400% price rise on electric at Wicor.......!

[castaway]

Just received the good tidings that my electric will now cost 25p per unit.....

Given that I have just installed 2 big de-humidifiers in an attempt to get my laminate down to the 'magic number' so 'Fairweather' can have her all new 'Epoxy below and 2 pack above re finish'

It appears that they had been under charging over the winter and now to balance to books and continue upgrades they have bunged it up to 25p/unit...just great for us guys stuck in yard !

Thank God I have my dinghy, costs me next to nothing for storage and 4 races a week..seriously re thinking my future plans

Nick

 

[AIDY]

I thought marina's could not sell on electricity at a higher rate than the supplier is charging them. from memory when i worked our consumtion out over winter we were paing 14 per unit and i thought that was high !

 

[exfinnsailor]

I was trying to find a article on that as well .. The marina's got round some of it by charging a fixed fee for the supply and then so much per unit .. Don't think they are allowed to charge more than they pay .. Goes back to landlords and rented property which is where I was looking .. Suppose you could use your own generator and when they complain about the noise you complain about their electric prices .. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[exfinnsailor]

Found it .. HERE .. So he is breaking the law .. Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 me thinks .. or have a quiet word and show him the Website .. No one is paying 25p a unit .. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Chrusty1]

This any use?

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Consumers/CCI/Pages/Resaleofgasandelectricity.aspx

 

[Chris_Robb]

Hi - my bill for the winter was at 10p per unit - which surprised me, but then I saw the amount £140.00. Could I really have used all that?? 2 greenhouse heaters, 1 oilfilled radiator on froststat, and one dehumidifier set to come on twice a day for 1 hour a time.

I agree with the others, Scotty cannot charge any more that what he pays, its plain illegal. However, he can charge a fixed service charge. Enjoy your arguement with Scotty............

 

[sailorman]

check-out the offgen / offwat site

 

[castaway]

I have already raised the point with the predictable outcome...

I'm totally stuffed at the moment, so he can do pretty much what he wants.

Nick

 

[boatbuilder]

I think that the rule only applies to domestic , and you are commercial in a marina.

 

[wotayottie]

Thats my understanding too. But more to the point you are toatlly wasting your time and money if you are trying to dry out a wet laminate with de-humidifiers. Is that the objective of the exercise?

The salts in solution in your laminate are hygroscopic. You will make a short term impact on the wetness with dehumidifiers just like you could do with a bowl of wet salt. Just as soon as you turn them off they will suck moisture back in from anywhere they can get it. That after all is exactly what they do when you are in the water.

To get rid of the moisture you need to wash out the salts altogether

 

[samwestwood]

as i understand it the Marina is not breaking the law.

They can only charge what they pay for the power.
But they can charge you what they want for the cost of supplying it. Maintenance etc...

 

[castaway]

Yes of course you have a good point....I'm well aware that the salts etc have to be washed off the laminate... see the Pascoe guide to the subject below.
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/my_wet_hull.htm

But after 8 months out of the water, including peeling the gelcoat off the bottom to expedite matters and washing the bared gel coat every few days (as per Pascoe) I'm willing to try anything !

All best Nick

 

[mlthomas]

Its not local to you, electricity costs have risen in all the marinas we visited recently in the nw too!

 

[wotayottie]

Well you sound to have done the right things. When my previous boat had osmosis it took a year to dry and coat and thats a Prout cat with a much thinner laminate than yours will be. I've often wondered whether it would be quicker to launch the boat still peeled and uncoated into fresh water for a few months - or build some sort of temporary tank round it.

You have my sympathies _ I can still remember how frustrating it was. And the frustration was the time rather than the cost that most people focus on

Trouble is, as your link pointed out, the gunge is hygroscopic and if you just dry it with dehumidifeirs or hot pads it will re hydrate itself. Every epoxy maker takes care to tell you that epoxy is not waterproof. Its just rather better than polyester. So eventually the epoxy allows water back to hydrate the gunge and off you go again.

Which meter are you using to measure moisture? I had a specific problem with a dry laminate coming out as wet in one area and it turned out to be salt on the inside of the laminate - I'd had some water in when freeing off the log - and as soon as I washed the inside with hot water, the meter magically read dry.