A Conversation at the NEC

Are you aware the club are hoping to trial EHU metering on site?

As for forty regular critics on CT which of us has got a black mark against our names I wonder?  Are all the CAMC FB contributors not important too? 

PS this has distracted me, I was just about to make a club booking which I think probably carries the most weight of all, now I'm not sure whether to do it. 

The club mentions in the March magazine where / when the trials will be held. However, you can’t book a metered pitch at WC  currently for the proposed dates, and will have to wait until nearer the time to find out how the trial will operate.

Metering
Many members have asked when the Club will introduce on-pitch electric metering. We have spent the past 12 months researching the market to find a metering solution and we are exploring two options that we will trial this year.

The first trial will be carried out at Wyatt’s Covert Club Campsite in Buckinghamshire from late spring. The second site is Ashridge Farm in Hertfordshire – the trial is expected to take place during the latter part of 2023. These trials will help us understand how easy the metering solutions are for members to use and importantly how much this helps reduce the use of electricity. More information will be provided ahead of the trial.

GoneRovin. You can try metered electricity now and see if you like it - there are independent sites and CLs already with that facility. Alternatively there are similar sites where electricity is an optional extra at £5 or £6 a night . You yourself can do your own trials of these systems now and let us know whether they suited you. The options are already out there for you. 

I’m pleased to see the trials, but it is unclear how long each will last. I would have thought that it was vital to include early spring autumn and winter in their trials (I have no idea without looking it up whether the sites are open all year) because that surely is when the high electricity usage is.

Good to read about the meter trial at last, both are open all year. I will certainly try out Ashridge IDC

peedee

"Apparently folk are consuming a lot of electricity during their stay. An example that was referred to is the heating of awnings."

when ever electricity consumption is mentioned the folk heating awnings almost always get dragged into the equation, i have a blow heater that we use in the awning and a similar model to boost the heat in the conservatory at home.

This fan heater at home uses approx 4-5 pence of electricity per hour, we normally only heat the awning for a couple of hours in the evening whilst we eat, i should say we do not have a TV so never sit in the caravan watching television,  have no idea how much electricity a TV uses per hour but some folk seem to have them on from dawn to dusk.

not against metering, most sites in Spain have metering but many provide  5-7kw per day free, not a lot if you should need the heating, but dont most caravans/MH's have gas fires ?

"I also learnt that this particular committee member believes that there are about forty regular critics of the Club who use Club Together. With over 3500,000 members the voice of so few doesn’t carry much weight. That was my impression."

why am i not surprised !!! for much of the time i dont think CT is monitored by CAMC staff

Dont be fooled, the club will almost certainly have spent a good deal of monies investigating various systems, this is a trial that eventually be rolled out across the system, certainly on the more popular sites, best hope that whatever they put out there is fit for purpose, e.g, on the larger sites in Spain you can call at reception and ask for a print out of just how much electricity you have used, very useful if you are going to be on site for a long period, and of course if a limited free usage is avaliable you can see immediately if you are exceeding this llimit.

Fan heaters generally cost more than pence to run. A 500w heater will use .5 of a kw an hour so 17p at domestic rate but more at commercial rates.

Whatever the system, I would prefer no allowance, that suits those of us who can manage without or minimum EHU e.g.to just maintain a fully charged battery.

peedee