Is EHU metering a good investment?
Comments
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I agree about the personal remarks.
It's not a problem but surely those that use club sites more and will continue should have perhaps more to contribute than those who don't and in some cases not at all?
For the former it's their future holidays that will be affected while for the latter it's just an academic discussion? Just my point of view.
At the end of the day the club will decide but I would hope they listen to those that do use them? But then again it will probably do what is the better financial option, ie makes more money.
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Skylark Barn, Belmesthorpe.
An excellent place to stay too.
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So is spending £3m plus and really more, an investment? No answer to that yet?
I take it you mean in monetary terms since you accept there are the benefits of a fairer system and cost control. With the latter also comes better budgeting. There may well be extra income to be obtain if meter installation encourages more site usage or on the other hand it might discourage it. This needs to be tested along with operational factors which is probably why the Club, as with ANPR, wishes to go down the the less expensive route of trials to test the water. The expenditure of millions is a long way off.
peedee
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Attempted deflection of some members comments on the basis that "you don't use club sites anyway" fails to take into account that amendment of the current regime of "pay for EHU whether you want it or not" might encourage those who are currently reluctant to visit sites more often.
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It does seem a shame that two consecutive posts suggest that there is a dishonest streak within the club and that members are not to be trusted.
reminds me of that Groucho Marx line "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member."
As has been mentioned earlier, even firms like the major supermarkets are moving to a trust system of checking out in order to reduce costs and to speed up customer pass through.
yes, there will be the odd dishonest person 'trying it on' but the supermarkets will have built this into their overall budget.
any losses would surely be much less than those implementation costs being bandied about for a fully fledged metering system.
surely members won't risk exclusion from the club and the cancellation of their holidays just to try and filtch a bit of leccy, especially if the wardens make it clear that impromptu spot checks will be made during each day.
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Ive not read the entire thread so this may have been mentioned earlier but having used a CL with metered usage it certainly makes you think and address your usage.
The CL introduced metered usage with an inclusive allowance of 10 units, absolutely no problem with this as costs need to be controlled, weve all seen awnings with the glow of halogen heaters belting away, extra fridges, coolers and stand alone electric ovens, even the odd EV plugged into a EHU via a splitter.
Luckly we had fair weather so dident need the heating on much (using gas over electric) however the alde system will use 10-12 units just on hot water over 24hrs, and the fridge consumed around 4 units per day. We managed to keep the average daily units below 10 by switching on the alde one hour before use for washing up etc, but will be impossble in colder climates.
Its so easy when on a club site to rock up switch everything on and forget about it, must easly be using 40 units a day just to run the caravan before plugging in portable heaters, cooking appliances, EV's etc.
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Maybe those advocating the option not to hook up should email the Club for a response as to why they won't do it. I did get an answer many years ago but I have forgotten exactly what was said. I think it went along the lines they would fall foul of the current rules.
I know of no sites in the UK that offer the option when the hook up is available on the pitch.
peedee
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Why is having a meter connected to an EHU bollard any different to having a meter at home? I'm sure there would be a lot of uproar if home meters were removed and a blanket price charged, sufficient to cover the high users, which I am sure we would all become in time.
As to commercial electricity contract tariffs, the CL that I rereferred to up-thread, told me their new contract tariff was £1.05 per unit (over three times what I pay at home) and that is what I would be charged, or refunded, for over or under use of the basic 15kW that is inbuilt into their daily site fees.
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Offering a number of inclusive units might satisfy those who find topping up meters an inconvenience but doesn't that require meters to be read by site staff on departure followed by payment for any excess? That to me adds inconvenience over using a card system.
peedee
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I'm not sure if, by 'units' you mean KWH, which is how the bollards we've used have been calibrated.
heating a tank of water with a Truma Combi with the power setting at 1,800 watts (or 1.8kw) would use 1.8kwh to heat fully to the 60 deg setting IF it took one hour.
...but as it only takes 20 mins (1/3 of an hour) to heat it fully then this would take 0.6 kWh.
most sites we used this winter charged €0.40 per KWH, so a hot tank of water cost us €0.24 or just over 20p.
even at a rate of £1.05 (as mentioned above) this would cost the princely sum of 63p.
Even if the Combi were to take 30 mins to heat to 60 deg, this would use 0.9 kWh and would cost 94p.
the Combi (or ALDE) certainly doesn't need to be left on all day.
while it's probably necessary at this time of year to have your shower water at 60 deg, one could easily manage the odd bit of washing up at 40 deg which would reduce the cost further.
not only that, for washing up, why not use a kettle (electric 900w or a gas hob one) and just boil what you need. An hour on ALDE for washing up sounds like overkill at £1 odd a kWh.
With our large fridge/freezer and occasional use of hot water, plus OH hairdryer we kept to our 4 kWh daily inclusive supply, which had a 'value' of €1.6
at the £1.05 rate that would be £4.20 a day...a big difference but fine if pitch prices are reduced accordingly.
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I agree about the nitpicking and petty squabbling being irritating and I suspect it is the reason that many members give up posting or even reading CT. The irony is, that many of the nitpickers state that all members are entitled to their opinion, then when members post their opinion, they are often criticised and often derided bcause that opinion differs from the opinion of those who do the nitpicking.
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I agree cards would be the way forward, but for a CL with only five outfits, not necessarily changing on a daily basis, the amount of work is negligible.
To answer Kj, it is £33.75 per night or £18.00 with no electric. This is, apparently, the going rate in their very touristy area. On the assumption that we will possibly only use 10 units per day in June, it will bring the price down to about £28.50. Yes, quite costly, but it appears to be a very well maintained CL with many other amenities such as fast, free, site wide Wifi.
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Apart from labelling someone's valid opinion as an attempted deflection why not answer a simple question?
£5 has been quoted as the reduction in the nightly fee. Personally I think that's a bit low but if that was the case would you then use club sites?
What's the average club site nightly fee at now?
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As I said before I agree, there must be a reason why the club won't offer a non EHU option, either the one alluded to by PD or something else, maybe it confuses campers which was used last time.
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It's the season of goodwill so not nitpicking or anything and perhaps I'm not reading it right but are you saying there no other UK site with EHU included offers a non EHU option?
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I thought the 'confusing campers' line referred to the earlier booking trial of a pitch type, awning or non awning?
so our members are dishonest and easily confused?🤷🏻♂️
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I agree cards would be the way forward, but for a CL with only five outfits, not necessarily changing on a daily basis, the amount of work is negligible.
FYI , I am aware there are many CLs who would like to join in with the same system as what might be adopted by the Club. If this was a card system the same card could be used on these CLs as on Club sites.
peedee
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We find that about 15-20 minutes on 2kw is plenty long enough to heat a full tank of water, for showering, from cold in summer, in our Alde. Even quicker on gas. Dish washing needs less HW.
Freezing here right now, so might take a bit longer today!
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A site close to our New Forest favourite' charges £7 for an optional hook up.
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It was booking grass or hardstanding. I think "confusion" was a bit of an excuse at the time, it was more people not remembering what type of pitch they had booked, then getting annoyed when they were not allowed to take a hardstanding that they saw was vacant.
We used one of the sites in the trial, the warden was most relieved when OH agreed that she did know that we had booked a hardstanding, and explained that they were having problems with forgetful members!
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Ah yes, Kjell you're right....sorry, I got confused😉
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Yes it was used last time and of course completely sensible
What I meant was they'll probably use it again after the trial for metering.
As to the your last sentence I'm positive that while that may be true for a few it certainly does not apply to either of us.
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