Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

Tephnos · 10 Mar 2022 at 00:50

SPG said:
Its the standing charge that is ********* criminal. I am happy to pay for what I use but the privilege for having a electricity line into my house that suddenly goes up due to OFGEM being complete ******* and the Tory goverment not wanting to lose elections by telling their OFGEM bum boys from ETON to keep a lid on it please chaps.

Ineptitude of the highest order from the Tory ********* in charge. It should have never ever been privatised in the first place. Bunch of **** ******* ***** ** ******** ************* ***************** ************ pillocks.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Surveyor · 10 Mar 2022 at 00:52

a1ex2001 said:
I’ll bet you a tenner British Gas records higher profits for the 2022 than 2021?

Maybe they will, maybe they won't. They do have more customers now and their business isn't just the supply of gas and electricity.

a1ex2001 said:
What bearing does VAT in the EU have in us? We left precisely so we could set our own rates yet still our government will be racking in the revenue, they could half it and still make take more actual tax then they did the year before!

It has no direct bearing. I was simply pointing out that while some are aggrieved at us being charged 5% it's substantially less than most in Europe.

Surveyor · 10 Mar 2022 at 00:55

SPG said:
Its the standing charge that is ********* criminal. I am happy to pay for what I use but the privilege for having a electricity line into my house that suddenly goes up due to OFGEM being complete ******* and the Tory goverment not wanting to lose elections by telling their OFGEM bum boys from ETON to keep a lid on it please chaps.

Ineptitude of the highest order from the Tory ********* in charge. It should have never ever been privatised in the first place. Bunch of **** ******* ***** ** ******** ************* ***************** ************ pillocks.

If nothing changed everything the standing charge covers would just be added to the price/kWh to recover the same amount. On average we'd be no better off.

Purgatory · 10 Mar 2022 at 04:57

Can someone explain to me why France get a 4% increase but we get 54% ? Again rip off Britain, this is going to be a nightmare for a lot of us due to how this is managed by this government. People can't afford their bills as it is now and in April most will have to take out loans to pay them or use their credit cards and in October God help us all really they are stating we may get hit with another £1000 to our bills. Why are we getting hit with this when are neighbour country France has only had a 4% increase. :mad:

While these energy companies are making record profits year over year and with COVID and people at homes all the time and working from home they have said their profits went up due to this too.

The new standing charges are a disgrace and pure daylight robbery, the price of fuel went up not anything else. This has to stop now and sorry to say this is going to cause a lot of unrest in this country soon too, it's not like we have enough rubbish going on in our lives and the world right now.

EDIT: well some of the questions I asked are answered here :-

https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/07/why-are-energy-bills-so-much-cheaper-in-france-16059524/

Brutal biff · 10 Mar 2022 at 05:59

Purgatory said:
Can someone explain to me why France get a 4% increase but we get 54% ? Again rip off Britain, this is going to be a nightmare for a lot of us due to how this is managed by this government. People can't afford their bills as it is now and in April most will have to take out loans to pay them or use their credit cards and in October God help us all really they are stating we may get hit with another £1000 to our bills. Why are we getting hit with this when are neighbour country France has only had a 4% increase.

While these energy companies are making record profits year over year and with COVID and people at homes all the time and working from home they have said their profits went up due to this too.

The new standing charges are a disgrace and pure daylight robbery, the price of fuel went up not anything else. This has to stop now and sorry to say this is going to cause a lot of unrest in this country soon too, it's not like we have enough rubbish going on in our lives and the world right now.

EDIT: well some of the questions I asked are answered here :-

https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/07/why-are-energy-bills-so-much-cheaper-in-france-16059524/

Because we as a country were stupid enough sell everything off so now we rely on other country's for our own infrastructure like energy

Tefal · 10 Mar 2022 at 06:12

Purgatory said:
Can someone explain to me why France get a 4% increase but we get 54% ? Again rip off Britain, this is going to be a nightmare for a lot of us due to how this is managed by this government.

Because decades ago France built nuclear power plants and we fitted gas boilers

Dreadi · 10 Mar 2022 at 07:03

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60680787

Oil prices set to plunge as UAE supports supply boost..........good job I just bankrupted myself to make sure I don't run out

gpuerrilla · 10 Mar 2022 at 07:46

Tefal said:
Because decades ago France built nuclear power plants and we fitted gas boilers

This.

