Terif confusion

sebastianj

Standing charges,

Electricity 19.85 pence per day inclusive of VAT
Gas 34.31 pence per day inclusive of VAT


Standard unit charge,

Electricity 13.84 pence per unit
Gas 4.17 pence per unit

I am concerned about Gas standing charges, why is it so high. Does any one know of any thing cheaper going?
Sebastian

rogerblack

Different providers have different standing charge policies.
You need to look at both units used, and the standing charge.
Take your consumption in kWh for the last year, and enter into a comparison site such as http://www.uswitch.com/ (many are available), and see if there are savings to be made.

A high standing charge tariff may not be more expensive.

MikeR71

I think the standing charge is per day, not per Unit. If it were per Unit, it would be very very expensive indeed.

In general, tarriffs that have a daily standing charge, charge less per unit. You need to decide whether you use lots of units per day and if you do perhaps it's best to go for a tariff with daily standing charge and lower unit rate. It's hard to say.

yangptangkipperbang

Gas standing charges are always higher. The charge is based on the cost of supplying/maintaining your supply. A gas supply is far more complex than electricity.

Having said that - your charges do seem high, both standing and kwh charges.


My standing charges are 14p and 22p.
11.45p and 3.365p for usage.

penrhyn

Confusion--it's such a terrible shame.
Confusion--you don't know what you're sayin'.

Use a comparison site, it does the sums so you don't have to!

sebastianj

Yangptangkipperbang,
Your costs are much less than mine I could save some cash there, which supplier is it? I have used electric units 6429.87 kwh, gas 32830.84 kwh on one year.
penrhyn
I thought the purpose of the forum was to consult, discuss and come to a conclusion.Comparison sites go alongside these consultation.
sebastian

penrhyn

My conclusion is that you are using an awful lot of gas and electricity, is a very large property?
16,500 Kwh gas and 3,300 Kwh electricity are the national average figures for energy consumption .

My 3 bed semi uses around 2200Kwh electricity and 8000Kwh gas so i guess I'm fairly frugal.

sebastianj

The property is average 3 bed older style. Not sure why I am using above average, how do I go about checking it? We have a combi boiler, gas hob and electric oven.
sebastian

penrhyn

Usual things, make sure your room stat / radiator TRVs are set to a reasonable room temperature, say 19 c in living areas 18 c in the bedrooms if possible.
Have you got a decent level of insulation in the loft, cavity wall insulation, draft proofing.
Then look at your power hungry appliances and minimise their use.

sebastianj

Is there a supplier 'spark energy'? Any comments on service.

thanks in advance,
seb

penrhyn

Are they the outfit that targets letting agents? Think I have seen some stuff about them on the forum, mainly escape attempts.