Charging for leccy on site. (1 Viewer)

scotjimland

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I've often advocated that it would be fairer to install leccy meters on sites and let people pay for what they use.. now my wish has come true .. the CL where we are have installed them .. site fees will remain the same at £8 and leccy extra .., this has come about because the site fees were barely covering the leccy use during the winter .. :Blush:

To be fair, I can't see how they were breaking even let alone making a profit .. this has to be the way forward and I'm sure we will see more and more sites going this way ..

This has brought forward my plan to install a couple of big solar panels.. wasn't any real incentive up to now .. :RollEyes:
 
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Jul 29, 2007
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Hi Jim sounds the way to go for sites, can you let us know what your weekly consumption is?

As your an RV and we all know how much extra water you use :winky: perhaps they had better install a water meter as well.

Olley
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Hi Jim sounds the way to go for sites, can you let us know what your weekly consumption is?

As your an RV and we all know how much extra water you use :winky: perhaps they had better install a water meter as well.

Olley

Hi Ian

I know how much we use already.. :whatthe: during the cold snap ...50kw per day, :Eeek:

Not sure of the rate, think it's around 14p unit ? which was £7 per day.

Water .. hard to say, we are on city connection, but on past experience of filling the tank every other day and paying at Aires, I'd guestimate at 150 - 170 lt / day

We only poo normally :Blush:.. black tank is 50 US gal / 41.5 imp. gal and I dump every two weeks ..:roflmto::roflmto:

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JayDee

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I've often advocated that it would be fairer to install leccy meters on sites and let people pay for what they use.. now my wish has come true .. the CL where we are have installed them .. site fees will remain the same at £8 and leccy extra .., this has come about because the site fees were barely covering the leccy use during the winter .. :Blush:

To be fair, I can't see how they were breaking even let alone making a profit .. this has to be the way forward and I'm sure we will see more and more sites going this way ..

This has brought forward my plan to install a couple of big solar panels.. wasn't any real incentive up to now .. :RollEyes:

Place we stayed at Soberton Heath (between Portsmouth and Winchester) had metres. Mrs suggested that a couple of quid for the two days that we were staying would probably be enough (and she was right on the button) so she set that amount on the meter. I think if she'd set more and we hadn't used it we'd have got a refund. She was telling us about a large RV that was running a washing machine and tumble drier practically every day they were staying:whatthe: and she was losing money big style - she did think they were taking the p*ss a bit :Angry:. One of the incentives for going the meter route.
Trouble is the metrers aren't cheap to purchase and install and most CL, etc. owners won't want to commit the outlay.
But I agree it's the way to go, and it puts paid to the rip off merchants that are charging £2+ per night (for the service/installation) and only supplying 10 (or maybe even 6) amps

John
 
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sinbad1

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But I agree it's the way to go, and it puts paid to the rip off merchants that are charging £2+ per night (for the service/installation) and only supplying 10 (or maybe even 6) amps

John

Sounds good ;but the owners of the site become the providers so they will just set the cost /unit to suit themselves.

regardss

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Sounds good ;but the owners of the site become the providers so they will just set the cost /unit to suit themselves.

regardss

Hi

No, that is illegal, they can only charge what they pay for it .. from Ofgem site :

The guidance follows changes to the Maximum Resale Price (MRP) rules, the system used to regulate
the price of gas and electricity sold by landlords to their tenants. Earlier this year, Ofgem decided to
bring the rules that apply to the resale of electricity into line with those that already apply in gas. The
new arrangements mean that landlords will be unable to charge tenants more money for electricity
than they have paid for it.
These arrangements took effect on 1 January 2003.
The guidance consists of a series of examples intended to help landlords to calculate the cost of
reselling energy where gas, and in particular electricity, are purchased at varying daily and seasonal
rates. The guidance should help:
• landlords who sell gas or electricity to tenants in rented accommodation
• site owners who sell gas or electricity to the occupants of park homes and
• marina owners who sell to the occupants of moorings.

