Marina Electricty Charges - Again

[Oldhand]

Last month a correspondent, "dignity", advertised in this forum that his marina had recouped there losses from not being allowed to profit on charges for electricity consumed by bertholders with the introduction a £50 service charge. I responded by thanking "dignity" for advertising this scam to all other marina operators who hadn't thought of it.

Sure enough the Yacht Haven Group have invented their version of the scam. It is a service charge of 5p per metered unit consumed (which is more than the price per unit they can charge for the electricity consumed). I guess they are trying to get back to the 10p per unit they used to charge.

However, this has been applied without prior advice and is in breach of their own "Company Rules" quoted on the back of their "Berthing and Marina Services Agreement". Their definition of Marina Services is:"means the facilities provided by the Company as part of the Berthing Agreement, such as:.......supply of electrical power and water". The next paragraph of their "rules" entitled "The Agreement" states: "Details of the charges applicable to the Berths and Services will be given to the Owner/Customer in writing in the Agreement".

I trust those Haven berthholders who have just received bills for elecricity supply including this new service charge will check their "Agreements" to see if they are liable for such a charge before considering payment. There is no mention of an electricity service charge in my "Agreement".

Perhaps the legal professionals on the forum would like to comment on what our position is in respect to this service charge.

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[Guest]

As an outsider to all this ...... I have very good cooperation on lecky bills ..... pls do not ask for details !!

I suggest that making waves will force a situation that may go either way ..... some will gain -others will definitely lose. taking the previous postings about Lecky charges in marinas - it seems that there is a loop hole allowing thm to 'service charge' on top ....... so check small print - are you absolutely sure that they cannot charge 'service charge' ?????????


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ... and of course Yahoo groups :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gps-navigator/

 

[Trevethan]

This is strictly against the rules. The only additional charges they can make are to cover maintenance, deprecation and administration, if I remember rightly.

Ask them to supply you with suitable accounts/projections for this new revenue and also ask to see the part of their accounts that show the costs for maintaining the stanchions, their purchase cost and expected lifespan (divide cost by years to get depreciation per annum) and how long they take in man hours to bill everyone.

Suggest to them that 5 pence may be too high and you want to assure yourself that it is a legimate charging level before making a formal complaint to the regulator.

That should make you unpopular enough that they will kick you out next time you try and renew and you can find a marina that is a little less mercenary --


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[robmurray]

Mdl have just done the same to me at Mercury.
Im just going to refuse to pay the service charge - Im sure it is covered by some small print but at £6.5k to moor my boat this is taking the proverbial. If none of us pay it they might notice that they've upset their customers yet again

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[Benbow]

Not meaning to annoy, a serious question.
Why do you need mains power at your boats ?
A solar panel will keep your battery charged when you are not there.

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[Oldhand]

Well actually the service charge appears to be in contradiction with their own "Rules" on the back of the "Berthing & Marina Services Agreement". This defines supply of electrical power as a Marina Service and states details of charges applicable to the Berths and SERVICES will be given in writing in the Agreement. My Agreement has no mention of any separate charge for electricity supply so we should assume it is included in the Agreement charge and throw our metered cables away!

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[Oldhand]

I use "shorepower" when onboard and (obviously) not at sea. For example: when cooling the fridge down before a voyage, while running electronics for data or input while planning a voyage, when using lighting and heating when "overnighting". A solar panel won't handle that and is useless at night.

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[Oldhand]

Is your MDL service charge a fixed amount for a period or a per unit consumed charge? I think the former is allowed and the latter is not but have invited "Energywatch" to comment on whether the latter meets the OFGEM Reseller Guidelines. Before the Guidelines were published we were charged 10p/unit and it looks like our lot are just trying to get back to the same income they used to "enjoy".

The Guidelines have 2 relevant statements:

1. "If the purchaser has a meter which records the number of units used at each rate, the reseller will be expected to charge according to the consumption recorded on the meter and the approriate unit price on his own bill".

2. "The reseller is not entitled to recover the costs of running his or her own electricity or gas system through the charges which are made for gas and electricity.... It is open to the reseller to decide a basis for how these costs can be recovered separately, for example as service charges..."

Also for those who are not on meters, i.e. when you are an overnight visitor, the Guidelines state that if requested the reseller should provide evidence to support how the customers' share of consumption has been calculated and must give the purchaser information about the price(s) on which he has estimated the cost of energy used. If we all demanded this information if and when being separately charged for using shorepower in a visitors berth, I believe the use of shorepower would soon become inclusive in the berthing cost. Not necessarily a good thing for those who don't use shorepower.

Its a great subject!

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[Jon_Eads]

Rob,

Can you please explain your post further as our electricity policy has not changed from last year. We charge the actual unit cost plus a quarterly administration fee of £9 only if your unit consumption is greater than £30 in the quarter. If not, we roll the bill forward until the next quarter and so on etc. In other words, we have annual customers who only consume small amounts of electricity that as yet have not received a bill from us since April of last year.

Therefore, how can you say we have done the same as the Yacht Haven group when we blatantly have not!

Please get your facts right if you want to have a pop at us!

Jon Eads
Marina Director
MDL


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[charles_reed]

Only a problem in the UK and at Port Vauban.

Elsewhere in the world it's included in the berthing price.

I suggest you vote with your keels and berth your boats elsewhere.

And in answer to Benbow.

Computer
Fan heater
Soldering iron
Orbital sander
Angle grinder
Recharging batteries

Just try living aboard in winter with no shorepower.

PS I've got solar panel and wind generator, for anchorages in the summer.

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