SSE Standing Charge per year.

DragonQ

Nada666 wrote: »

Both arguments are true.

Yes, Ofgem have ruled that two-tier tariffs are no longer acceptable - you either have to charge everyone a more expensive tier 1 price including uncapped pro rata service charge on each and every kWh you use or, if you want to offer 'tier 2' prices and limit the service charge then you must charge a daily standing charge so everyone pays the same service charge regardless of use.

So the option of a 0p per day standing charge is available but with only four tariffs permitted pretty much every supplier will no longer offer that option.

SSE are correct. This is the fault of Ofgem. Ofgem have mandated this introduction. It isn't absolute but there is little choice. SSE or any other individual supplier are not going to limit themselves to three 'normal' tariffs when most every other supplier will have four.

Agreed that there isn't much choice - the two examples I gave are extremes and almost no suppliers are offering such tariffs (nPower has one if you pay by direct debit, Ebico is the only other I know of).

The 4 tariff thing is pretty stupid, especially considering they can still change them whenever so the actual list of tariffs in use at any given time is still huge.

Nada666 wrote: »

You also lose flexibility with an only-tier-1 tariff - if there is a bad winter and you need the heating for a change you pay a penalty much higher than if you were on a two-tier tariff.

That's just as true the other way though: with tariffs that have small or no standing charges, your usage has more of an effect on how much you pay. Good if you use less than you predicted, bad if you use more. If I end up going with nPower Price Fix April 2015 as I currently plan to, my price will be heavily dependent on usage, just like my EquiGas tariff, so I'll need to be careful my usage doesn't increase.

If your tariff had a huge standing charge and cheap units, then you'll be minimally affected by using more, but also save little if you use less.

Anthorn

Nada666 wrote: »

Except customers in that position used to have the choice of every supplier. And Ebico (last year) were 70% more expensive than some two-tier tariffs for very low useage (due to having no direct debit discount.)

70% more expensive seems a bit far fetched. Can you link to those statistics?

Whether the Ebico standard tariffs are cheaper depends on individual circumstances. When I was with British Gas I never got onto the cheaper high tariff due to low usage and was therefore always paying at the high rate. Since moving to Ebico I've saved money hand over fist!

But when we look at the facts we find that energy being cheaper the more we use is contradictory to the saving of energy. The more we use the more expensive it should be!

Marco_Panettone

If you already have a prepayment meter there's no direct debit discount available anyway. Switch the Ebico and pay for what you use with no standing charge.

We switched to Ebico initially as I dislike direct debit for fuel (despite the possible savings), before moving house to a property with prepayment for gas (supplied by Eon). With Eon it was costing £20 a month, mainly due to the standing charge. Since the change (in March) we've paid about £50 in total.