Standing Charge/No Standing Charge

Terrylw1

far wrote: »

Just to confirm this, we switched our electricity recently to Scottish Power and I produced a little spreadsheet to compare the Standing Charge and No Standing Charge prices. The difference between the 2 options was the sum total of 1p per year :rotfl:

Just think at that rate you could afford a pint of stella in about 200 years...:rotfl:

Ken68

With increased insulation, the trend is for less consumption, so a low user would never reach the low tier price, especially with gas.
E.g., ..90% of my gas use is the winter and spring bills and would be way short on the others to reach 1143kwh.
Point taken tho that suppliers need to recover standing costs, so how does EBICO do it.? Their gas price is 2.55pence inc.vat, straight.

Terrylw1

Thats the nail Ken.

Do Suppliers need to do it? It's a bit like why don't they bring their prices really down inline with the actual cost to them. Or, instead of upping prices, why don't they get their payouts correct to the distributors which is a well known area where things are a big mess - rather than pass it onto the customer.

The no standing charge was just a marketing ploy to say we are doing more than our rivals. You still end up paying with the blocks.

One question to ask is - why are the blocks static? They should reflect the season so higher Kwh tier 1 in winter, lower in summer. But thats just too much like good customer service...

midflight

Anyone ever tried playing this fun little game, on a rainy Thursday afternoon?

Try to get the door-to-door salesmen to admit that 'initial unit' pricing is really just a hidden standard charge

Salesmen: look! this tariff has no standing charge
Customer: why do I pay more for my intial units then?
Salesmen: that's standard practice these days, sir
Customer: why is that then?
Salesmen: it's just the way everyone does it now
Customer: what about Ebico?
Salesmen: who?
Customer: i thought you said you could offer me the cheapest deal?
Salesmen: yes! I can, in fact this tariff has no standing charge.
Customer: how can you claim to offer me the cheapest deal, when you are not even aware of all the competition?
Salesmen: I think you've just made that name up, to make me look silly
Customer: aren't "initial units" just a way of disguising a standard charge?
Salesmen: now you're just being paranoid. We wouldn't be allowed to get away with something like that! Besides, having no standard charge will work out cheaper for you, even if you are paying more for your initial units
Customer: can't I do both? i.e. have no standing charge AND avoid paying an inflated rate for my inital units?
Salesmen: Ha, you'll be lucky! who's going to offer you that?
Customer: Have you ever heard of Ebico?
Salesmen: but look, sir - this tariff has no standing charge!

etc...

Game usually lasts around 10 minutes, and the person standing nearest the kettle is declared the winner. Suitable for ages 8+

MarkyMarkD

I'm not sure why people get excited about ebico. They are NOT good value for the majority of people. They are NOT good value for people who pay by DD and use "normal" amounts of gas and/or electricity.

It might be amusing (or it might not :S) to play games with salespeople like midflight does.

It is a lot more effective, however, to research your electricity and gas suppliers online using the many comparison services available. (And, if it rocks your boat, to compare with ebico too via their own site, but they will probably not be best value).

Ken68

The complicated pricing structure of the energy industry is why comparison sites thrive.
Its nearenough impossible to calculate otherwise.
I'm surprised some of the Energy Providers havn't been taken to court for mis-selling under the unit pricing EU law.

Terrylw1

It's a matter or knowing how tier 1 & tier 2 are calculated for each Supplier. They should be made to publish current & archived tariffs I think. Plus any seasonal weighting.

Then you can easily calculate your consumptio the same way as then. You only need take a reading each quarter and apply the price structure to it. Very simple speadsheet would do it.

I'll bet Ofgem will never make them do that though, they are not that good in my opinion.

Ken68

I wouldn't mind seeing a list of former Ofgem and Energywatch officials who have made it to the boards of the energy providers.

Terrylw1

Ken, would it surprise you to know that quite a few Elexon employees moved onto EDF and others in highly paid roles? Elexon over the past few years had a retention problem and they didn't seem to have a hold on the elec side at all often just due to this.

Ken68

New quango to me Terry.

http://www.elexon.co.uk/AboutElexon/default.aspx

...can't yet work out who is the customer.