Standing Charge Rip Off

keepitlegal

We own a flat which we bought for our daughter to live in before she was married. When she got married her and her husband moved out so we tried to let the flat, we had two different really bad tenants, so we have decide to sell.

We get a bill from Scottishpower,
Electric £10.23 (consumption £0.41 estimated)
Gas £10.18 (no gas used)

The flat is less than a mile from our home, so why should we have to pay a standing charge twice? I am furious, infact I intend to make a stand and have told my wife I would rather go to jail than pay for something we don't have, get or want.

Keepitlegal

wiogs

keepitlegal wrote: »

We own a flat which we bought for our daughter to live in before she was married. When she got married her and her husband moved out so we tried to let the flat, we had two different really bad tenants, so we have decide to sell.

We get a bill from Scottishpower,
Electric £10.23 (consumption £0.41 estimated)
Gas £10.18 (no gas used)

The flat is less than a mile from our home, so why should we have to pay a standing charge twice? I am furious, infact I intend to make a stand and have told my wife I would rather go to jail than pay for something we don't have, get or want.

Keepitlegal

Love it - brilliant spoof post. Hope no-one thinks you are being serious.

matelodave

I think it's a wind up!.
If you don't want the option of having gas and electricity at the flat then get them to take the meters away but it would cost you to have them taken out and again to have them replaced. You'd have difficulty selling the place with no meters in it and the prospect of a couple of hundred to put them back

wiogs

Has to be - certainly not a serious post.

societys_child

wiogs wrote: »

Love it - brilliant spoof post. Hope no-one thinks you are being serious.

wiogs wrote: »

Has to be - certainly not a serious post.

Could be serious, :eek:

I just have this uneasy feeling . . . :rotfl:

Joyful

If it is serious, then you are paying for a service that you have. You have gas and electric connected to your flat allowing you to use it when you want. Your supplier has to pay upline for the meter you have so why should you not pay that charge?

littletommytucker

Yes he is definitely joking... it's his first post! He's probably left similar posts on the BT forum, complaining he has to pay line rental for a phone he doesn't use, and one on the Sky forum - he had to pay for the TV package he didn't watch, and one on the Virgin forum - had to pay for the Broadband he doesn't use, even though there's a working router still at the property! No one can be that stupid can they? Very worrying if so.

We'll no whether or not he's joking if he comes back and posts some more. If he was been serious he'll probably walk away in shame, never to return again.

yangptangkipperbang

littletommytucker wrote: »

No one can be that stupid can they?

......Oh yes they can !!

jamesd

Listen to BBC Radio 4 Moneybox from 25-1-2014 starting 14:00 into it. You will hear about deemed contracts guidance and how there should be no standing charge if there has been no usage. Then continue listening to learn about the provider that has no standing charge, Ebico.

For more on deemed contracts see Lexology:

"No usage, no deemed contract?

An invoice from a utility supplier is usually split into standing charges (which are charges made for having the benefit of connection/supply pipes to the premises) and consumption charges. If the statement by Ofgem is to apply then unless an owner/occupier has actually consumed energy then a deemed contract cannot have arisen and a claim for standing charges only would not suffice to create a deemed contract."

Naturally you can't use this reasoning if there is billable usage.

The standing charge is partly for account management services and does vary between providers. Even between different contracts with the same supplier, sometimes substantially different. It doesn't matter how close you are, just whether you have a service being supplied and used.

Ebico is only cheaper for low or no usage customers, up to perhaps a quarter of typical use levels. If you set up a direct debit there's a £10initial minimum charge until they have usage history. You can avoid that by using quarterly billing with no direct debit.

Uglymug

keepitlegal wrote: »

We own a flat which we bought for our daughter to live in before she was married. When she got married her and her husband moved out so we tried to let the flat, we had two different really bad tenants, so we have decide to sell.

We get a bill from Scottishpower,
Electric £10.23 (consumption £0.41 estimated)
Gas £10.18 (no gas used)

The flat is less than a mile from our home, so why should we have to pay a standing charge twice? I am furious, infact I intend to make a stand and have told my wife I would rather go to jail than pay for something we don't have, get or want.

Keepitlegal

Next he'll be saying he wants them to freeze energy bills for up to 20 months.

mummyroysof3

Why don't you ring to see if there is a tariff with a lower standing charge but higher usage rate. Will help while you trying to sell it or are between tenants. Don't get tied into a set contract though