We have a booking at Swiss Farm in Henley on Thames for next year and got an email to say that they are switching to metered electric with 10kWh per day included in the price. This seems to be the latest in a long line of sites converting to metered electric. If we had known in advance, I may have thought twice about the booking as after our experience last September when we discovered that the Alde heating system uses a lot of electricity, I swore we would only use a site with metered electric in the summer when we wouldn’t need any heating. Our booking at Swiss Farm is in May so we will probably just have to grit our teeth and pay whatever extra it costs to run the heating.
I wouldn’t mind so much if the site price was low, for example, Welltrough farm has metered electric but they only charge £25 a night for the pitch so even with metered electric, the price is still acceptable. Swiss Farm is a pricey site as it is!
It looks like this is the way lots of sites are going and I know lots of people are pleased as they don’t use much electric, but the Alde heating system uses a lot so for us, it is going to cut down the sites we use outside of the summer.
------------- Pixie
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Most (not all) sites in Scotland are not yet metered. Our only metered site up here this year cost us £3 pn, the kw rate was posted in the office window. It was frosty & we use the electric hob & electric heating. The basic site fee was less than £30pn.
So - we’re not bothered about being metered. I suspect prices are up for folks who eat out at a pub every night, which we don’t do because we enjoy buying local ingredients & cooking “at home”. It all balances out, I think.
I suspect for many popular sites electricity usage is a major burden on their running costs, so metering power is the sensible option. It seems that the CMC are gradually moving in that direction. We have stayed at Swiss Farm a couple of times and it is a nice site and further back from the noisey road than the CMC site next door. It has a nice cafe as well.
We had a caravan which had Alde heating from 2019-2024, and stayed on a CS from the C&CC which had metered EHU a number of times (to visit a friend who lived nearby). Their daily allowance was 10 units a day. We stayed in both early-ish (April-May) and late-ish (Sept-Oct) seasons, but never exceeded that allowance. Ran the heating and water, but sensibly. Kept an eye on it every day, but were always under the total allowance for our stay, usually 4 nights.
------------- Ina
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None of the sites we have stayed on with metered electricity had any kind of allowance, we paid for every kwh that we used. However, they all worked out far cheaper than sites where they charged extra for "an electric pitch". We don't have central heating though and we never go away after September, but our electric usage is always in pence per night rather than pounds.
I still remember a time when very few sites had EHU, and on those that did it was always metered. The switch to un-metered came about when sites were banned from re-selling electricity for more than they paid for it. That's when they decided to charge a fixed amount per night for the facility of having EHU available, however much or how little you used. To me, metered always seems much fairer, as if you use a lot you pay a lot, but if you don't use much you don't pay very much. I really object to paying £5 a night for electric when I know I've only used 50p worth.
We've stayed on sites with metered electric and I found it reasonable and cheaper than I expected. However we're not heavy users and cooking is done with gas.
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Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 18/12/2025
Off grid is not for us, but each to their own.
Each to their own indeed, but we couldn't manage without EHU now either, except for maybe over one night. Without EHU our onboard battery would not get charged, but more importantly we would have no fridge and no hot water. At one time that wouldn't have mattered as our first ever caravan didn't have a fridge or even running cold water, never mind hot. Lighting was mainly by gas too, and it didn't even have 12 volt electrics until I added it. These days though that's just a bit too basic for our liking. We were only young then and more used to just a simple tent.
Same in that I doubt if I could manage without EHU.
My main source of power in the van is electric, with a diesel heater for hot water and heating.
If the weather is warm enough to cook outside, it could be too warm above 19degC at night without the air con, as I do not like to open the windows except to have them ajar for ventilation and locked, each to their own and all that.
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We use electric for most things so it could prove a little costly on metered supply. However, we rarely use gas. We had to this year for a while as the heating elements failed in the water heater, so we saw the season through using gas and they were replaced at the service a few weeks ago. The engineer carries a set with him these days as he finds it quite a frequent problem.
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We only use gas for cooking now, our water heating and fridge are mains powered and the battery charger is permanently on. However, our electricity bills on metered EHU are not that bad at all. I would imagine that using electricity for heating would be the thing that would really put the cost up. We don't bother with TV on holiday though which probably makes a difference. Our holiday in September only cost us just over £5 for 8 days electricity.
As has been said each to their own we camp mainly off grid rallies here and Aires when abroad, I have a 120 watt solar 110amp gel battery and a refillable gas set up. Hot water and heating + fridge and cooking all run on gas, electric is all 12v obviously when touring vehicle tops battery up but but we have done 10 nights without any problems without moving
I’ve just followed the link on the email from Swiss Farm to their website where they explain why they are changing to metered electric. They give figures from last year where they state
“One guest used 878 kWh over a 28-night stay — averaging 31.4 kWh per day”
I’m wondering how anyone could use that much. Thinking back to last year when we were on a metered site, we didn’t use heat as it was mild weather but with everything else including water heating, we averaged about 6kWh a day. Maybe my calculations are wrong but if we had run our heating on the 2kw setting for 10 hours a day (which we would never do) and assuming it was running at full pelt all that time (rather than clicking on and off with the thermostat) that would use a maximum of 20kWh. To average 31.4kWh you would need to have the heating on pretty much 24/7
It does seem crazy the amount some people use. How on earth do they do it, especially in summer? I can understand though that some people changed their set-ups and habits because of un-metered electricity. Even I did when our gas-only cascade water heater decided to self-destruct. I fitted a new electric water heater on the principle why should I use my gas for water heating when I've got to pay for an "electric pitch" anyway? It seems to be very efficient though, as when I'm on metered electric it doesn't seem to use that much and it still works out much cheaper than un-metered.
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Topic: Another One Switches to Metered Electric
via mobile 16/12/2025 at 7:38pm
