Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 29/6/2023
Our house water isn’t metered in Scotland, so fresh water & sewage services are included in our rates. I don’t see meters coming to our site pitches.
I very much doubt whether water meters would come to camp-sites anyway. Very few have meters for electricity, as it is more beneficial to site owners to charge for an "electric pitch" rather than according to how much (or how little) we actually use.
We do have a water meter at home though. Without it we would still be paying as much as we did when all our kids were still at home, as the old "water rates" were based on the property not how many occupants.
I am not sure there would be much use. Having to haul water, unless on a serviced pitch, is a disincentive to use much! I also think that there is a limit to how much water you could use in a caravan or motorhome even if you did use your own facilities. Also water usage is usually measured in cubic metres of water and that is one hell of a lot of water!
The site main supply will be on a meter, but to then meter individual pitches would be uneconomic comparing the the cost of installing against the money raised per pitch. Also on non service pitches where several people are using one stand pipe it would be impossible to charge each individual using it. As to meterd hook ups we have been on 4 sites this year where the pitch cost has been reduced from last year and a pay meter installed. We have found that it is actually working out cheaper with the meter than we payed per pitch last year.
Quote: Originally posted by birdman101 on 30/6/2023
The site main supply will be on a meter, but to then meter individual pitches would be uneconomic comparing the the cost of installing against the money raised per pitch. Also on non service pitches where several people are using one stand pipe it would be impossible to charge each individual using it. As to meterd hook ups we have been on 4 sites this year where the pitch cost has been reduced from last year and a pay meter installed. We have found that it is actually working out cheaper with the meter than we payed per pitch last year.
I wish all sites would have metered electricity as you would then pay for what you actually use, not some greatly inflated amount that is probably far more than you would use at home, even with your washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher etc. The last site we went on that had metered electricity, back in 2019, we used 20p of electricity a day average over a 2 week stay. It cost us £2.80 for two weeks, whereas some sites are charging over £5 a night for an "electric pitch!"
Quote: Originally posted by David Klyne on 29/6/2023
I am not sure there would be much use. Having to haul water, unless on a serviced pitch, is a disincentive to use much! I also think that there is a limit to how much water you could use in a caravan or motorhome even if you did use your own facilities. Also water usage is usually measured in cubic metres of water and that is one hell of a lot of water!
David
We will use a barrel and a bit per day. Thats a shower each + washing up/swilling pots etc. If its very warm, towards 2 barrels as we'll have 2 showers.
Having been totally ripped off on a site that had metered electric, we would try and avoid sites that had metered pitches. I was able to prove that we had been ripped off as I worked in the industry at the time! We actually used more electric at night when we were sleeping than during the day. Work that out!
Quote: Originally posted by David Klyne on 29/6/2023
I am not sure there would be much use. Having to haul water, unless on a serviced pitch, is a disincentive to use much! I also think that there is a limit to how much water you could use in a caravan or motorhome even if you did use your own facilities. Also water usage is usually measured in cubic metres of water and that is one hell of a lot of water!
David
We will use a barrel and a bit per day. Thats a shower each + washing up/swilling pots etc. If its very warm, towards 2 barrels as we'll have 2 showers.
Precisely why we always use site facilities whenever we can. We use very little water actually in our caravan, mainly because of having to lug it about. Much easier to just stroll over to the site showers where there is usually much more room than in our caravan shower. Maybe we would think differently if we were in a modern caravan with a much larger shower compartment and on a serviced pitch where we could hook up the water direct.
Quote: Originally posted by David Klyne on 29/6/2023
I am not sure there would be much use. Having to haul water, unless on a serviced pitch, is a disincentive to use much! I also think that there is a limit to how much water you could use in a caravan or motorhome even if you did use your own facilities. Also water usage is usually measured in cubic metres of water and that is one hell of a lot of water!
David
We will use a barrel and a bit per day. Thats a shower each + washing up/swilling pots etc. If its very warm, towards 2 barrels as we'll have 2 showers.
Precisely why we always use site facilities whenever we can. We use very little water actually in our caravan, mainly because of having to lug it about. Much easier to just stroll over to the site showers where there is usually much more room than in our caravan shower. Maybe we would think differently if we were in a modern caravan with a much larger shower compartment and on a serviced pitch where we could hook up the water direct.
I get the lugging about bit Col. I always try get withing spitting distance of a tap. Very occasionally i will splash out on a service pitch, but not often. I also get the smaller bathroom scenario. I am guessing yours is the 'everything gets wet' style? We had this in the one and only motorhome we had, and yes, it was a pain.
But your 'casual stroll' to the block? Maybe, maybe not, depending on how far it is. Also, ive seen people coming back wetter than when they were in the shower 5 minutes earlier as its chucking it down. Given i can fill our barrels when i choose, and the washroom is a decent size, i'll be sticking to whats best for us. Horses for courses, eh.