We also gave the contract to EDF to build Hinkley. Body blow after a jab to the face..

Richie · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:07

Surveyor said:
If nothing changed everything the standing charge covers would just be added to the price/kWh to recover the same amount. On average we'd be no better off.

I have no issue with cost being attributed to usage.... Why am I effectively subsidising a household that can't lower their usage?

I just worked out my usage for the last year from actual meter readings:

Gas 3,850 kWh
Elec 1,200 kWh

The standing charge represents quite a significant proportion of my bill.

There should be a choice of tarriffs:

low unit/high standing charge
high unit/low standing charge.

If I end up overall paying similar then so be it but it would be my responsibility to manage my bill and not shouldering everyone else's.

Wouldn't that be fairer?

mrochester · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:12

Richie said:
I have no issue with cost being attributed to usage.... Why am I effectively subsidising a household that can't lower their usage?

I just worked out my usage for the last year from actual meter readings:

Gas 3,850 kWh

Elec 1,200 kWh

The standing charge represents quite a significant proportion of my bill.

There should be a choice of tarriffs:

low unit/high standing charge

high unit/low standing charge.

If I end up overall paying similar then so be it but it would be my responsibility to manage my bill and not shouldering everyone else's.

Wouldn't that be fairer?

It would, but as a country we’ve decided to do it this way to minimise the amount of people who will fall into fuel poverty.

Bear · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:14

Richie said:
I have no issue with cost being attributed to usage.... Why am I effectively subsidising a household that can't lower their usage?

I just worked out my usage for the last year from actual meter readings:

Gas 3,850 kWh

Elec 1,200 kWh

The standing charge represents quite a significant proportion of my bill.

There should be a choice of tarriffs:

low unit/high standing charge

high unit/low standing charge.

If I end up overall paying similar then so be it but it would be my responsibility to manage my bill and not shouldering everyone else's.

Wouldn't that be fairer?

That doesnt make any sense, isnt the standing charge the cost of getting the energy to you, which shouldnt change irrespective of how much you use. If you went on holiday for the year, you would still have to pay a standing charge even though you hadnt used any energy at all, theres no subsiding anyone elses usage

Richie · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:21

mrochester said:
It would, but as a country we’ve decided to do it this way to minimise the amount of people who will fall into fuel poverty.

And what if this action places the likes of myself into fuel poverty?

Bear said:
That doesnt make any sense, isnt the standing charge the cost of getting the energy to you, which shouldnt change irrespective of how much you use. If you went on holiday for the year, you would still have to pay a standing charge even though you hadnt used any energy at all, theres no subsiding anyone elses usage

Of course you are. The standing.charge is high to help keep the unit rate low ergo, the standing charge is subsidising the unit rate and so, if you are a low user, you are subsidising high users (SC as a percentage of bill will be lower for high users)

I see no reason (besides energy company profits) why they cannot offer a Low SC/High Unit Rate tariff. Give people the choice... Am I being unreasonable on this point?

gpuerrilla · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:21

Bear said:
That doesnt make any sense, isnt the standing charge the cost of getting the energy to you, which shouldnt change irrespective of how much you use. If you went on holiday for the year, you would still have to pay a standing charge even though you hadnt used any energy at all, theres no subsiding anyone elses usage

It came about as some people interpret where the money goes. Your post is correct in so far as it should be to used so people know how much they are paying for that service. However, using it to subsidise failed enterprises and mismanagement etc is not really what its meant for.

Chuk_Chuk · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:26

Considering that a majority of our currently operational nuclear plant are set to close within the next 2 years. It will probably only get worst.

If we had an abundance of cheap electricity we could create hydrogen via electrolysis which would could be used in fuel cell heavy goods vehicles. Ironic that we didn't Nuclear due enviromental concerns.

kaiowas · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:28

RockLobster said:
Out of interest those of you using oil for your heating how much do you spend a month? Before the crazy rises.

