I'm sure most of us like to have a moan about the charge for a pitch when we look for a site to stay on.
But with electricity prices rising above inflation again this year site owners will be hard pressed not to put prices up again next season.

So I pose the question is a separate charge for electricity the way to go??

I have been looking at sites to stay next year and see some sites charging up to £4.00 a night for electric on top of the nightly fee and a few like one I stayed at last year who chose to meter the supply and charge for usage at the end of your stay.
I ended up paying a little under £1.00 a night in the puck at that site so £4.00 a night seems a lot however a fridge 2 lights a tv and a laptop and a kettle was all I used along with a few hours with an oil filled radiator, Something like a 4 wheel gin palace bigger than my house with a shower. full hot water a home sized cooker etc will use a lot more.

So I guess from an Eriba owners point of view metering would be the way we wish to see things go as they are not as power hungry as other site users.

However you look at it site charges are bound to go up next year and for the foreseeable future probably above the rate of inflation................ not a great prospect more a fact of life.

However maybe we should also consider the position of the site owners................. my friend, a Caravan club CL site owner with a minimal facility site on a farm will have to raise his prices by about £2.00 next year to avoid making a loss on his 6 pitch site

Most of us don't really consider the full list of costs in running a site so I will try to list some of them (bound to miss some here)
Yearly electrical test of hookup
emptying foul water septic tanks
electric bills
council waste collection bill
lawnmower petrol
lawnmower service and new blades
businesses rates
VAT (if the business makes enough to be VAT rated...................a farm will)
Caravan club certification

and so on...................you begin to see where £10.00 a night is becoming a losing proposition, even for a site with minimal facilities.

Being a caravanner with a friend who owns a site I'm kind of stuck between both views and really it does not matter which position I take prices for pitches will rise, I guess I'm just more aware of why.

Please feel free to comment (I'm sure you will)

We have stayed on metered sites in Germany, where we regularly went over the limit allowed with the ACSI card, although we ran very little in the way of lights, computer etc. and had no heating as it was warm. It would be fair to use this method as long as it didn't turn out to be a money spinner in itself. Recently we stayed on Gower and the electricity was metered by way of a card purchased at reception. This probably works better as the new person pitching will inevitably get 'free' leccy left over by the previous card. When that runs out you put your own card in and leave the residue for the next person. Probably not cheaper, but has a certain 'feel good factor'!