Are you being ripped off for electricity and gas in caravan parks?
According to OFGEM (Office For Gas & Electricity Markets), You should not be charged more than the park owner is charged for the supply of electricity. However, there are some instances that can make this difficult to calculate.
Example For Electricity Charges
The park owner has been charged 17 Pence per KWH by their supplier, they also pay a Standing Charge of £120 per year.
You would assume you should be charged 17 Pence per KWH for the electricity you have consumed, then the Standing Charge should be divided equally between the park owners usage and the caravan owners.
In most cases, the caravan parks supply a meter and cables to your caravan. They would then be within their rights to recover these costs with a standing charge of their own to recover the costs of maintaining their own network within the park. These additional costs would also cover the administration and billing for said meters.
Some parks may include the additional charges within the KWH rate they charge the caravan owner. For example: The park owner may bill you at 22 Pence per KWH, or they may bill you 17 Pence per KWH plus £100 a year standing charge.
Whichever way they charge you, they must provide a breakdown of the costs at your request.
Other electricity charges
Caravan park owners are within their rights to charge an equal share for the electricity consumed in all areas that caravan owners use, such as street lighting and clubhouses, etc.
Day and night rate meters
In some cases, caravan parks may have meters which have more than one reading. This could suggest they may be getting a cheaper night rate. If this is the case, you could demand they install a two rate meter to your caravan. However, this may not work out in your favour. You would be charged for the installation of the meter, and this type of meter could incur a higher service charge. In all honesty, it’s not worth having a two rate meter unless you are using night time storage heaters.
Example For Gas Charges
There is no legislation regarding the resale of LPG. The park can charge whatever they feel is a fair price.
LPG gas meter calculator
If you have a meter that measures M3 (Cubic Metres), You may be fortunate enough to be charged per unit of measure. This makes calculating your usage very simple. However, you can use this calculator to work out other measurements. Or you can simply use it to email your usage records to your own email address.
Ripping you off for electricity and gas?
It’s highly unlikely your caravan park owner would be ripping you off. They have to keep their electricity prices in line with OFGEM legislation. It’s also unlikely they would rip you off with gas prices. They need to charge an amount that makes their business viable, at the same time, keep their customers happy. Don’t forget, it’s not just the price of gas and electricity you are paying for. You are paying for the whole service of it getting to your caravan, including the administration and maintenance!
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Our holiday park has just revised our electricity and gas prices including a standing charge with is dependant on how much energy you use. The more you use the standing charge goes up considerably. Is this legal.
Hello John. It certainly does appear to be unfair. My thoughts on it, they should just be charging a fixed standing charge to cover the metering and services to transport the electricity. The argument being, mobile home owners who use very little electricity think it’s unfair if they pay the same standing charge as heavier users. The fact is, there is little to no difference in additional costs to deliver the electricity to low and high users. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about it as this is not illegal. I do think it unethical though. I will be consulting with OFGEM regarding this very grey area!
Thankyou for such a prompt response. It would be very much appreciated
if you could get back in touch regarding Ofgem’s thoughts. We were being charged a standing charge for both gas and electricity of £25 each per annum. However on our new billing some are being charged a standing charge varying from £12 a quarter to £107 a quarter,it seems so excessive??
Thanks once again.
My camping & caravan site has introduced card meters to each pitch. Despite myself and other seasonal users requesting a copy of the tariffs and breakdown on several occasions, this information has not been provided, but instead we are fobbed off. What can we do without compromising us.
We are concerned that the tariff is higher than our domestic tariffs at home and feel the sums do not add up.
My site has just appointed a company to install smart meters to each van. This company is asking for an annual service charge of £120 plus vat and for each owner to put £60 into their account in advance to cover the cost of any electricity used.
The problem being the company doesn’t seem to be registered at companies house, the address on their website doesn’t marry up with the active company at that address and so far I haven’t seen anything with a VAT number on.
Thoughts please
Hi Lee. That’s interesting. This may just turn out to be the new norm for caravan parks. I wouldn’t doubt it will all be above board. Do you have the name of the company?