What it would do is stop the needless waste .. due to the attitude that "I've paid for it so I'll bl**dy use it " .. I'm thinking of those who try to heat up draughty awnings with 3kw fan heaters .. when they aren't even using it :Angry:
 
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russ

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Sounds good ;but the owners of the site become the providers so they will just set the cost /unit to suit themselves.

regardss


Then we will be back to rip off England again.:ROFLMAO:
 

Braunston

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Hi, Jim

Is the 50kw per day every day or is it an average over a period only like with everything there will be swings and roundabouts, and i would suspect the weather will play a very big part in the consumption, as A/C could draw a large amount if we have a good summer.

I suppose the other way to control the consumption is to fit lower amp breakers, one site we stayed at in France gave you a choice of the supply size by fitting 2 different sized breakers, I think the choice was 6 amp or 10 amp, they were the older style fuse block with a reset button that he used to slot into the fuse carrier on the outlet post when he took you to your pitch (hope that makes sense) albeit I don't think its a replacement for fitting a meter.

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Hi, Jim

Is the 50kw per day every day or is it an average over a period only like with everything there will be swings and roundabouts, and i would suspect the weather will play a very big part in the consumption, as A/C could draw a large amount if we have a good summer.

That was an average over a week.. and it was very cold..

I wouldn't want a low amp breaker as there may be times in the day when you want the full 16A .. but I'm more than happy to pay for what I use.

As far as A/C goes I've never used it, I'm of the mind that it's better to get acclimatized rather than sit indoors in an artificial environment .. and it's noisy, but there are those who put it on and leave windows open..:RollEyes: it's not hard understand why some site owners get the hump with RVers ..
 
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MicknPat

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Meters are fair as long as the site doen't over charge the cost per unit.

Errr just how much these days does 1 unit of electricity cost (Been in USA to long):Cool:

Iv'e tried to Google a web site that may answer the above but without result.:Sad:

Iv'e just visited the web site for the Spanish Camp Ground we stayed on for 7 months back in 2004/05

A 90 day stay cost 2 persons on 80 m2 plot €10.40 per night + €0.30 per kw electric.

Is that :thumb: or :thumbdown:
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Meters are fair as long as the site doen't over charge the cost per unit.

Errr just how much these days does 1 unit of electricity cost (Been in USA to long):Cool:

Iv'e tried to Google a web site that may answer the above but without result.:Sad:

Hi Mick

If you fit a wireless power meter you can monitor what you use and compare with the site meter ..
The meter I have also has an alarm which I set at 3.6kw ..aprox 15.5A to alert before we trip the site breaker.

AFAIK .. Leccy is about 14p per kwh

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MicknPat

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Jim,

Before we came to he USA I purchased a meter that plugged into an individual socket that would measure the amout of electric used for whatever was plugged into it, I thake it you have something that goes between the EHU and RV, where did you get that from?


This is the monitor I bought from Maplins Link Removed

Mick
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Jim,

Before we came to he USA I purchased a meter that plugged into an individual socket that would measure the amout of electric used for whatever was plugged into it, I thake it you have something that goes between the EHU and RV, where did you get that from?

Mick

Hi Mick

Argos .. I did a review here :

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haganap

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I think it's a good idea.

as said, its illigal to sell it on and make a profit. it woudl certainly stop some (including ourselves) from the blatant waste, im paying ill use it attitude improving the environment at the same time.

Also it would give what I crave, A CHOICE, I might just wanna cheap overnighter to stop on route with no EHU,

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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Also it would give what I crave, A CHOICE, I might just wanna cheap overnighter to stop on route with no EHU,

Exactly, I totally agree :thumb:

but you may get lucky ....

You buy a card from the office, £5 or £10, you 'charge' the meter with the card,( same as the 'pay to use meters' fitted to bad debtors in domestic premises ) .

If you leave and haven't used your quota then the next guest will benefit.. so if it's only a one nighter you could be lucky !
 
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Oct 14, 2007
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Seems more than fair to me, others will think not.

