Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

Firestar_3x · 16 Nov 2023 at 09:37

Richie said:
So OFGEM are opening a debate on Standing Charges after anger at the rises:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67431758

it would be good to have an open and honest debate over these TBH. Yeah yeah, @Richie is like a broken record .... Seems I'm not alone in thinking they are obscene.

If the standing charge gets removed and the cost tagged onto each unit consumed its going to be a good incentive for solar and a battery.

All the luxury of the grid as a standby should you not generate enough at a significantly reduced daily cost.

413x · 16 Nov 2023 at 09:39

Standing charges. They shouldn't be scraped. But certainly shouldn't be 30 pounds a month!

200sols · 16 Nov 2023 at 09:41

Richie said:
So OFGEM are opening a debate on Standing Charges after anger at the rises:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67431758

it would be good to have an open and honest debate over these TBH. Yeah yeah, @Richie is like a broken record .... Seems I'm not alone in thinking they are obscene.

Was waiting for this, you didn't disappoint!.

I find it a bit silly they only take answers via email. Still of the mind if Ofgem wasnt so cloak and dagger about why the charge is so high now we wouldn't be in this mess.

TNA · 16 Nov 2023 at 09:44

Standing charge should be no more than 10p a day imo. At one point I was paying 5p a day 3-4 years ago when on eon.

They are taking the biscuit right now imo.

Richie · 16 Nov 2023 at 10:05

200sols said:
Was waiting for this, you didn't disappoint!.

Oh, I bet you were :cry:

.... I'm here all week

200sols said:
I find it a bit silly they only take answers via email. Still of the mind if Ofgem wasnt so cloak and dagger about why the charge is so high now we wouldn't be in this mess.

Agreed.... If it needs to be what it currently is then fine but the manner of the SC implementation fosters scepticism IMHO

arknor · 16 Nov 2023 at 10:20

Richie said:
So OFGEM are opening a debate on Standing Charges after anger at the rises:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67431758

it would be good to have an open and honest debate over these TBH. Yeah yeah, @Richie is like a broken record .... Seems I'm not alone in thinking they are obscene.

Next Flex - Prepayment

26.13 p/kWh 59.58 p/day
(All rates inc. VAT)

:rolleyes:

average is 53p according to that article

There should be like a legal thing that the standing charge can not be more than 10% of a persons bill
anyone whos single or old is probably paying closer to 30%-40% of their bill as standing charge.

It's almost like a poverty tax that feels proportionately higher the poorer you are.

Residential customers are basically subsidising non residential electricity costs...

jaybee · 16 Nov 2023 at 11:15

413x said:
Seems like a lot of work unless you can automate it

I won't be taking it that seriously like some. There is another thread where people game the system completely to make more off of it, just because they can easily. Not that I have an issue with that.
I'll just shift some of the stuff I was going to do today into that period before then during the hour will just limit cooking to hobs (gas) if possible, and minimize electrical use a little.

200sols · 16 Nov 2023 at 11:32

jaybee said:
I won't be taking it that seriously like some. There is another thread where people game the system completely to make more off of it, just because they can easily. Not that I have an issue with that.
I'll just shift some of the stuff I was going to do today into that period before then during the hour will just limit cooking to hobs (gas) if possible, and minimize electrical use a little.

The methodology has changed this year making the gaming much harder and not worth it at all.

kamz · 16 Nov 2023 at 12:03

Just come off my fixed deal and the standing charge increase are criminal, i have no faith in OFGEM or any other uk ombudsman, not fit for purpose

jpaul · 16 Nov 2023 at 12:13

it is the government who impose the green levy component of the SC

jpaul said:
forgot yesterday that the sc £170/pa green levie is also financing 'our' enhanced £7.5K heat pump (boiler upgrade) grant - stay warm.
...does look a bit like our BIK subsidy of company ev's

Neil79 · 16 Nov 2023 at 15:02

During the Power Ups on 02/11/2023, 10/11/2023, 27/10/2023 you’ve used 54% more electricity than usual. We’ll credit you a total of £2.92 for all of the electricity you used during this time.

As a collective Power-ups customers have used a total of 617MWh spare green electricity, stopping it going to waste and keeping the grid in balance.

Smashing job, well done everyone!

MatsyLR · 16 Nov 2023 at 23:07

arknor said:
There should be like a legal thing that the standing charge can not be more than 10% of a persons bill
anyone whos single or old is probably paying closer to 30%-40% of their bill as standing charge.

It's almost like a poverty tax that feels proportionately higher the poorer you are.

Residential customers are basically subsidising non residential electricity costs...

