Metered electricity - avoid it!

Dunclair replied on 06/05/2023 19:45

Posted on 06/05/2023 19:45

A couple of weeks ago we visited a site with a metered electicity system. I won't say which club the CL/Cs is linked to and I don't want to identify the site because the owners are striving hard workers doing their best. However:

Before booking I called the owners and asked about the metering system that I had learnt about on the club site. Whilst they didn't lie, they didn't tell me the truth. That was that I had to pay them in advance for electricity. They would then use their computer to put credit on a card that only they could use. One of them then came to the post and put the credit into the meter. I obviously knew how much I had paid but never knew how much electricity I had left. As it happened, the weather changed for the worst so I switched over to gas heating and the next day paid for a lot more electric - well over what I thought we would need.

The weather didn't improve and whereas we would have dealt with that and carried on on a "Normal" site, we decided to leave. The owners gave us a refund of the electricity we had not used but the stress of it all and the amateurish way it all sort-of-worked was just too much stress. Buggered up the holiday really.

My advice: Don't use them. In these times of rediculous power prices I understand why an owner would do it, but the whole pantomime is simply just too much hassle.

eribaMotters replied on 12/05/2023 22:35

Posted on 12/05/2023 21:35 by KjellNN

Colin......are you in the milder South of the country?  


I expect geographic position does make a difference.

Here, north of Glasgow, we have both gas and electricity, and use about 3600kWh of electricity and 18000kWh of gas per year.  We are home all day, like to be warm, OH suffers from  circulation  problems.   The house is over 2 floors, 280sq m in total.

We only really heat the rooms we use daily, but leave the doors to other rooms open, so of course the heat does percolate through the the house.

We also have solar panels, generate about 3300 KWh annually, and export just over  half of that.

Posted on 12/05/2023 22:35

We are in Devon, which I expect is Tropical compared to Scotland. It is however a bit exposed here, on a narrow country lane with a border of trees between us and an open field leading to the moors. We had -10 this winter, a bit of a shock when the forecast said -4.

The blessing is a new build with 100mm celotex over the concrete block and beam floor that has zoned underfloor heating. 100mm  celotex in the cavity walls, 400mm insulation in the loft and high performance DG windows.

Colin.

KjellNN replied on 12/05/2023 23:09

Posted on 12/05/2023 23:09

Mmmm....yes.....generally tropical compared to much of Scotland!

Your house is very well insulated compared to  most.  Our daughter had a newbuild terraced townhouse, 150 sq m, from 2013 till 2018,  also very well insulated, tiny gas bills.  She got a big shock when she moved to a sprawling 260sq m ground floor flat in a converted 1920s villa!

Very nice place, but expensive to run these days, they only bought it to be in an excellent school catchment area, number 1 in Scotland. 

peedee replied on 13/05/2023 07:06

Posted on 12/05/2023 20:28 by DavidKlyne

Peedee

That seems a lot I reckon our average for January was half that at home, we use gas for heating. I don't know how much we use in the motorhome whilst we are away.

David

Posted on 13/05/2023 07:06

Yes it was, we have been cutting back since the big price rise by using the dryer as little as possible, not heating the conservatory any more with an electric heater and not running the hot tub unless it was to prevent it freezing. Think we have now got it down to round about 12Kwh on average.

peedee

peedee replied on 13/05/2023 07:43

Posted on 12/05/2023 11:19 by Cornersteady

Fairly obvious really K. but as I said no UK site charges for water by metering?

Posted on 13/05/2023 07:43

Not directly, but I know of one CL who charges more for larger outfits because they use more resources and I have spoken to at least one CL owner who was considering charging more for one night stays because owners were just using the site like a pit stop. I have seen similar reports on social media.

I think the main reason water is charged for on the Continent at some sites (motorhome stop overs) is to stop misuse of drinking water. Unlike electricity, it is very inexpensive, typically 50 cents for 100 litres.

peedee

Rocky 2 buckets replied on 13/05/2023 07:43

Posted on 12/05/2023 13:46 by eurortraveller

We use a similar amount of electricity at home - it’s just that we have two big Flogas cylinders for the kitchen cooker, a tonne of hardwood logs (£135) per month tor the woodburner, and a tanker has just put 500 litres of kerosene (£400) in the tank for the central heating.  But it is a big old farmhouse and the only consolation is that we have no mains gas out here - or that would be extra 

Posted on 13/05/2023 07:43

Be careful with your logs ET, the selling of logs by weight is illegal due to dodgy dealing. It is now by volume(m3) cubic metre. It’s the only fair way👍🏻

Cornersteady replied on 13/05/2023 10:44

Posted on 12/05/2023 22:01 by davetommo
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Posted on 13/05/2023 10:44

As they say the club doesn't understand motorhomer's needs?

When on the rare occasions in the past we didn't use SPs we used to go through about 80 litres per day and that's without having showers. 

Cornersteady replied on 13/05/2023 10:49

Posted on 13/05/2023 07:43 by peedee

Not directly, but I know of one CL who charges more for larger outfits because they use more resources and I have spoken to at least one CL owner who was considering charging more for one night stays because owners were just using the site like a pit stop. I have seen similar reports on social media.

I think the main reason water is charged for on the Continent at some sites (motorhome stop overs) is to stop misuse of drinking water. Unlike electricity, it is very inexpensive, typically 50 cents for 100 litres.

peedee

Posted on 13/05/2023 10:49

Still no where near metering water though in the UK?

Use more resources? I assume means electricity and water?

I'm confused though if it's so cheap as you say how can it be misused? But it's academic as what happens abroad with water metering is irrelevant to this thread. 

replied on 13/05/2023 13:38

Posted on 13/05/2023 13:38

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