Hi, our small one man band holiday home are charging us 45ppu when he himself is only paying 13-14ppu, legally can he do this , we do also pay a standing charge that is displayed on our prepayment meter , the 19kg gas bottles we use are £34 yet he only pays £17,50 , I know gas and electric have different rules for prices but lagally can he charge us these prices ? Tia
On the face of it, this certainly sounds like something that should be looked into. You should only be paying the same price that the site owner is being charged for electricity. Please see this attachment. I suggest you bring it to the site owners attention. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2003/01/1970-mrp_5.pdf
Our park owner has decided to stop the daily standing charge on our metered electricity supply, he has however increased our KWh rate from £0.1435 to £0.1781 meaning that the more electricity we use it will cost substantially more than if we were paying the daily standing charge.
He says that he is within his rights to charge us the extra amounts to cover the cost of street lights, sales office, electric gates & klargester eco sewerage system, is this right, he also refuses point blank to display the current tarrifs for electricity, lpg gas & water.
Mobile homes act requires park owner to show you on request the price he pays for any services he provides to you
Can our site back bill, as we have had incorrect invoices back to October 2018 which they are fully aware of. They have now sent us an invoice from for Electricity usage from October 2018 to May 2020.
I am being charged 4.99 for each unit of plg gas which I think is very high what is you’re opinion.
Assuming you are paying £4.99 per cubic metre, it does appear a bit on the expensive side. However, LPG is generally more expensive than the gas we have piped into our homes!
Unfortunately, this is just one of the high costs you have to bare with holiday caravan ownership.
I have just sold my static caravan to the site. I have received an electricity bill for a total of £70.64 made up as KWH used @ 12p per unit £32.64 (Including 5% Vat) + Distribution and Agents charges + Management Fee (including 20% vat). There are no meter readings indicating usage and due to covid the site did not open untill 4th July. I have only occupied the caravan for a maximum of 28 days and due to being gas cooking, heating etc. know i have only used electricity for the lights and domestic appliances only. This seems excessive but with no readings supplied i am unable to check. The £38.00 distribution etc. charge first appeared on last years bill having been suggested by the owners accountant but allegedly for all previous years was included in the bill. This charge is the same for a part year as it was for a complete year. Nothing seems right with this bill and i suspect the owner is profiteering. As for the gas he charges £89 for a 47kg bottle when i know i can have it delivered by the same company to the caravan for £64.00. This however has now been prohibited by virtue of only being able to purchase via the site. Can he get away with such charges and the lack of readings etc.
Thanks for your comment, Ian. Sorry for the confusion that you thought your comment had been removed. You would be the only person to see your comment for a short time after you had posted it until it had been approved. We check every comment made on the energy Advisory Service UK website. We do this to protect our users from accessing any bad links that may be posted.
In answer to your comment. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as though your caravan site has done anything illegal. They are within their rights to charge you a service charge whether you were able to use your caravan or not. Also, there are no price rulings for the supply of LPG. Don’t you just love the way some park owners take advantage of their customers!
I have a static caravan in Wales and have received a gas bill for this very short season( Corvid).
They have charged £3.20 per unit which has made 93 units cost over £270. Surely this can’t be right. I have contacted them for an explanation but no response yet.
This does seem very steep. Unfortunately, there is nothing to stop site owners charging what they they like for LPG.
Hi, our electricity charges have increased by 120% is this legal
Hi
We have a caravan and our electricity prices jumped from 14p to 18p and we were not notified about this by the park.
Surely they are obliged to notify us of this change especially as its a 50% increase?
Keep asking about this and getting nowhere
Also I have zero billed for over a year and asked for a bill several times since noticing this and have been told I have been billed.. I said yes but to zero billing
Where do I stand on this?
Thanks
My electric on my caravan site charges 37 pence per unite.hes charged me more this year than last.and seen as I’m 12 weeks Less than last year.scandless ,there should be a standard rate across the board
Hello Gail. Can you please provide more information:
What caravan site is this?
Do you have a breakdown of charges? I.E. How much are they charging per KWH, and how much for service charge?
My caravan site charges 37pence per unit. My bill was more this year than last considering we where12weeks less with the corona.their should be a standard rate across the board. Disgusting ripping people off.im even going to start using a gas kettle,as the meter goes round like a whirlwind
i have a caravan which is a touring caravan on a site for years now. im on a static pitch which is smaller than the norm.
my question is seeing as its on their all year round why do i have to pay rates on a touring caravan is this legal.
