Which.co.uk - help Which tackle energy tariffs campaign

victor2

A single rate per kWh and no standing charge would in principle get my support rather than the Which? proposal. The rate would cover the cost of providing the service, just as it does when you buy petrol. The utility companies will know what their cost is and be able to spread it over the total usage of their customers to come up with a realistic rate. If you use nothing, you pay nothing, so an incentive to reduce usage is there.
However, I like a fixed rate tariff, so I know what I will be paying for the duration of the contract, and don't mind paying a bit more for that. So, do we push for all contracts to have a single rate, but still allow fixing (and discounts)?

Premier_2

chris1973 wrote: »

So, if you clearly dont like or agree with the terms of the connection / network you are connected to, why not excercise the freedom of choice and disconnect from it and seek out alternatives?....

Erm... have you followed this thread from the start? :huh:

You cannot realistically opt out of a network supply! That would be going back 100 years. We all need energy supplied to our homes and it is deemed a basic necessity. What we don't need are charges applied unrelated to that usage.

Not all suppliers apply such charges, and so at present, I have no need to even consider opting out of this basic necessity. This was a development that, if I am not mistaken, was initiated by British Gas about 30 odd years ago. It presumably caught on as many other suppliers followed suit ... at least as an option.

This thread is a calling to back a campaign that would remove the opportunity of my current choice in choosing those alternatives. :eek:


It is for that reason I am unable to support the campaign. Presumably as you are also wishing people to have such freedom of choice, you will be also be refusing to support such a restrictive campaign?

chris1973

You cannot realistically opt out of a network supply!

Yes you can, just request to be disconnected and have your service fuse removed and incoming cable capped. According to a Times article there were 40,000 people in the UK in 2008 choosing to live their lives off the grid. There are also others choosing to do so amongst the members here:- http://www.thegreenlivingforum.net/forum/

Perhaps the forum could benefit from a tongue in cheek smiley as I volunteered the link whilst mentioning an interest prospective rather than seriously suggesting you went and did it. I also simply suggested and refered to living 'off grid' and not without Electricity. However, for most people it would be inconvenient and time consuming to use other methods such as bio fuel to generate their professed low requirements of Electricity and so maintaining a connection to the grid, is more convenient and far more practical for the majority of people. Unfortunately, like everything in life these days, convenience and practicality comes at a price, although its a relatively small price on a lot of tariffs as the example I gave above shows.

Personally, I dont begrudge paying £27 a year (or the £56.00 / year I pay on my prepay) towards maintaining a network which ensures that my heating works in winter, that I can sit and watch a Football match or Soap Opera without missing the end due to a sudden / regular power failure, and that I can boil a kettle at 4AM if I choose. I realise that speaking IMBY is not representiave of everywhere in the UK, but I really cannot remember when we last had a power failure here, and certainly not one which was for more than 30 minutes in duration. If that £27 a year goes towards continuing that level of reliability and service in the form of a standing or service charge then I'm happy to pay it, however it is recouped, so yes, you can say i'm in favour of it remaining and every consumer paying an equal share.

I wish I could say that I get the same level of service and reliability from the Council in return for my £975 a year paid in Council tax ,as I get from the £27 / £56 paid to the Electricity Network as a standing charge!.

The Biggest losers in the standing charge equation are actually Pre-Payment meter customers, some of whom pay between £50 - £100 per year in standing charges, as they also have to fund the payment network used to top up their meters. In addition they also lose out on other tariff discounts offered by most credit providers. Although even in this instance, as you say, you can pretty much avoid the standing charge altogether using a company like Ebico, at least for now.

I also predict that very soon there will also be other non energy charges introduced, and I can see a time in the future when we all pay the domestic version of a fixed 'climate change levy' similar to the one commercial users do. After all, these feed in tariffs are likely to continue to be a growing financial burden on the energy suppliers and the shortfall will have to be made up somewhere, when it costs more than it returns.

bengasman

Premier wrote: »

....You cannot realistically opt out of a network supply! That would be going back 100 years.

What you mean is: you find it inconvenient or expensive to opt out of the network.

Premier wrote: »

We all need energy supplied to our homes and it is deemed a basic necessity. What we don't need are charges applied unrelated to that usage.

What you mean is: you just want to pay less and get services for free.

Premier wrote: »

Not all suppliers apply such charges

Yes they do. Some hide them, some display them, but they all charge you. It is very naive to think that because you don't read standing charges on your bill, that the supplier just pays them out of their profit. They either tier it, or just raise the price or apply any one of a number of other ways to get money out of you.