Ie: Those that want to free load and moan about rip off Britain
 

Braunston

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Hi, If the site owner is not allowed to recover the costs of the metering from the unit price of the electric, then surly they will have to raise the pitch price
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Hi, If the site owner is not allowed to recover the costs of the metering from the unit price of the electric, then surly they will have to raise the pitch price

Not necessarily, the cost should be recovered by the saving in leccy.. in fact, his net profit should increase .. I would think payback in a year .. ?
it would also be easier for him/her to calculate how much to charge for the pitch .. no unknowns, they may even find it possible to reduce pitch fees .. I live in hope .. :roflmto:
 

Braunston

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Hi, Jim

Your assuming they are making a loss on the leccy, over the course of a year charging for leccy even when its not being used may actually make a profit or break even, and therefore any extra expenditure on metering would have to come from somewhere.

Not necessarily, the cost should be recovered by the saving in leccy.. in fact, his net profit should increase .. I would think payback in a year .. ?
it would also be easier for him/her to calculate how much to charge for the pitch .. no unknowns, they may even find it possible to reduce pitch fees .. I live in hope .. :roflmto:

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pappajohn

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i was under the impression it was illegal to 're-sell' electric which is why sites charge a set fee per day to 'hire' the use of their equipment.

if this is so then the site in your post is taking a big risk by installing meters.

could be wrong but reading other threads/posts this is what people have said.
 
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sinbad1

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When i was at a marina paying on a meter i was paying more per unit than the normal tarriff, the cost included standing charge etc etc

installing lots of meters is not cheap and if your paying like a slot meter then there will be other factors in the cost

ie

Your landlord is entitled to recover charges for other costs such as the maintenance and upkeep of his own supply system, electricity used in communal areas or administrative charges for reading individual sub-meters.

However, these charges are not covered by the Maximum Resale Price regulations and should be billed separately, for example within the rent or as part of other service charges.

whichever way you look at it you will pay more, if the cost of installation /maintenace etc is added to your pitch price then those that dont use electric will pay too:Sad:

How are you going to know if your being ripped off you don't get any bills with a slot meter , and what would complaining do?

You can't expect a campsite to go to all that trouble of installation maintenance ect ect and then just charge domestic tariffs, one way or another your electric will cost more

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Oct 24, 2007
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We wintered on a metered site. Price 13p per Kwh. It wasn't rocket science. You paid

13 p for each Kwh you used and could read the meter by looking at it ! They cannot

charge any more for it. One Caravan owner ran up a monthly bill of £230 as he had not

realised that the site then charged for electric. At that rate of saving the site would soon

recoup installation charges.

We used about £2.50 a day and about £ 2.00 a day in gas
 

oldun

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I think it's a good idea.

as said, its illigal to sell it on and make a profit. it woudl certainly stop some (including ourselves) from the blatant waste, im paying ill use it attitude improving the environment at the same time.

Also it would give what I crave, A CHOICE, I might just wanna cheap overnighter to stop on route with no EHU,

You seem to have conquered your difficulties as the spelling is much better than many of us on this forum.

Thanks for the info.

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nahnotme

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Is the law, as in separate billing for the cost of electricity to a campsite and the extra cost of metering the same in spain as it is in the UK ?
I have just paid 34 euros and only hooked up for about 5 days.
The owner of camping arena blanca in Benidorm has just given me a right mouth full when I complained about profiting from electricity. 13 cent domestic 39 cent per kw on site.
His argument extra ampage, transformer cost etc etc. and went on to use the examples of water, gas and even beer, but surely thats why you pay 15 euros a day for a pitch to cover facilities , with the expection of restaurant and supermarket.
Bloody rip off merchants !
PS
I had no record of the meter reading when I arrived either, my fault I know.
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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When we were on metered I was surprised how much you can use..

A quick calculation shows you have used about 17 kw per day , less than 1 kw per hour, that isn't unusual in winter if you have been running a heater, fridge/freezer and hot water + the cost of converting from 230 to 110 volts, the tranny uses leccy even when not is use. It's low compared to what we were using prior to the meters being installed at the site we were on.

No idea about Spanish law re reselling leccy, and his rate is high, in the UK you cannot make a profit from reselling leccy, but you allowed to add a small cost to cover the meter costs, installation and a share of the standing charges..
 
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bobandjanie

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Hi, are you using the ACSI book in Spain, if so that includes electric and showers ect, we have just come back and most sites do a deal if you stay over 11 days we were paying about 11 euro a day inc electric, they only normally charge if you stay over a month and put you on the meter. Bob.

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