Hello, in common with all Haven Caravan owners we have just received our annual electricity statements where in the main we have all been charged the same costs for 2020 usage as we paid for 2019. In comparison we have had 4 months access this year compared to 9 months last year. The vans have meters supplied by the owners, they also maintain and read them. It is impossible to use the same amount in 4 moths compared to 9 months especially as it really only had one month of that where heating might have been used. The site we are on have said they can only check the reading. No acceptance of the issue here. Pretty much the same as charging a full year of water from them. What can we do please?
we recently got our electric bill charged at o.2414 per unit starting from 24 august 2020,,prior bills were at the rate of .1508,,can they jump nearly %70 without no information regarding these rises without any explanation of the price hike,,they say its in line with ofgems regulations,,i,m on a parkdean site in northumberland,,any help i would appreciate,,ty
Hi i had a large gas bill 2019. The park checked the meter and found no problem. As it was my first year i paid. 2020 was just the same bill even thou we was in lockdown. They have checked my meter twice saying no problem. This year i have taken photos when arriving and leaving and the gas units were going up when i was not there. I went over the 21st Dec and took a photo which they new i did. End of January they said they had checked for 28 days and gas had not moved and it hadnt i have the same readings. I have now sent photos when we locked down in March and returned in July clearly showing units going up and from the 1st of November to the 21st of December again going up. They are now checking again. Has anyone got any advice or answers to why this is happening.
Without being there and not seeing exactly what is happening, it is difficult to give an accurate reason for your usage. However, it is normal to still be using gas as your heating should be kicking in when the temperature drops below a certain level.
Our caravan park owner states that he has nothing to do with the Gas & Electricity supplied to our site even though the supplier states that the contract is between themselves and the site owner so if we have any issues/problems we should contact them ourselves.
The current supplier took over the supply in August 2018 and stated in a letter that where possible caravans would be fitted with “Smart Meters” in the closed months (December to March) so they everything would be up and running ready for the start of the new season 1st March 2019.
This did not happen, it was around July/August before they were installed.
Now still to this day the meters are not working correctly, everyone is either getting miss readings, incorrect usage, some not working etc.
We have issues regarding the so called “Administration Fee/Charges” no one can get a defined breakdown of what they are supposed to cover, they are always coming up with different answers.
No one minds or begrudges paying this fee it’s just that we don’t believe we are getting the services that they are supposed to be providing.
Can anyone shed any light on this subject..
our caravan site has just put our charges up for electricity by 25% from 20p a unit to 25p
a unit without any warning second rise in 12 months, is this legal.
I would advise you to go to the office at the park to challenge them about the increase. Perhaps ask if they are aware they cannot charge more than they are being charged themselves by the energy supplier. If you don’t get any satisfaction, then get in touch with Citizens Advice.
Apparently my gas meter was leaking at my caravan. The park changed the meter but have said it must of been damaged by my gas engineer when he completed a safety check like 6 months ago. The warden reads the meter every week and only smelt gas yesterday. The park are saying it’s my responsibility to pay for the new meter as it was my engineer who has cracked the value by over tightening it. I’m also concerned that if the meter had been leaking for 6 months would that mean I’ve paid for gas that I haven’t used. When I mentioned this to the park warden I was dismissed . Any help would be grateful accepted
Why can Lowther holiday park owned by pure leisure increase the the electric standing charge by 245% for no improvement in facilities.
Gas is similar.
Making any comments against them can result in expulsion from site.
New owners have just taken over our site on beacon fell view,we could before have our gas bottles delivered by a company for £48 per bottle.The new owners are saying we can only buy gas off the site now at £70 per bottle,is this legal as to what there doing an increase of £22 per bottle x 10 per season this works out at £220 more per season
Hi we are considering buying a static and looking at fuel charges it appears that gas is charged at £2.82 per unit and Electric at £0.18 per unit. Would anyone have a comparison charge and can tell me roughly what would the winter bills be for a monthly period and is this an acceptable amount to be charging.
Thanks in Advance
How can I find out who supplies our electricity to our caravan site?
Hi Linda. You could ask at the site office. There is no reason why they wouldn’t share that information with you. However, I can’t think of any reason why knowing which supplier supplies power to the park would be beneficial to you.
Our site has just told us that the electricity is going up in excess of 230 % per unit from now
Good evening , my question is we have purchased a new lodge late last year 2019 , it was sited March of 2020 . We have just had our electric bill and water in the holiday park is charging us 20% vat on electric and CCL . I was under the impression that CCL is only for businesses ( holiday park ) not the individual lodge which I have found out they have added the CCL charge to all lodges saying EON charges individual lodges . I’ve done my research and this appeared to incorrect, please can you clarify for me ?
