Standing charge v No Standing charge

unnameduser

Does anyone know of a simple method of comparing electricity tariffs with standing charges versus ones with no standing charges, the comparison sites I have looked at do not seem to make much of a job of it and I have been trying to work it out myself but gave up.

molerat

Primary unit cost - secondary unit cost x kWh per year primary units = annual standing charge.

Be aware that some companies (like NPower) "sculpt" their charges so that there are more primary units in the high useage season.

The comparison sites give cost per year fairly accurately providing you give them an accurate kWh / year consumption figure. This is the ONLY figure that will get you an accurate comparison.

Cardew

There is no simple answer to your query.

All tariffs, except Ebico, have a standing charge.

Some raise this by a daily charge of x pence.

Others raise this 'standing charge' by having two tier system where the first units you use have a higher charge(these are called Tier 1 or primary units) and the rest of the units a lower charge(tier 2 or secondary units)

In many cases the effective standing charge works out the same.

However there are loads of variations and all that matters is the total all-in price you pay for your gas/electricity. i.e. does it matter if one company has a very high standing charge, if the price you pay them for your gas/electricity is less than another company with a much lower standing charge?

A case in point is Ebico who raise no standing charge of any kind(daily or tier method) for gas or electricity. That doesn't mean they are cheapest overall for the majority of customers.

unnameduser

I was trying to decide what was best for my mothers house, she is on a tariff with a standing charge but she is a very light electricity user so, even though something like the first 200 KWh are charged at a high rate I thought she might be better off paying that than the standing charge.
I have not had anything like a consensus from the comparison sites but the majority come up with a NSC tariff.

Premier_2

unnameduser wrote: »

Does anyone know of a simple method of comparing electricity tariffs with standing charges versus ones with no standing charges, the comparison sites I have looked at do not seem to make much of a job of it and I have been trying to work it out myself but gave up.

What problems are you having with the comparison sites?
Where a supplier offer the choice of a standing charge and a no standing charge tariff, the comparison sites will list both and unsurprisingly the costs are usually identical.

This is because where a user uses more than the tier 1 level of a no-standing charge tariff, the costs will be the same. The tier 2 price will be the same as the standing charge tariff unit price and the 'premium' of the tier 1 price mutiplied by the units will be the same as the standing charge price.

So given a choice, I'd always opt for a no standing charge tariff as it will never cost more than the equivilent standing charge tariff ... but may cost less if usage is below the tier 1 level, even if only for part of the year (e.g. gas is often like this)
nPower sculpting may affect this general rule, but then pronbably best to stay away from nPower, especially tariffs that are affected by sculpting.

unnameduser

A number of the comparison sites keep coming up with an error saying I have entered the existing scottish power tariff incorrectly, but I have checked with scott power and am using the right one.
Certainly haven't noticed any of them offering similar NSC and SC tariffs but I think most of the results I have had so far have been for NSC tariffs.
Energyhelpline website keeps displaying gas prices even though I tick the box to say I want electricity only and they don't seem to recognise a lot of scott power tariffs.
I am currently trying to get info for her annual KWH so I may be able to get more accurate results.