Sainsbury's 62.6% increase in electricity standing charge

joncombe

Nada666 wrote: »

Don't worry - if Ofgem have their way suppliers will no longer be able to set their own standing charges - everyone will be forced to charge you 86p per day just to be connected to the grids. (£26 per month).

Do you have a source for this? Sounds worrying...

completeripoff

Just noticed this from Sainsbury's in my own bill, now that the monthly dd has increased. Absolutely disgusting that they can make a change of this magnitude whilst the consumer is trapped into a cancellation fee. Standing charge from 15.34 to 24.95 is outrageous! Forced to hang on to the account until the cancellation clause expires in July but I can guarantee never to be a Sainsbury's energy customer ever again...

Nada666

completeripoff wrote: »

Just noticed this from Sainsbury's in my own bill, now that the monthly dd has increased. Absolutely disgusting that they can make a change of this magnitude whilst the consumer is trapped into a cancellation fee. Standing charge from 15.34 to 24.95 is outrageous! Forced to hang on to the account until the cancellation clause expires in July but I can guarantee never to be a Sainsbury's energy customer ever again...

What is the name of the tariff? If the price has increased then you are free to move without penalty.

Bark01

Harefield_Trotter wrote: »

The plan is Sainsbury's Energy Online July 2014.

The old single rate electricity standing charge is 15.34p per day and the new rate is 24.95p per day paying via Direct Debit. New rates apply from 23rd November 2013.

You would need to also say what tariff you were on before. But looking at just the standing charge is fool hardy. The only thing that matters is the combination of standing charge and unit rate at your consumption.

Most suppliers are aligning their standing charges across their product portfolios and fuels in the guise of simplification, so this time round there will be some odd changes.

If your old standing charge was as low as 15p then it would not have covered the fixed costs of the tariff. Fixed costs have some shared elements between suppliers but there are also unique costs that vary by supplier but I’d estimate them to be between £80-£110. There are also no hard rules what govern what costs should be included in the standing charge.

It looks to me that the standing charge was set artificially low on your old tariff to attract low consuming consumers, or just to win electric customers. Sainsburys are actually BG and BG have the majority of Gas customers in the UK so traditionally have a cheap electric price to attract the customers they need (and an expensive gas price as most people in the uk don’t bother to switch). Ofgem look badly on subsidising one fuel with another so this may just be BG evening up the margins of their fuels

MillicentBystander

Looking at this thread and others I do fear for Ebico. They are going to end up with a customer base comprised almost entirely of no profit ultra low users (probably paying quarterly) and that imo will put an enormous strain on their business model, not for profit or not.

Nada666

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Looking at this thread and others I do fear for Ebico. They are going to end up with a customer base comprised almost entirely of no profit ultra low users (probably paying quarterly) and that imo will put an enormous strain on their business model, not for profit or not.

Another twist of the knife for Ebico is another of Ofgem's barmy decisions - the banning of direct debit discounts off your whole bill. This means ninety-nine percent of tariffs are going to only have a discount pro rata your consumption. As such not just ultra-low but below average customers will find Ebico attractive for one of their fuels but not the profitable other.

I am sure there is a completely Barking justification for replacing a crystal clear 6%-off-your-total-bill discount with the more complicated alternative.

Ryune

Harefield_Trotter wrote: »

The disturbing theme running throughout the whole energy pricing debate is that there is little or no transaprency in terms of how the energy companies arrive at their prices.

If you're curious all the Charging Statements for distribution charges are fully published each year. While it's not the only thing that makes up the standing charge it will let you see how much of it is use of system.

neilied

resurrecting a thread a little here but i have been doing a bit of searching as my DD has massively increased (partly due to wrong amount set during my 1st year and me not changing it)

however here is my results

old tariff Price check Jan 14 (ended)

Gas SC 24.439p/day 3.726 KWPH - Elec SC 15.979 and 12.777 KWPH

Default Standard (Feb to date)

Gas SC 26.000p/day 4.480 KWPH - Elec SC 26.000 and 13.270 KWPH

Best rate offer (Fixed Feb 15)

Gas SC 26.000p/day 4.090 KWPH - Elec SC 26.000 and 12.240

new fixed tariff rates are slightly higher than old expired rate but standing charges have increased, however elec standing charge is a big increase??

Why???