As anyone knows by now, the rising cost of gas and electricity is making us all feel the pinch. As ever though, it’ll affect holiday caravan and lodge owners differently to ‘household consumers’ as it will be your park owner dealing with the utility provider.

The resale of electricity and gas are dealt with differently as whilst the resale of electricity at holiday parks is covered by resale legislation, there are no controls over the supply and sale of piped LPG. It’s very uncommon, if not unheard of, for holiday parks to supply mains natural gas so it your park owner does do this, please get in touch with the team.

The resale or electricity at holiday parks is controlled by legislation that deals with ‘maximum resale price’ and this is set by Ofgem – search “Ofgem maximum resale” for more detail. The long and short of the legislation is to note that resellers (in this instance your park owner) can’t resell electricity at more than they pay for it. The other obligation is that the reseller must explain, when asked, how they have arrived at the cost of the unit price.

So, this is the start point. If you have received a bill and it’s not clear, or it’s increased excessively you must start by asking your park owner how they have arrived at the bill. We have a letter template if you need one but the key guidance from Ofgem states:

If requested to do so by the purchaser, the reseller should provide evidence to support the calculation, for example bills from the main supplier showing the amount of gas or electricity supplied to the building or site as a whole, and the unit price(s) and standing charges paid. The reseller should be in a position to explain how each purchaser’s share has been calculated.

Where the purchaser’s supplies are metered, the reseller must be prepared to show the purchaser a bill or bills from the main supplier, or some other communication from that supplier showing the unit price(s) and standing charges which the reseller has to pay. The reseller must use reasonable endeavours to make an estimate of the applicable unit price, and must give the purchaser information about the price(s)upon which this calculation is based, if asked to do so.

A particularly important point to make is that commercial contracts aren’t subject to any government price caps.(The park will have a supply contract with an energy provider so this relationship is commercial) So it will depend on the length of contract that your park owner has with their supplier as to whether -and when - your bills will go up.

As noted above. The first thing to do is to speak to someone at the park about the bill and ask for more information about how the unit price has been calculated. This can be done by email, any relevant messenger services that the park offer or by letter. Either way make sure it’s ‘in writing’. If you can’t get the information you need, get in touch for more specific help and advice.

Please call on 01255 820 321 or email: info@nacoservices.com

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