Also I believe as were individual metered for both it should only be 5% ?
Many thanks in advance
Kind regards
John
Hello John. Your park owners will be liable for business energy. This means all these extra charges will be passed onto the end user. The meter attached to your lodge is probably supplied by the park, and nothing to do with the energy supplier!
I hope this helps!
Hi. Our lodge has LPG. The park contract does not mandate which company they use yet they will support the change of gas bottles by Calor. The park refused to let an alternate supplier in to change our bottles. Can they do this? Effectively forcing us to use Calor?
Hi Gemma. Yes, the park is within their rights to do this. They could specify a number of reasons. Safety, insurance purposes, they can refuse entry to their land for many reasons.
Hi our caravan park has just put vat up on our gas and electric bills from 5% to 20% as the government set it at 5% how can they justify this. We all have our own meters and only pay for what we use they say.If we queried this with them they get aggressive and say don’t like it then leave .It is a small family run caravan park with about 60 caravans
Hi our park has just increased our electricity without notice. It has gone up 13p per unit. They are reading meters in order to charge the 13p per unit on electricity purchased prior to increase is this normal practice.
Thank you so much for this advice. I have concerns that I am actually being ripped off. I live 11 months a year in my caravan and as such this is worrying me. I have checked the average business rate for a K/W hr and it seems to be around 0.15p/unit. My bill, provided monthly is now showing £0.34p/unit, plus VAT and then there is a service charge of £5 per month plus VAT. Personally I think this is profiteering and its 2.5 times the average cost.
I would appreciate your opinion and if it does sound wrong, what can I actually do about it.
Many thanks
Paul
I live as others on this site for most part of the year. In January of this year we received a letter from the site dated the 17th dec 2021 it read from immediate effect the price per kw will go up from 0.19p per kw to 0.46.44 per kw. They then charged us for the whole quarter oct/nov/dec 21 at the new rate our electric bill £1271 for that quarter. Ours was not highest another was £1600. When confronted with this we were told they had contacted a solicitor and was told they were within there rights to do so. We actually found out that they are with edf. We are there customers which I thought they would look after. They refused to give a break down saying they don’t have to.
Is there anything we can do.
Many thanks
Sharon hearn
Hi Sharon
I have the same issue as well, did you get it resolved?
My seasonal pitch has increased the price of card meter electric to 40p a unit. This started a beginning of the season. We were not informed. Can they do this?.
We have just been informed ours is going up to 50p pkwh
We live on a residential park. Our electricity and gas is charged at 5%vat. The daily service/admin charge is charged at 20% vat. Is this correct or should it be 5%vat?
Hi.
We have a Caravan in Wales.
Our last electric bill was charged at 14p per unit…we have just had our aseptic to April and the owner claim we have been underpaying for the last 2 and a half years !!.we had no idea of this. So from the Sept 2021 they have increased the unit price to 77.5p per unit an increase of over 500%…
Our bill has increased from £120 to £617 !!
Can they legally do this…I thought they could only ‘ back bill ‘ 12 months.
Thanks
I am on a small park in west wales, saundersfoot, since March this year, we were told our mains gas would raise to £4.28 per unit, so to have a warm shower, it costs just over £5 , surely this is illegal, there’s not a gas company in Britain that charge anywhere near that price, it’s scandalous, but if you ask the question you will be given a months notice as you’re causing problems on the site, they shouldn’t be able to get away with these threats all the time.
I have a static caravan on a site in the West Country. As the owner I am free to choose my energy suppliers. At present electricity is via British Gas. Although the site is closed for six months of the year I still have to pay a daily standing charge through the whole year. Are there any suppliers that don’t impose this charge? I used to pay only for when the van was in use and in the ‘off’ season no electric was used by the van.
That’s a very unusual set up on a caravan park, Wally. I’ve never came across anyone having their own electricity supply that doesn’t go through the parks own network. Anyway, suppliers have pretty much done away with no standing charge tariffs. In any case, with these tariffs you always paid more for the first so many units, this was to cover what would have been the standing charge!
My caravan site has overnight changed our tariff for electricity, no notice was given. They are now charging 49p per Kw. This equates to a 172% rise overnight. The average Kw as I understand is 28p right now.I have asked them how much they are paying and got no response.
Is this legal?