My standing charge is basically 50% of my bill.
Single, at work 4 times a week for 11 hours. In the house for the most part the rest of the time.

Its ridiculous. Gas is sometimes barely £2.

Why should I be paying 50% standing charge compared to someone who uses a ton more resource than I do?
I have colleagues at work who pay over £200 a month.

200sols · 17 Nov 2023 at 08:26

MatsyLR said:
Why should I be paying 50% standing charge compared to someone who uses a ton more resource than I do?

Because the standing charge is nothing to do with how much you use, it covers the cost of maintaining supply to your property, green levies, winter fuel payments, heat pump subsidies and much more completely unrelated to your consumption. Perhaps ofgem should spell it out easier, perhaps some of these things should be covered by general taxation rather than lumped into energy bills. Maybe they should explain to us why its gone up 6x more than general inflation.

Shoza · 17 Nov 2023 at 08:52

Ovo being stupid again!!

I am £293 in credit.
My DD is down to £150 (I was allowed to drop it in summer as I was over £500 in credit)
My October bill was £127

But Ovo think I will owe them £197 in 12 months time and following a DD review are upping my DD to £170

This stupid system is just corporate theft.

The Angry Welshman · 17 Nov 2023 at 08:59

danielanthony said:
Over the last few months, there have been several periods of NEGATIVE cost, so -10p per kWh and most other times it's been <10p kWh when charging overnight.

This month it's started to get more expensive, but still <20p kWh. I have no batteries or solar.

Although Octopus estimated my cost to be £915, OctoAid says this:

Rich (BB code):

but thats just electric.....you said electric and gas. Octoaid prediction is what 2k just for electric.

Nasher · 17 Nov 2023 at 09:32

Shoza said:
Ovo being stupid again!!

I am £293 in credit.
My DD is down to £150 (I was allowed to drop it in summer as I was over £500 in credit)
My October bill was £127

But Ovo think I will owe them £197 in 12 months time and following a DD review are upping my DD to £170

This stupid system is just corporate theft.

Yea they always do that. They are basically taking to much on purpose so they can use it to invest for themselves. They should be made to pay the interest back to the customer, that would put a stop to it.

chrcoluk · 17 Nov 2023 at 09:34

413x said:
Standing charges. They shouldn't be scraped. But certainly shouldn't be 30 pounds a month!

A rationale decision would be to remove anything non grid from it, thats already about 2/3 gone and then add something for those who need medical equipment at home.

Whats removed is either moved to unit rates or general taxation depending on what it is. Things like debt recovery shouldnt be there at all, and likewise things for unexpected supplier costs/inefficiencies those can be removed completely as well. Supplier marketing, admin costs should be in their general pricing not ofgem mandated standing charge.

Whats left keep as a much more affordable SC and then require a parliamental approval to add anything new to it.

However this is ofgem we talking about, they likely think the only two options are to keep it as it is or to completely remove it.

flea.rider · 17 Nov 2023 at 09:41

what gets my goat is it's finally come out that the ukraine and usa .. did this to us by blowing the pipeline ... and theres nothing we can do about it .. and it's not if the .gov will do anything ..

Richie · 17 Nov 2023 at 09:43

MatsyLR said:
My standing charge is basically 50% of my bill.
Single, at work 4 times a week for 11 hours. In the house for the most part the rest of the time.

Its ridiculous. Gas is sometimes barely £2.

Why should I be paying 50% standing charge compared to someone who uses a ton more resource than I do?
I have colleagues at work who pay over £200 a month.

I feel your pain.... (used Sept as last full month statement)

Elec SC is 43% of my Elec bill
Gas SC is 64% of my Gas bill

It'll be less in Winter so I'll revisit it in Dec/Jan

413x · 17 Nov 2023 at 09:49

chrcoluk said:
A rationale decision would be to remove anything non grid from it, thats already about 2/3 gone and then add something for those who need medical equipment at home.

Whats removed is either moved to unit rates or general taxation depending on what it is. Things like debt recovery shouldnt be there at all, and likewise things for unexpected supplier costs/inefficiencies those can be removed completely as well. Supplier marketing, admin costs should be in their general pricing not ofgem mandated standing charge.

Whats left keep as a much more affordable SC and then require a parliamental approval to add anything new to it.

However this is ofgem we talking about, they likely think the only two options are to keep it as it is or to completely remove it.

The bailing out of failed suppliers has to come out of somewhere. Only other option is general tax. (probably better as that's targeted at better off individuals).

Really standing charge should be infrastructure only. It probably should be regionally variable. As some areas are cheaper than others.