Take a look at the website for Shepards Wharf in Cowes and you will see that the daily charge to connect to electricity is now £8.95. At a domestic charge of 34p per kilowatt hour, that equates to a purchase of 26.3 kWh. If I owned a fifty feet long boat, with air conditioning, tumble drier and jacuzzi, I would happily pay up. For a modest PSSA boat I really cannot see how they justify this charge, unless their cost is £1 per kWh. Fortunately I usually berth in East Cowes.

If you are planning to visit Cowes during the chillier part of the season, be forewarned and take your heavy duty credit card when you visit the marina office.

2 Go elsewhere.

I'll be anchored in Newtown Creek, it's free!

rascal

I learn that businesses can be charged 90p per kWh. As, I believe, companies are not permitted to mark up the unit price of electricity but should pass on the price, Shepards would pass on this 90p rate. The daily charge assumes usage of 9.9 kWh. This would pay for a 500W heater to run flat out for 20 hours per day. It’s all very unrealistic. Perhaps there should be a sliding scale, charging according to boat length. Larger boats will take more to heat and will likely have water heating. If I was in a 40’ boat, the £8.95 charge would feel slightly less unreasonable.

When berthing fees shot up last year, my comments were met with “oh, that’s the going rate”. I don’t find this very helpful. I am concerned that already expensive nights in Yarmouth and Lymington become even more expensive if these harbours copy Cowes electricity rates, making then unaffordable during the chilly nights at the start and end of the season. I didn’t visit Yarmouth at all last year due to their unreasonable charges.

some years ago when I was Chair of our residents’ association I project managed the installation of an electric card system. I found out quite a lot about charging and cost recovery …

We were being charged (by Southern Electric) VAT at commercial rather than domestic rates, and had been for some time. We got a considerable rebate. It would be interesting to ask Shephards for a full VAT receipt to see the VAT component of their electricity charges. It ought to be the domestic rate.

The question of what can be passed on is an interesting one. Legally, infrastructure costs can be recovered in the price of the electricity, if this is made clear from the outset. One would have to look very carefuly at the Cowes Harbour Commissioners T&Cs.

Cheers, John

This means

- electricity at Shephards Marina costs £9 per night

- electricity at Cowes Yacht Haven costs £4.50 a night. It’s a lot but half the price of Shephards Marina.

Even if Shephards bought electricity at a business rate of 90p per kilowatt hour, that means you’d be paying for 10 KWh. There is no way we’d use anything close to that amount.