Its difficult to say as it’s not typically a monthly expense. We have a 3000l tank and typically buy 1000 liters at a time, maybe once or twice a year. At peak lockdown it was as low as 20p/l (pre-Covid it was fairly stable at around 50p/litre) and we brimmed the tank at 25p/l around that time. Had another 1000l at about 60p/l before xmas. Currently hoping that what we have will see us through the summer at least (Should only be needed for hot water then) and that prices will come back to some kind of normality before we need to buy again.

Haggisman · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:29

Richie said:
I have no issue with cost being attributed to usage.... Why am I effectively subsidising a household that can't lower their usage?

I just worked out my usage for the last year from actual meter readings:

Gas 3,850 kWh

Elec 1,200 kWh

The standing charge represents quite a significant proportion of my bill.

There should be a choice of tarriffs:

low unit/high standing charge

high unit/low standing charge.

If I end up overall paying similar then so be it but it would be my responsibility to manage my bill and not shouldering everyone else's.

Wouldn't that be fairer?

How on earth is your usage so low? That's an average ~130w, my house when "idle" in the middle of the night is ~200w with nothing on except for the fridge/freezer, LED nightlight and a few devices which get left on like the router and thermostat etc, never mind during the day when actually using things!

mrochester · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:29

Richie said:
And what if this action places the likes of myself into fuel poverty?

Of course you are. The standing.charge is high to help keep the unit rate low ergo, the standing charge is subsidising the unit rate and so, if you are a low user, you are subsidising high users (SC as a percentage of bill will be lower for high users)

I see no reason (besides energy company profits) why they cannot offer a Low SC/High Unit Rate tariff. Give people the choice... Am I being unreasonable on this point?

I thought the standing charge was to pay for the SoLR, WHD and green levy?

Bear · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:34

Richie said:
Of course you are. The standing.charge is high to help keep the unit rate low ergo, the standing charge is subsidising the unit rate and so, if you are a low user, you are subsidising high users (SC as a percentage of bill will be lower for high users)
I see no reason (besides energy company profits) why they cannot offer a Low SC/High Unit Rate tariff. Give people the choice... Am I being unreasonable on this point?

gpuerrilla said:
It came about as some people interpret where the money goes. Your post is correct in so far as it should be to used so people know how much they are paying for that service. However, using it to subsidise failed enterprises and mismanagement etc is not really what its meant for.

Apologies, Ive never really bothered to look into it. I naively assumed the standing charge was a fixed cost of getting the energy to you plus whatever they charge to maintain/upgrade the network plus whatever the government want to take to subsidise green initiatives etc, with the unit price being whatever they buy at wholesale plus profit. I wasnt aware they juggled the standing charge and unit price for other means

gpuerrilla · 10 Mar 2022 at 08:39

Bear said:
Apologies, Ive never really bothered to look into it. I naively assumed the standing charge was a fixed cost of getting the energy to you plus whatever they charge to maintain/upgrade the network plus whatever the government want to take to subsidise green initiatives etc, with the unit price being whatever they buy at wholesale plus profit. I wasnt aware they juggled the standing charge and unit price for other means

A good read.

Zenduri · 10 Mar 2022 at 09:11

Purgatory said:
Can someone explain to me why France get a 4% increase but we get 54% ? Again rip off Britain, this is going to be a nightmare for a lot of us due to how this is managed by this government. People can't afford their bills as it is now and in April most will have to take out loans to pay them or use their credit cards and in October God help us all really they are stating we may get hit with another £1000 to our bills. Why are we getting hit with this when are neighbour country France has only had a 4% increase.

While these energy companies are making record profits year over year and with COVID and people at homes all the time and working from home they have said their profits went up due to this too.

The new standing charges are a disgrace and pure daylight robbery, the price of fuel went up not anything else. This has to stop now and sorry to say this is going to cause a lot of unrest in this country soon too, it's not like we have enough rubbish going on in our lives and the world right now.

EDIT: well some of the questions I asked are answered here :-

https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/07/why-are-energy-bills-so-much-cheaper-in-france-16059524/

France has cheaper electric anyway due to all its nuclear power stations whereas we didnt invest in any. Plus the french Gov basically mandated that EDFs generation are sell electric at a fixed price which is lower than it should be and will cost 8.3 billion.

French will hold the increases for now as its an election year and they dont another round of yellow jacket protests again and french workers refusing to work again