Standing Charges guide - official forum discussion

kloughlin

In view of the impending sale of Robin Hood Energy (Ebico) to British Gas I wonder how many customers have previously availed themselves of Ebico's "No Standing Charge" tariff, which is perfect for holiday home usage.  I assume there are thousands of holiday home owners and hopefully a substantial number who use this tariff.

The sale, and albeit Brit Gas will honour the rates until mid-2021, I presume will mean Brit Gas will not provide a similar long-term tariff thereafter; and the only other long-term company now with similar is Utilta, but require pre-payment meters (to be fitted).

Is there any database to view of numbers of No Standing Charge customers in the UK?  Do any MSE Forum members have any thought/info etc about this drastic change to customer choices?  Can customers lobby any organisation in this reduction to choice?

luckyme_2

IIRC Utilla require smart meters but not prepayment meters. I have mentioned in a couple of other posts I used the Ebico tariff as I was away much of the year.  BG would have kept the same deal for another year. I have now switched to Yorkshire Energy (gas s.c. 6.6p/day) as travel is now off the cards for several months at least. I suspect many other folk will be in a similar position. Finding the right tariff will be  best seen in hindsight. 

BigBlueSky

Just been looking at Utilita for electricity only, but it seems they want to change the existing regular day/night meter for a prepayment meter before allowing a signup ??

Oly

Any update on this? 
Ebico is no longer available, and Utilita can't take my business as I have a SMET2 meter.  I am amazed Ofgem aren't pushing them to adopt the new technology. 
Any other No Standing Charge providers out there yet?

BigBlueSky

Same.  I've basically gone for one offering me £50 credit - so that will go towards the standing charge for a short period of time and then I will move again.

brunn

I want a gas supply with zero standing charge - my gas meter is capped and not used, but I still have to pay to have it in place! Each time I find a supplier with zero standing charge, they change after a while or go bust and I get so fed up with starting from square one each time. I had a grumble at a call centre operative about it on one occasion when the st.charge went up, and wondered why we couldn't just pay a flat rate for the year, just to have the gas meter present. He said that hundreds of customers were in the same boat. Why can't one supplier create a flat rate tariff for people who have inactive gas meters? Don't they want our money?
The reason I keep the meter - it costs a couple of hundreds of £ to have it uninstalled/removed, plus maybe when I sell the house the new people might want a gas cooker. 
I'm in the middle of having to change supplier, again, trawling round to find someone with the lowest possible standing charge. What a complete faff.

BigBlueSky

brunn said:

I want a gas supply with zero standing charge - my gas meter is capped and not used, but I still have to pay to have it in place! Each time I find a supplier with zero standing charge, they change after a while or go bust and I get so fed up with starting from square one each time. I had a grumble at a call centre operative about it on one occasion when the st.charge went up, and wondered why we couldn't just pay a flat rate for the year, just to have the gas meter present. He said that hundreds of customers were in the same boat. Why can't one supplier create a flat rate tariff for people who have inactive gas meters? Don't they want our money?
The reason I keep the meter - it costs a couple of hundreds of £ to have it uninstalled/removed, plus maybe when I sell the house the new people might want a gas cooker. 
I'm in the middle of having to change supplier, again, trawling round to find someone with the lowest possible standing charge. What a complete faff.

You're best doing what I do.  Move to a provider that pay you to move to them and then used that money to cover the standing charge.  When it runs out move elsewhere...

dogshome

If you have not used gas since moving in and the meter was capped, then the Ofgem rule is that if you have not used Gas then the 'deemed' contract does not apply and charges including the Standing Charge can't be taken.

If the Gas was capped after you moved in, then after 12 months of not useing Gas, the Standing Charge can't be applied

Most suppliers seem to have a job getting their heads around this, so WRITE a letter headed Complaint and address it to CEO 

[Deleted User]

BigBlueSky said:e

brunn said:

I want a gas supply with zero standing charge - my gas meter is capped and not used, but I still have to pay to have it in place! Each time I find a supplier with zero standing charge, they change after a while or go bust and I get so fed up with starting from square one each time. I had a grumble at a call centre operative about it on one occasion when the st.charge went up, and wondered why we couldn't just pay a flat rate for the year, just to have the gas meter present. He said that hundreds of customers were in the same boat. Why can't one supplier create a flat rate tariff for people who have inactive gas meters? Don't they want our money?
The reason I keep the meter - it costs a couple of hundreds of £ to have it uninstalled/removed, plus maybe when I sell the house the new people might want a gas cooker. 
I'm in the middle of having to change supplier, again, trawling round to find someone with the lowest possible standing charge. What a complete faff.

You're best doing what I do.  Move to a provider that pay you to move to them and then used that money to cover the standing charge.  When it runs out move elsewhere...

Switch to Octopus: they will disconnect your gas meter for free.

malc_b

Nice suggestion of get cashback to cover standing charge :-).  Who though?  The best the MSE tool finds is ~20p/day (£6 pm) and zero cashback.  By the time you get cashback, £12.50, the cost is £8 pm and the cashback is paid in 3-6mths so you have paid an extra £12 in 6 mth.

BTW my situation is I'm renovating a house as self build, hence I will the need the gas eventually but I don't need it now (usage is zero).  Elec is also low (1200kW/yr).  I was with Ebico, now with BG and the gas zero sc tariff ends July 2021.

What I want is the cheapest sc for gas, or perhaps a dual fuel that would work out cheap.  Any suggestions?  Any work arounds?  I note yorkshire gas was mentioned but that seems to be only to businesses.