Thanks Tony
Our caravan site owner whilst I was away for 7weeks has increased the card meters tariff without my knowledge, I generally put £5 – £10 pounds in to see me through, it only came to light when I checked my meter that within less than 48hrs of arriving £6.43 had gone, I complained and wanted to know why I had not been advised of increases, I was basically told that if I’m not happy about it leave!!!! and told that I don’t have to be informed?? Is this right
Good evening I live on caravan park in Malvern. My landlord has put my. Electricity up from 17p per KW to 68p per KW from today 23rd September without warning.service provider is with SSE.
I think there is a few of us who would be interested in a reply to your question from energy-advise.com
Hello Pat. Many thanks for your comment. Many of the other comments are making a statement of fact. Where some have asked a question, or asked for advice, they have been contacted on a personal level to deal with their specific enquiry.
Where Karen has made a comment, she wasn’t asking for advice. However, this is a tricky one. Currently, there doesn’t appear to be any rules about energy price increases being notified to the end user at a caravan park. In many cases where the park owners contract with the supplier has came to an end, their new contract price can be considerably more expensive.
My personal feelings on this: I don’t agree that it’s right. The park owner usually receives about 6 months notice that their deal will be coming to an end. If the park owner doesn’t switch to a new deal, they will be rolled onto a more expensive deal at the end of the contract. It’s just a shame that some businesses don’t keep on top of this and shop around for a better deal during the window of opportunity.
I now pay 40p a unit for electricity on my caravan site will they have the right to put
it up again with the new price cap in October .
Hi can I have some advice of who to contact regards my electricity bill going up from 17p per kW to 68p per KW from 01/10/22. On a caravan park. I’ve contacted my caravan park owner via email asking why? And can I have break down as to why it’s gone up 400%. We expected 34p Max. The site down the road has increased to 32p. Do I report this 400% increase to OFGEM. Kind regards Karen.
Hello Karen
I’ve sent you an email regarding this. If this helps to resolve the matter, can you please let me know of the outcome.
Our caravan park charged us 20 pence per unit last year, and we found out this week that we had been charged 35 pence per unit from March 1st 2022, and from October 1st it was going up to £1.10 per unit, which I feel is scandalous. I asked the park and they said it was because they had been charged more. What is your opinion on the rise, and any advice please
Hi Jeff. I’ve sent you an email. This does seem extreme. However, they can increase the price to whatever they are paying themselves. The email includes instructions and a document how to go about getting your park owner to impart with proof on what they are paying themselves.
Hi I’ve contacted the caravan park owner regarding my increase of electricity from 17p per KW to 68p per KW from 1st October 2022. I’ve sent email over one month ago. Still haven’t had a response from them as of 16th October 2022. They are with SSE electricity. Any recommendations of what I can do now.
Kind regards
Karen
Hi Karen
I’m sorry to hear the park has not responded to your request. Please refer to the email I sent you on 1st October. Download the attached PDF document, and then attach it to a new email to send to the park. Please draw their attention to the part that states they should provide you with the information you are asking for.
If they still don’t respond within a reasonable timescale, please get back to me so I can advise you further.
Martin.
Hi there. Just a quick question. We run a business that supplies electric to customers. We want to hold our price for them. I have read through your advice regarding recharges and wanted to you to confirm that we cannot claim back any money for maintenance of the bollards, ie: electrical checks. We purely claim back the recharge and the standard charge, like we are doing at present. Thanks for your advice.
Hi Victoria. Many thanks for your comment. We have sent an email response.
Re the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount, can we have some clarity in regard to Eligibility. The document covering eligibility published on the GOV.UK published 1 April 2022, page 2, under the heading, If you live in a park home, houseboat or off grid.
The government confirms their is funding to provide equivalent support to the tune of £400 for the energy bills who are not eligible for the discount. Whereas it does on to say that there is no reason to contact the electricity supplier, and the discount will be applied or automatically credited at the usual top up point.
The site I’m on has forty two units, two/ three pensioners the rest gainfully employed.
The question, is there or is there not a provision for a discount on our energy bills?
As the site owners say we are not getting any discount, not entitled to any discount and won’t be paying any discount. The electricity has now gone up to 40p per kWh plus standing charge.
Residential or holiday licence?
Caravan site has increased their electricity fees without notice. I only found out on arrival of my bill. I’ve asked for clarity on when the rate changed and they have told me that it’s non of my business. They are now applying an admin fee for collecting meter readings on top of the standinding charge. What are my rights as this does not feel right.
Hi would be happy if you could advise?
