The cost of hook-up: show centres explain
DEBATE over the cost of electric hook-up services at shows has arisen again as the competition season gets under way.
Many venues offer hook-up for lorries as a service to competitors, but the cost can be significant on top of entry fees, fuel and stabling.
In response to competitors’ querying the extent of the charge, venues have denied it is a way to make money, and explained how the costs add up.
“We just about wash our face [with money from hook-up service sales],” Hickstead director Lizzie Bunn told H&H.
“It is amazing what it costs to run a show, and it’s the same with the hook-up.”
The service costs competitors between £75 and £95 for the duration of Hickstead’s major shows, depending on the length of the fixtures.
NOT MAKING MONEY
MS BUNN added it is not simply the cost of hiring generators, but transport, cabling, around £10,000 of fuel per week, a team of on-site electricians, replacing damaged distribution points, security and health and safety factors that add up.
The organisers also have to map out and plan the whole site to ensure that horses will not be crossing cables.
“There is an awful lot more to it than just plugging into a generator,” said Ms Bunn.
Arena UK’s Lauren Humphries said the venue’s charges take into account the size of the generators needed, which also depends on the time of year, and the more powerful ones are more expensive.
She gave the example of this weekend’s affiliated showjumping show (24-25 February) at which electric hook-up will cost £65 for the duration.
“We have to hire generators, distribution boxes, buy diesel — there is a lot that goes into [providing a hook-up service,]”
said Mrs Humphries, adding that she has ordered more powerful generators to take into account the heaters people will be running at this time of year.
Simon Bates, owner of The College equestrian centre, Keysoe, told H&H the cost of upgrading electricity supplies is “massive”.
The venue normally charges between £20 and £25 a night for hook-up, but recently offered it free of charge to some competitors for all its 2018 international shows after problems at its CSI in November left some horseboxes without connected power.
Keysoe is adding an extra 100amp three-phase supply, which will cost £20,000, and is enough for 18 hook-ups working at full capacity.
Each hook-up point costs around £100 to install.
“We do it as a service,” said Mr Bates, adding that it is not a money-maker.
“Caravan Club sites are cheaper, but they have people in every week using their pitches, whereas we would use all our hook-ups maybe six times a year.”
He explained how quickly electricity usage can add up — for example, a 3kW fan heater costs around £10 a day if it is kept running constantly.
H&H asked Ofgem, the government’s non-ministerial regulator of gas and electricity markets, how the regulations surrounding the sale of electricity would apply to competitors.
But it could not give a definitive answer on whether the maximum resale price of electricity, the amount the seller has paid for it, would apply.
“The consumer should check what is in the contract given to them by the venue and raise any concern with the venue,” added an Ofgem spokesman.
‘There’s more to it than plugging in a generator’
LIZZIE BUNN