This is getting ridiculous (energy prices - Strictly NO referrals!)

[MatsyLR]

@Richie your usage is very low, to the point its an outlier. Typical use is 5X yours.

Mine is even worse.
14 Jan to 14 Feb. this includes heating on some days as it got cold (I'm on Octopus tracker so rates change every day)

Electric
14th Jan 2024 1054.6 Smart meter reading
14th Feb 2024 1159.3 Smart meter reading
Energy Used 104.7 kWh @ 14.73p/kWh £15.41
Standing Charge 31 days @ 45.99p/day £14.26
Subtotal of charges before VAT £29.67
VAT @ 5.00% £1.48
Total Electricity Charges £31.15

Gas
14th Jan. 2024 64.2 Smart meter reading
14th Feb. 2024 80.8 Smart meter reading
Consumption 16.6 Units (m3)
Energy Used* 189.9 kWh @ 3.69p/kWh† £7.01
Standing Charge 31 days @ 25.56p/day £7.92
Subtotal of charges before VAT £14.93
VAT @ 5.00% £0.75
Total Gas Charges £15.68
Total charges for bill £46.83

Literally 50% standing charge each.

Before the winter my Gas charges are £2 every month so standing charges are like 3/4 of my gas. This includes a shower every day.
Its ludicrous that it's so expensive.

 

[dholdi]

If the meters are faulty they should fix/replace them for free.

Their argument was that they arent faulty, just not smart anymore.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

The energy companies sure try to keep getting more off me by increasing the SC

Bit of a math fail there, its 2.5X! It's only going to keep going up though - inflation init.

Mine is even worse.

If you just look at electricity, mine is even worse but only due to solar and battery storage.

I imported about 400kwh of which 98% of it would have been at 7.5p.
I exported about 400kwh of which all of it would have been at 15p.

My import will cost around £32, my export should generate me about £60 so my usage charges will be -£28.
My standing charges are 47.85p/day which are about £14.83.
My bill will be around £-13, so over 50% of my bill credit is wiped out by standing charges.

Gas is pretty typical use, 11,000kwh/year - that's not on a smart meter so I've got no idea what that will cost until I read it. Next March will be more interesting though as the heat pump gets installed in 2 weeks. I'm not expecting a negative electricity bill then.

 

[Troop]

My energy use for all of last year, and the actual energy used cost.

Add 0.62p SC for 365 days!!!, =£226.30 for my standing charge just for electricity

So £84.26 cost for actual electricity used over the year + £226.30 SC.
It is criminal, just milking everyone for everything they can.

 

[Beans on toast Dave]

In fact I just had a look at the new tariffs for when I come off my 1 Year fix in August and the SC for Gas and Elec will BOTH go up 10p/day to 63.31p (elec) and 31.67p (gas) so, for all intents and puproses, its going to cost me £30/month before I have used a single kWh... To put it in context - in circa 2020, my monthly bill was £33 TOTAL.

How they can justify a 20% increase on Elec and 48% increase in Gas SC in 1 year is just mind blowing

agree, its stupid and needs looking at, more than HALF of my bill is SC charges

 

[Uther]

agree, its stupid and needs looking at, more than HALF of my bill is SC charges

If they look at it, it will just be to put it up again...

 

[Richie]

I read a quick bit a few days ago, apologies I can't find it again, and they were saying that 1 of the reasons they don't put SC on the unit price is to help prevent wealthier households from avoiding paying infrastructure costs as it is easier for the wealthier households to adopt solar and battery installs.

That's a somewhat reasonable argument, and whether you agree with it or not is another thing, but it makes no sense that elec and gas SC go up 20% and 40% respectively in a year.... Are they trying to suggest that their fixed costs increased exponentially compared to inflation?

 

[pc-guy]

In fact I just had a look at the new tariffs for when I come off my 1 Year fix in August and the SC for Gas and Elec will BOTH go up 10p/day to 63.31p (elec) and 31.67p (gas) so, for all intents and puproses, its going to cost me £30/month before I have used a single kWh... To put it in context - in circa 2020, my monthly bill was £33 TOTAL.
How they can justify a 20% increase on Elec and 48% increase in Gas SC in 1 year is just mind blowing

 

[pc-guy]

In fact I just had a look at the new tariffs for when I come off my 1 Year fix in August and the SC for Gas and Elec will BOTH go up 10p/day to 63.31p (elec) and 31.67p (gas) so, for all intents and puproses, its going to cost me £30/month before I have used a single kWh... To put it in context - in circa 2020, my monthly bill was £33 TOTAL.
How they can justify a 20% increase on Elec and 48% increase in Gas SC in 1 year is just mind blowing

 

[MatsyLR]

I read a quick bit a few days ago, apologies I can't find it again, and they were saying that 1 of the reasons they don't put SC on the unit price is to help prevent wealthier households from avoiding paying infrastructure costs as it is easier for the wealthier households to adopt solar and battery installs.