Our park owners recently advised that everyone had been under paying on our metered LPG supplies as we were paying a unit price per m3 of gas used.
eg 31m3 x 0.64575 =£20.02
Fixed charge = £10.50
Cost £30.52 Inc Vat
They now advise that this should have been being charged per cubic litres used so as follows:
31 x 3.85 = 119.35 cubic litres
119.35 x 0.64575 = £77.07
Fixed charge = £10.50
Cost £105.08
Therfore an increase on this bill example of £74.56
Does this look to you as being the correct way to calculate and charge on bills going forward?
Electricity bills are issued annually on our Caravan Park Jan to Dec. Last year our tariff was 0.147. I have requested on numerous occasions now what our new tariff will be for the forthcoming year and not received a response. Am I entitled to know what tariff I will be charged. Thanking you in advance
Hi Good Afternoon, good news. Our site owners have emailed us yesterday. Our electricity went up from 17p per KW to 68p per KW from October. We have now been told electricity will now be 28p per KW increase of 11p. Great news. Thank you for all your help.
Kind regards
Karen
Good news indeed, Karen.
Hello. Our electricity cost went up from 0.15p per KWh to 61p on October 1st. We only found out when the park owner sent us out a final bill before they sold the site. The new site owner advised their other park had a new contract, the cheapest they could find was £0.78p per KWh. It looks like we’re going to be charged monthly, I’d guess to avoid the new owner being left on the hook for massive bills the caravan and lodge owners may be unable to pay. One caravan owner racked up a bill of £810 for one months consumption. My question is this: is commercial electricity really £1.12 per KWh without the business support scheme and will this be the rate we will be hit by come the end of the support scheme in April 2023 ?
The price of Commercial Energy varies from customer to customer. If the business doesn’t take advantage of a small window of opportunity to switch to a more acceptable tariff price, they will end up on a very expensive tariff. This is all to common. Unfortunately, end users such as caravan owners end up having to pay these high prices.
Hello could you please advise I live on a mobile park home and have just received my quarterly bill, the site has sent out a short letter telling me that my electric per unit is £0.52 which is an increase from £0.15 along with the bill, this is the first I have heard of the increase! Also I don’t understand how they have calculated the final bill as all it says is with the relief scheme from the government this has taken the unit rate down to £0.2076. I have asked for a breakdown of how they have got to the new unit rate,I have tried to calculate numerous different ways with the lack of information it’s impossible! All I want is to see the calculations of how my bill has been made. I hope you can help as I am worried I am not being charged correctly.
Many thanks
Vicky
Ma
Hi Vicky. To be honest, this is the lowest rate I’ve come across in the past 6 months. Personally, I wouldn’t question it, nor care to work it out. The park should be giving you an accurate breakdown of how they arrive at their price. If your next bill is confusing, perhaps you could ask them to give an actual breakdown of pricing.
Could i have a copy of the letter which needs to be sent to a park owner ref electricity costs please.
We have paid a deposit for a seasonal pitch for next season but the owner will not commit to the electricity charges , just stating as per current rates
Hello Garry. I’ve sent you an email. However, your park owners may not be in a position to commit to future prices. They are only required to provide you with information on the rate they are currently being charged.
We were told by our Caravan Site owner,that the higher rate of electricity has gone from 21ppu to 76ppu, when is other site is only being charged 46ppu. Our site has only 35 vans on it but his other site has double that amount. When questioned about this,he replied it was because our site was only small and not using enough electricity and it was crippling small businesses. We will have to find out what electric company he is using. We would be grateful for a reply.
Hi Pamela. It is common practice for a larger business to get a slight discount on unit rates. Try asking them to show you their electricity bill. If they have nothing to hide, then there’s no reason why they shouldn’t show you it.
How can we find out what out site is paying to their supplier. I have spoken to thes supplier Smartest Energy Business and understandably they cannot share this information with me. As we know they are not allowed to make a profit, how can this be confirmed please?
In the first instance, you should simply ask them at your site office. They have an obligation to give you this information. If you have any problems with this, please let me know so I can advise further.
Thank you. I have asked the owners and they said they are only passing on what they are being charged, it’s 38p a unit. Sadly I don’t trust them as they are totally ruthless. I have also asked Citizens Advice and got a cut and paste response about landlords that included the Ofgen linked that I sent to them in my question.
That sounds a pretty fair price for business energy, Deborah. I think caravan site owners should try to be more upfront with everything. There is no reason why they shouldn’t display energy prices on their notice board.
