MSE News: Urgent! Fix now to beat today's 9% energy hikes

davidgmmafan

dalek wrote: »

They are ALSO adding a £200 a year Standing Charge to bills!! :mad:

http://www.4-traders.com/SSE-PLC-4000881/news/SSE-PLC-Household-energy-prices-from-15-October-2012-14469387/

Customers will pay a standing charge of £100 per year per fuel (inc VAT). This will be shown on a customer's bill as a 27.41p (inc VAT) per day charge covering the period of the bill, so customers will be able to see exactly how it has been calculated.

SSE's £200 (inc VAT) standing charge for a dual fuel customer will be equivalent to the average of that currently levied by the other major UK energy suppliers who have a standing charge7, which range from £130 to £257 (inc VAT).

I too am very very confused. This is Ofgem's idea to 'simplify' by having everyone on a tariff with a standing charge. Trouble is this hammers anybody who has low or no usage. Who wants to pay for something they aren't using when a property is empty waiting to be sold?

I understand the theory of a standing charge, and the higher tier and how this is really a hidden standing charge, but really it doesn't make sense. These are to cover the fixed costs, yet petrol stations have distribution and purchasing costs (not to mention a massive chunk of the total bill is tax but that's another issue) and they manage to quote one price per litre so why can't power companies?

thor

We always get a bigger share of the increase when wholesale prices go up compared with when they go down. These greedy companies get away with it by using the excuse that they buy oil/gas many months ahead so have bought them when they were expensive. Isn't it funny how they whenever they manage to buy cheap we only see a fraction of the savings they have made?

Terrylw1

rogerblack wrote: »

It really depends on how they buy their energy.
If they buy largely on the spot market, then yes.
If they've already locked in their prices, then no.
Electricity companies can buy 'fixed' future contracts, just like we can.

Very true, but suppliers operate in all regions where the old local distributor dominates the market.

So, it depends how the distributor buys in but also on the suppliers % of the region. Suppliers with larger customer bases can negotiate lower prices due to a higher bulk buy.

Terrylw1

Richmc wrote: »

9% NOT SO! in my case SSE are upping my bills by a whopping 30%, how come?
Easy they are abolislishing the no standing charge tarrifs, I have solar PV installed and many other energy saving measures so I'm only paying £40 each for both gas and electricity per month, SSE are going to be adding £100 per year for both gas and electricity as a standing charge (my account is a no standing charge one) so with the 9% energy hike plus £200 extra for the standing charge that amounts to the eye watering 30% hike in my energy bills. This is what you get for trying your best to save energy. You do your best to reduce your bills, SSE profets fall as a result, so they hike up prices to cover their fall in profets. Energy companies have the ethics of a tu*d. Guess what! I've just singed up with EDF Blue. Buy buy SSE.

To ic, I phoned SSE, and as a low energy user thought I would be regarded as one who could keep the no standing charge status, not so, as expected I "didn't meet their criteria" (whatever that may be) to retain no standing charge status, you probably have to be on benifit get itn not a hard working tax paying green aware person who feels a moral duty to help reduce the impact of energy useage to benifit us all.
SSE you are the lowest of the low.

Edit- I'm keeping my FIT with SSE, just so they have to do the paperwork and pay me, hehe.

Standing charge was always there, years ago suppliers created tier 1 & 2 pricing to make you think they did away with the standing charge.

So, this shift will only impact you if your problem is frequently vacant.

The rises are average anyway and elec is purchased from the old regional distribution companies and is affected by their % of the regions customers. This means that smaller %'s mean higher increases and vice versa.

Consumerist

tunnel wrote: »

. . . done everything i can to more than half my 7.5k kwh yearly usage to 3.5k . . .

That sounds like a result. Well done. Have you installed double glazing or wall/loft insulation?

Did much the same last year, myself, but your next problem might be to convince the energy supplier that the reduction is permanent when it comes to setting the DD for next year. My lot now says it takes a 2- to 3-year average consumption to set the DD so they try to ignore any recent reductions achieved. Last winter was particularly late starting so that's another argument to prepare an answer for.

andy2004

funny, and what annoy's me the most isn't the price hike. its the fact they reduced the amount I was paying per month from £104 for both down to £70 and now 8weeks later they announce a 9% increase.
Shame I'm stuck with SSE until 2014 i'm on the Fixed Discount January 2014 General Domestic mind you i get a 7% discount, so does that mean mine only goes up by 2% ?

Terrylw1

Consumerist wrote: »

That sounds like a result. Well done. Have you installed double glazing or wall/loft insulation?

Did much the same last year, myself, but your next problem might be to convince the energy supplier that the reduction is permanent when it comes to setting the DD for next year. My lot now says it takes a 2- to 3-year average consumption to set the DD so they try to ignore any recent reductions achieved. Last winter was particularly late starting so that's another argument to prepare an answer for.

The DD has to be set based on current accurate information, so if it is there, they should use it.

The industry itself has complicated routines and a system of weather normalised consumption using data from weather centres. The supplier gets a 12 month future forecast based on this and the readings that have been fed into it.

The suppliers themselves pay based on this data which crystallises at 14 months. So, if they are getting plenty of reading data, it not only creates an accurate period in settlement but feeds the next years.

This is how all the payments between suppliers and distributors are produced.

Suppliers traditionally ignored this in favour of less accurate "this year to last year" in house comparisons which are nowhere near as advanced.

So, I think their response is lazy and the SLC's state it must be accurate & clear, the opposite to their claim.

rogerblack

It's a real shame that instead of encouraging reintroducing an explicit standing charge OFGEN diddn't simply make it an overall levy on units.

Making those making the most electricity savings pay the most for electricity seems a rather backwards step.

Richmc

rogerblack wrote: »

It's a real shame that instead of encouraging reintroducing an explicit standing charge OFGEN diddn't simply make it an overall levy on units.

Making those making the most electricity savings pay the most for electricity seems a rather backwards step.

Pretty much my point, as I consider myself a low user by investment and effort, and I'm being charged £200 for doing so standing charges are obscene, those on lower usage are causing less "wear and tear" on the system and reducing consumption means less burden on the company to invest in more generation, let those who use the most pay the most through honest unit pricing.
I've yesterday switched to EDF blue, and will be paying around £100 less per year for the period of the contract than I have been before the SSE hike so I'm up to saving £300+ per year, will I ever go back to SSE? I don't think so having been treated like I have, I feel like I was a potential victim of fraud who managed to avoid it, so the answer to would I go back, not even if they crawled to me on broken glass and offered me free energy for life.

jalexa

andy2004 wrote: »

Shame I'm stuck with SSE until 2014 i'm on the Fixed Discount January 2014 General Domestic mind you i get a 7% discount, so does that mean mine only goes up by 2% ?

No, your tariff is 7% below standard rates so expect a 9% hike.

The good news is that you can reject the increase immediately you are notified of it (which you are required to be) and if you initiate a switch promptly you can leave the tariff without penalty.

The bad news may be tariff choice when SSE get round to notifying you.

Should have gone for Fixed Rate:) not Fixed Discount:eek:.