That's a somewhat reasonable argument, and whether you agree with it or not is another thing, but it makes no sense that elec and gas SC go up 20% and 40% respectively in a year.... Are they trying to suggest that their fixed costs increased exponentially compared to inflation?

But then it just screws people who are low users to begin with and are not as much of a burden on the network compared to high usage households. My actual usage is barely £20 per month on electricity and gas, using hardly anything compared to most households, why should I pay the same SC as someone using hundreds per month draining resources?

 

[200sols]

why should I pay the same SC as someone using hundreds per month draining resources

Because the parts of the SC are nothing to do with how much energy you use?

Ofgem should just explain plainly why it's gone up so much instead of all this vagueness.

 

[darael]

I pinged an email to Octopus yesterday (I chance it every now and then) asking for an IHD. They replied saying one is on the way

This is the fourth or fifth time asking, and 18 months since I moved in. Score. No idea what to do with it/where to put it tho

After a few days of playing energy detective, most people grow bored and just put it in a cupboard or drawer somewhere.

 

[Shoza]

But then it just screws people who are low users to begin with and are not as much of a burden on the network compared to high usage households. My actual usage is barely £20 per month on electricity and gas, using hardly anything compared to most households, why should I pay the same SC as someone using hundreds per month draining resources?

The infrastructure costs the same if you are a low or average usage user. standing charges are £23.75 a month for me. It’s not making all that much of a difference to my outgoings if that was suddenly £16 a month..

 

[beachBOYken]

When does that economy 7 night rate work out better?

We have the cheaper night rate currently, we use dishwasher at night, washing machine every other night roughly, and that’s about it.

With Octopus, wonder if it’s easy to change this to see the difference in prices.

During the day things like consoles, TVs and phones and what not charging, electric shower in the mornings, and use the airfryer a lot. Most days electric is between £3-£4 sometimes a little over.

 

[Richie]

standing charges are £23.75 a month for me. It’s not making all that much of a difference to my outgoings if that was suddenly £16 a month..

With the April changes my SC will go to £30/month...

The infrastructure costs the same if you are a low or average usage user.

Then if it costs the same regardless of usage, it should cost the same regardless of region... So let's do that. Your's will go up a bit and mine will come down a bit to even it out. That ok with you?

 

[dlockers]

When does that economy 7 night rate work out better?

We have the cheaper night rate currently, we use dishwasher at night, washing machine every other night roughly, and that’s about it.

With Octopus, wonder if it’s easy to change this to see the difference in prices.

During the day things like consoles, TVs and phones and what not charging, electric shower in the mornings, and use the airfryer a lot. Most days electric is between £3-£4 sometimes a little over.

Just do the maths -- you have access to all of your data in excel format through the Octopus website.

For me, I make it worthwhile but I have an EV that charges over night. Modern dishwashers, tumble dryers, washing machines etc just don't consume enough.

 

[200sols]

When does that economy 7 night rate work out better?

We have the cheaper night rate currently, we use dishwasher at night, washing machine every other night roughly, and that’s about it.

With Octopus, wonder if it’s easy to change this to see the difference in prices.

During the day things like consoles, TVs and phones and what not charging, electric shower in the mornings, and use the airfryer a lot. Most days electric is between £3-£4 sometimes a little over.

Unless you use a lot of night time power you'd be better off on tracker. Eco 7 is a bit naff now.

 

[Shoza]

With the April changes my SC will go to £30/month...



Then if it costs the same regardless of usage, it should cost the same regardless of region... So let's do that. Your's will go up a bit and mine will come down a bit to even it out. That ok with you?

I don’t know why they split costs by region when it’s a national grid anyway. One unified cost for the national grid makes total sense.

 

[Uther]

Applied to go on Tracker yesterday, switched over today! That'll do.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

When does that economy 7 night rate work out better?

We have the cheaper night rate currently, we use dishwasher at night, washing machine every other night roughly, and that’s about it.

With Octopus, wonder if it’s easy to change this to see the difference in prices.

During the day things like consoles, TVs and phones and what not charging, electric shower in the mornings, and use the airfryer a lot. Most days electric is between £3-£4 sometimes a little over.

Eco7 one of those ‘traditional’ tariffs which is typically poor value compared to other tariffs and only really made sense back in the day with storage heaters that take a long time to ‘charge’. Even then it’s incredibly poor value compared to their other time of use offerings such as Go and Intelligent Go (compatible EV or charger required for the latter which is checked, EV needed for the former which isn’t checked - it’s just a declaration).

There’s a website called octopus compare which you can input your smart meter data into and it will tell you which tariffs is best. It’s probably tracker or agile if you don’t have big demand to can shift overnight like a home battery or an EV.