Hello, I would like to know if it is legal for the caravan park I stay on to ask for 100% of the electricity bill, based on 2022 accounts, to be paid upfront as they are changing tariff and as they pay the bill monthly, they want to make sure they have money in the bank to cover the costs. Upto now they have always had 50% upfront based on the previous year’s bills which again seems unfair but we had no choice, please could you advise if this is allowed or whether they should bill quarterly or something along those lines.
It doesn’t seem fair, but it’s not illegal. It’s certainly not very customer friendly. Perhaps suggest to them, you pay the same way as they do. Ask if you can set up a Standing order to pay monthly.
I thought I posted this, but it didn’t appear.
We are second in the resale chain of electricity. The adjacent caravan park owner has the contract with the main supplier, and they resell to their caravan owners and also resell to our park owner, who resells to us. The unit price and standing charge for their caravan owners is completely different to ours. We pay a very low unit price but a very high standing charge, theirs is opposite. You can always use less electricity to cut cost but can’t avoid the standing charge. As the main supplier is the same shouldn’t unit costs also be the same? We do pay a separate charge for metering costs so it’s not due to that? We have asked for a break down on how charges are calculated and how costs are shared but have not gotten this yet.
Hi Graham. This seems all very convoluted. There could be a few variables at play here.
1. Does your caravan park have its own commercial meter supply?
If so, it would be a separate energy contract. Therefore, pricing would be different.
2. Is the caravan park registered as an actual energy supplier?
It may be difficult to find out if they are connected with the supplier as they may use a different business name.
Ask them to show you an energy bill showing the unit rates for your park. They are required to give you this information. If they haven’t provided the information within 3 weeks, please leave a comment here. I will show you how to make them pay attention.
Hi, we are still not able to get a copy of the supplier bills to confirm our tariff. Can you advise what step we can take to get this?
Hello we was paying 15p on our electric meter now they have put it up to 57p we are using around £11 a day and we have turned electric switches off washing at night can they do this
Unfortunately yes, they can do this if their contract at the lower price has ended, and they have been placed on a more expensive tariff!
The caravan park I am on has sent us bills claiming that an error had occurred in their system and from December 2021 to December 2022 the price per kw for electricity was incorrect and they are claiming the difference. We received the bills and have to pay in 14 days or they will also charge a fee of £40 plus interest [we actually received the bills in he post with only 8 days to respond as sent 2nd class).Can they claim this back payment ?
Sorry to say. But, yes they claim this from you. It doesn’t sound very fair, but they are within their rights
I was paying 17p per unit of electricity until Nov 22. They have now put it up to 79p per unit. I stay a coupe of nights per week and paying out over £200 per month on electricity. This along with an increase in gas bottle prices and site fees is so bad i may need to sell up.
Hello,
We are currently charged 5% VAT on our gas which is metered but the VAT on the standing charge is 20% is this correct or should it all be charged at 5%
Many Thanks
Because their standing charge is not set by the energy supplier, they charge it separately to you. This means they need to add 20% VAT.
I live on a residential site. We are responsible for our own gas but get the electric billed from the owners after we give them a reading. Thats all fine but our electric tariff (well the companies) was very low at 14p a kwh and now they have agreed with the same electric company when the tariff expired the cheapest rate they had which is 44.2 per kwh. The residents are up in arms as we are stuck on this for 2 years many being pensioners. Can we do anything.
Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about this price increase. Business energy has increased to an extremely high rate.
Hi good afternoon, I live on caravan site in Malvern. Our electricity was fixed at 28p due to government aid help. Today we have received email confirming as from 1st April 2023 electricity will increase to 68p? Yet today it’s in the news to say electricity in been caped. Can my landlord back date electricity?
Good morning does my caravan park owner have obligation to let residents no how much he is been charged for electricity? 68p? Per KW? Only I’ve emailed twice to the owner. Had no response. Should they be transparent? On how much they are been charged from SSE electricity provider?
Can you please advise me on how to get confirmation of my electricity charges per KW from my caravan park owner please. I’ve sent several emails and asked at the office. Nobody seems to be able to tell me
Hi good evening, I’ve sent numerous emails regarding my electricity bill at 60 per kw plus 10p standing charge per day. Making 70p per day for electricity. Ive had no corresponding emails fro site owner about sharing the cost they are paying for electricity per kw. Who do I report owner to for overcharged electricity.