Southern Electric are introducing Standing Charges

silv.surfer

How is it that Brit.Gas has removed Standing Charges - are their Quarterly the usual 2 tier ? - if so how do their Elec Card Meters handle that - or how are they billing now Standing Charges have been removed - they said same price for Quarterly and Card to make level playing field.

I know they are supposed to be expensive is that how they have done it.

Ypaymore

You can still have a SSE non standing charge tariff if you want to .

http://www.southern-electric.co.uk/PriceChange/FAQs/

jalexa

Ypaymore wrote: »

You can still have a SSE non standing charge tariff if you want to .

http://www.southern-electric.co.uk/PriceChange/FAQs/

Very well found.

"For some very low usage customers who are currently on a NSC tariff structure, this change could result in a higher bill. In line with our commitment to treat customers fairly, and because this group can include vulnerable customers, we will proactively identify and retain these customers on a NSC tariff unless they wish to move to the standing charge option."

I am assuming, though I am not *certain*, that "these customers" means all customers so affected and not just vulnerable customers.


How come all those posters affected and fired-up by the issue didn't spot that?

Man_Overboard_2

jalexa wrote: »

Very well found.

"For some very low usage customers who are currently on a NSC tariff structure, this change could result in a higher bill. In line with our commitment to treat customers fairly, and because this group can include vulnerable customers, we will proactively identify and retain these customers on a NSC tariff unless they wish to move to the standing charge option."

I am assuming, though I am not *certain*, that "these customers" means all customers so affected and not just vulnerable customers.


How come all those posters affected and fired-up by the issue didn't spot that?

I'm getting the impression from this thread that although Southern Electric may not be the cheapest, they do have a better than average quality of service.

I wonder if any other companies plan to protect their low users in a similar way

freezspirit

I'm a bit worried as I've had nothing in the post from Southern Electric and I'm due a bill end of Nov.

Someone said, "What are we worrying about, it's only few pounds" well thats an extra £200 a year to find for me.

Man_Overboard_2

freezspirit wrote: »

I'm a bit worried as I've had nothing in the post from Southern Electric and I'm due a bill end of Nov.

Someone said, "What are we worrying about, it's only few pounds" well thats an extra £200 a year to find for me.

I suggest you call Southern Electric.

JennyW_2

I'm with SE and currently pay 8.01/kwh unit price. Effective October I'll be paying 4.22/kwh unit price with a standing charge.

I was concerned that my gas bill would increase but if this new figure and SC were applied on my last 2 bills (same dates and usage), for a comparison, my gas bills wouldn've been cheaper.

I'm a low user and thinking of their 2 year capped and was told this:

"what the letter should have hopefully advised is that we are looking to remove the No Standing Charge option as part of our 'Building Trust' campaign.
Basically our regulator OFGEM have advised that we need to simply our tariff's and for this reason we are going to be removing the No Standing Charge option and applying the same Standing Charge for everyone

From your new 2 Year Capped tariff we will be taking the discount off the standing charge instead and rather than applying percentages we will taking £46/year off your standing charge as you pay by monthly direct debit and paperless billing. this method favours you due to your low consumption."

Southern_Electric_company_representative

Hello,

Thought it would be helpful to post and try to clear up any confusion regarding changes to standing charges.

Historically we’ve offered some tariffs that apply a daily standing charge and some that have a first block of units that are charged at a higher rate than the standard energy, the latter is called a No Standing Charge tariff (NSC). With the NSC tariffs in effect customers still pay for the standing charge, just in an increased unit rate, rather than a separate charge.

The changes we’ve made to our pricing structure are to make bills simper and clearer, this is something customers, consumer groups and Ofgem have all been calling for. It’s also designed to be fair for all customers as it more accurately reflects the fixed costs that are involved by simply being connected to mains gas or electricity. For example a fixed standing charge for all customers means everybody pays the same amount to have gas and electricity connected to their property, and no one set of customers needs to subsidise another set.

