure unit is all about. Good luck for any future time away.
Jollykernow- Interesting info re non take up of EHU.
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The "demand" for non ehu on our sites is so minimal, the non ehu offered have next to no take up. Even if standard pitches were offered with a choice it wouldn't be worth the admin. Just my experience of course
But isn't that because we are encouraged to use electricity in this country, especially on Club sites. If it was metered and had to be paid for you may end up with the situation as in Spain and other countries although the price per unit here is not quite so high but is nudging up.
You forgot to mention how low your pitch fees were JK
peedee
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I think that everyone has missed the main point of my post. The take up of non ehu was minimal about 10%. Yes I know that the cost saving was trivial but this a group of caravaneers who are used to being off grid for example most people would have had refillable gas bottles. One person did use the ehu to charge up his PHEV.
JK I would agree with Peedee there is no encouragement not to use ehu infact if the club spent 10% of the effort perusing sexy marketing initiatives in advocating low tech alternatives to full servicedsites Tesco car park type sites then we would all be better off.
@JK if you want advice on solar for your PVC then may I suggest you define what you want to achieve. Your need could be anywhere between keeping the battery topped up when it’s in storage. To running the microwave fridge air conditioning from a solar panel. The answers and the costs are going to be very different.
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Minimal?
If you ever used Aires and many campsites in France, Northern France as well as the sunnier South, you'd notice that most Motorhomes do not use EHU – mainly because it isn't available.
Walk around the 200 + Motorhomes on the Honfleur Aire and at least 150 will not be on EHU – there aren't anywhere near enough points to give the electricity but people manage to stay there overnight without any electrical problems.
They manage very well without paying for something they don't need and when we stayed on a few campsites in France last year there was either no EHU on site or you could choose between paying a different price for an EHU pitch or a non-EHU pitch.
And these sites were full or almost full.
We run mainly on gas (fridge/freezer, heater, hot water) and the leisure batteries and Solar panel maintain the lighting, TV and USB charging.
We can spend a month away without needing hook-up and having to pay for something we don't need seems a bit silly.
But in this country there's a different attitude to pricing on most sites and we have to accept that but it is one reason for us heading across the Channel to more acceptable Motorhome friendly parts of Europe.
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Interestingly the non ehu Steamer Quay club site in Totnes is popular although the costs are quite high. The non ehu part of Altnaharra attracts users too.
I still think choice limits most people when visiting club sites, the few non ehu pitches are often just a fill in.
Mind you, last year on a rally someone discovered an outside socket and a hair dryer queue swiftly formed...at Steamer Quay there is a hair dryer in the facilities block. (Note to all like me who feel lost without the dryer!
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It matters not to me if the price of electricity is included in the site fee or charged as a separate item. Surely the difficulty here in the UK are the rules governing the resale of electricity? The Club only started to include the cost of electricity within the pitch price when those regulations came in. The obvious way round that, as Peedee has often championed, is to have a metered supply to each pitch. That might well be a fairer way of doing things but the cost of installation across the network would be prohibitive and if JK's comment about the poor take up of non electric pitches is the case right across the network then it would be difficult to justify?
David
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My next booking is for 4 nights off grid and if I am only staying one or two nights on a site I definitely prefer to be off grid. The lack of EHU free pitches drives me to use low facility sites for short stays. Of the 38 nights I have booked so far this year in the UK only 6 of them are on Club sites. A loss to the Club simply because of the lack of choice. Last year I only used CAMC sites for 15 percent of our nights away.
peedee
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Just my personal view. - Not sure Installation would be cost effective across the network of club sites. Leased sites may be more difficult to justify installation costs even if it was allowed. With an all inclusive price the club knows what the income is from each occupied pitch and can work its budgets accordingly. Things may change in the future should electric vehicles be used to tow and motorhomes become electric whereby the use of quick charging bollards will be needed but for now I think the cost is prohibitive.
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Must say it has taken a lot longer than I expected to drift onto the subject of metered electricity.
I believe I am unique, in the whole of the club’s membership who will admit to using more electricity on an unmetered pitch than I would on a metered pitch. Other more saintly member’s only concern is the cost incurred by the club to install meters. To these members I can only say Yeah right.
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I think things will change as fuel costs rise and I've noticed on CT that more are becoming interested in solar power etc. Change happens slowly and the club will hopefully be looking at threads like this to gauge our views.? There is such a thing as smart metering on caravan parks and perhaps this will be a way forward and you can either use it or not.
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so what do you do to actually increase your electricity? The only thing I can think of is not use gas?
Personally I would use the van exactly the same way on metered or not, life is too short to start to worry about a few pounds (compared to the cost of an outfit) but I suppose some do
Also I am intrigued why you think the installation costs can be dismissed so easily. Each individual bollard would have to be adapted. This will cost money but that money cannot be recouped, it would mean higher fees or less updates on sites.
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That’s a very scathing post, Boff.
Hand on heart I can genuinely say that, metered or not, my electricity consumption would be the same. Why? Because, for me, convenience outweighs cost. Clearly, you take the opposing view which is fine but please don’t assume we’re all the same
The cost of installation, calibration and so on is a major issue and is bound to make a hole in the club’s funds. Why you ‘yeah, right’ it and make insinuations of other members, I have no idea.
PS. Wow, Corners. You posted as I was writing. It’s almost a carbon copy. 😁
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Hiya lads what took you so long to join in? Obviously, I would, never dream of think or imply that your motive are ever anything less than pure and saintly. Unlike my own self confessed sins. So there is no need for you all to get so defensive.
Now that the experts have entered the discussion I will leave. It’s been an interesting and cordial debate over 8 pages thanks!
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Sarcasm will suffice, I suppose, in the absence of a reasoned reply.
‘Bye, then.
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