I'm fortunate (well, it was a concious decision when buying the van) that I have a decent full width rear bathroom with full sized shower cubicle, and decent loo, as I wanted to avoid that often long/wet/cold/dark trek to the site toilet/shower block, I've done plenty of that when tenting and a caravan was definitely intended to be a step up in luxury, not a tin version of a basic tent!
I use all my on board caravan facilities, shower, toilet, kitchen sink and hand basin, and have a large 51 litre (0.05 cu m) Aquaroll, and that'll typically last me 1.5 - 2 days, so there seems little economy in installing meters per pitch for the site (it would NEVER pay for it's installation cost!) if I'm a typical user. As to metering a common stand pipe, how on earth would you charge per user!
If you are a competent business owner, you should have little difficulty calculating your overall supply use against your annual site user numbers and coming to a average usage figure that you build into the standard pitch fee. It's not an entirely fair system to people like me who use minimal water with our own facilities (utilising the 'Navy shower' techniques) compared to people squandering far more water in a site shower, even a pay per use one! I'd bet a couple of flushes of a site loo uses more water than I'd use in a week of the meagre 'millilitre rinses' (as opposed to many litre flushes!) that my on board loo uses! Even my dish washing is likely to be more economic due to the size of my caravan sink, than a normal site sink and unlimited water.
Don't see metered water coming to camp sites any time soon, unless legislation forces it. Not in the sites best interest to spend significant money on the installation.
At home, I've just been changed over from a fixed tariff to a metered tariff, and received a substancial rebate as my actual usage is far below my estimated fixed tariff use. Now that is something I see as coming back to bite my bum! If the water companies have too many customers using less water on meters than they estimated on fixed tariffs (it will also expose how much is lost on leaky supply infrastructure!), then they will suffer a significant drop in income (25% reduction in my case!), and I think we all know that is not a situation they will tolerate for long! With wider use of metered supplies, I see the cost rising to bring income levels back to previous fixed tariff levels!
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 01/7/2023
Precisely why we always use site facilities whenever we can. We use very little water actually in our caravan, mainly because of having to lug it about. Much easier to just stroll over to the site showers where there is usually much more room than in our caravan shower. Maybe we would think differently if we were in a modern caravan with a much larger shower compartment and on a serviced pitch where we could hook up the water direct.
I get the lugging about bit Col. I always try get withing spitting distance of a tap. Very occasionally i will splash out on a service pitch, but not often. I also get the smaller bathroom scenario. I am guessing yours is the 'everything gets wet' style? We had this in the one and only motorhome we had, and yes, it was a pain.
But your 'casual stroll' to the block? Maybe, maybe not, depending on how far it is. Also, ive seen people coming back wetter than when they were in the shower 5 minutes earlier as its chucking it down. Given i can fill our barrels when i choose, and the washroom is a decent size, i'll be sticking to whats best for us. Horses for courses, eh.
Oh absolutely Mick. Ours is a little old caravan and the shower compartment is tiny. I'm 5'11" and trying to shower in there just results in bruises where I really don't want them! My wife and I aren't as supple as we once were and we both have back problems, so the less lugging about and performing contortions the better.
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 01/7/2023
Precisely why we always use site facilities whenever we can. We use very little water actually in our caravan, mainly because of having to lug it about. Much easier to just stroll over to the site showers where there is usually much more room than in our caravan shower. Maybe we would think differently if we were in a modern caravan with a much larger shower compartment and on a serviced pitch where we could hook up the water direct.
I get the lugging about bit Col. I always try get withing spitting distance of a tap. Very occasionally i will splash out on a service pitch, but not often. I also get the smaller bathroom scenario. I am guessing yours is the 'everything gets wet' style? We had this in the one and only motorhome we had, and yes, it was a pain.
But your 'casual stroll' to the block? Maybe, maybe not, depending on how far it is. Also, ive seen people coming back wetter than when they were in the shower 5 minutes earlier as its chucking it down. Given i can fill our barrels when i choose, and the washroom is a decent size, i'll be sticking to whats best for us. Horses for courses, eh.
Oh absolutely Mick. Ours is a little old caravan and the shower compartment is tiny. I'm 5'11" and trying to shower in there just results in bruises where I really don't want them! My wife and I aren't as supple as we once were and we both have back problems, so the less lugging about and performing contortions the better.
Im a short-arse in comparison mate. But on 'testing' some van shower cubicles, even i would struggle if i dropped the soap. My mate is a good six-two, and once had a shower cubicle where he had to bend down to get showered, and had zero chance if he dropped anything. Had to shut the shower off, open the door, then pick up the item!
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Water costs
via mobile 29/6/2023 at 1:50pm