SSE, which includes Southern Electric, already has over four million customers on a standing charge tariff structure. As jalexa quoted earlier, we've made sure some very low usage customers (approximately 400,000) who are currently on a NSC tariff structure and may be disadvantaged by the change, remain on their current tariff. To clarify, this group isn't exclusive to vulnerable customers.

Freezspirit - If you’ve not spoken to a member of our call centre regarding this matter please go to our profile and email me your details so I can arrange for someone to contact you.

I hope this explains the changes we’ve made regarding standing charges and why we’ve made them. Further clarification is available at the link Ypaymore posted earlier in the thread, look under the "Standing Charge" heading.

Simon.

frugal_shopper

Having taken advise from this thread and contacted southern electric so we can stay on a nsc tarrif and spent in excess of 3 hrs talking to 5 different people, we got nowhere. The faq link in this thread gives the page but the question wont open and secondly SSE claim they dont have a representative who contributes to this forum, ( I have emailed Simon to get more info so I can dispute this with them), so they said despite all the advise I have no option but to accept the new tarrif and £100 standing charge, this will represent a 900% increase in our elec bill. When I told them I was contacting ofgem and sending a letter to my MP they said they could sign me up with a "sister company" Ebico who could give me a nsc tariff. Investigations showed it to be just 3p a kwh dearer but no 27.41p a day standing charge so to be more expensive we would have to use 3030kwh a year ( we use 300), and even better - prices are fixed until next year.
British gas have from my meter monitoring also applied a standing charge to our account without notification, but when trying to establish this with them they are refusing to confirm if we do or dont have a NSC tarrif anymore. (switching gas to ebico too - and persuing a refund of the standing charge applied without warning).
In case anyone from OFGEM monitors or reads this forum then. OFGEM you are supposed to be looking after the customers but unfortunately they are taking your ADVICE and twisting it to effect huge increases stating that you (OFGEM) are forcing them to scrap all NSC tarrifs. They are not advising of their cheapest tarrif and are switching customers to the most expensive one. SSE disputed that they had a discount of £46 on paperless monthly DD ona tarrif until I quoted the web page address. This is still unsatisfactory and the complaints procedure is too lengthy to be effective. You should accept this type of complaint immediately, after all thats what you were set up to do.

Rant over- my advise visit ebico.org.uk or utilita.co.uk and check out their non standing charge tarrif if you are a low energy user.

Why be penalised for creating low energy houses, by getting slapped with huge SC costs it makes it less cost efective to insulate to the max and more.

Rant definately over for now (I feel better)

flyingjock1

Understand your upset about being affected by the Ofgen changes ie for standing charges - from their website

Mustbe presented in the form of a standing charge (which may have a
value of zero) and unit rate.

and

May not have a unit rate which depends on the amount of electricity or gas
consumed (e.g. a “rising block” tariff–where the first block of
consumption is charged at a lower unit rate tha
n subsequent blocks of
consumption)

as for SSE not advertising their cheapest tariff well they only have a standard tariff, a 1 year fixed price at current prices and a 2 year fixed at post 151113 prices for each gas and elec. the standard and 1 year fixed have the same unit prices and the same standing charges so by definition they are the cheapest. as for them switching you on to their dearest tariff that would be pretty hard when they only have the 3. the 2 fixed deals are contracted so they wouldnt put you on them thus leaving the standard as the only one they can put you on. all tariffs include a £100 year standing charge before discounts ie £40 per year for DD and £6 a year paperless discount. by removing the NSC tariffs as per Ofgen and by putting you automatically on the only they can ie standard, then i dont see how they can be accused of twisting the Ofgen Retail Review to suit their agenda.

There are a lot of customers like yourself in a similar position ie low user etc, but all utility companies have until the 31/12/13 to implement these chnages into their offered tariffs so it doesnt matter where you go all provideers will have to show a standing charge on their bill (even for zero pence)

as for ebico they dont offer a NSC option in the true sense. they dont charge a daily standing charge and they only offer a single rate (not tiered as NSC as historical spilt tariffs with a higher and discounted rate). They too will probably now introduce a standing charge on their billing but to keep in line with their philosphy will most likely be for zero pence.