B Gas insists on a standing charge

System

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/88276/openletter-treatmentoflowandzeroconsumersofgas.pdf

MegaMiniMouse

Hengus wrote: »

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/88276/openletter-treatmentoflowandzeroconsumersofgas.pdf

That's a very interesting letter, which reveals OFGEM as being more of a talking shop than a regulatory body.

The only bit which appeared to me to offer any kind of hope was near the end of appendix one -

"Collective switching is another avenue for meeting the needs of particular consumers. A scheme can be run targeted at customers with low consumption and suppliers are able to introduce a new fixed-term tariff outside of the four core tariff cap, provided the scheme meets certain conditions"

There has been a lot of debate about the usefulness of the MSE 10-day switch/energy club etc - maybe MSE should investigate the possibility of setting up a collective switch for low users.

enfield_freddy

change to ebico , no standing charge , about 1.5p per unit extra , but if you use very little you are quids in

System

MegaMiniMouse wrote: »

That's a very interesting letter, which reveals OFGEM as being more of a talking shop than a regulatory body.

The only bit which appeared to me to offer any kind of hope was near the end of appendix one -

"Collective switching is another avenue for meeting the needs of particular consumers. A scheme can be run targeted at customers with low consumption and suppliers are able to introduce a new fixed-term tariff outside of the four core tariff cap, provided the scheme meets certain conditions"

There has been a lot of debate about the usefulness of the MSE 10-day switch/energy club etc - maybe MSE should investigate the possibility of setting up a collective switch for low users.

To be blunt - what would be in it for the energy companies? What they want is average to high energy users to provide them with a guaranteed income stream. Importing thousands of low energy users could well be seen as an administrative burden. MSE is unlikely to be in a position to negotiate a £60 per customer 'finders fee' if, as one poster put it, he pays his energy company about a £ a month.

[Deleted User]

enfield_freddy wrote: »

change to ebico , no standing charge , about 1.5p per unit extra , but if you use very little you are quids in

Its not 1.5 p per unit of gas ( metric or imp ) but 1.5 p more per kwhr..quite a big difference. Ebico operate a form of the outlawed two tier system. They have to meet their obligations to the standing charges somehow. Zero users are ok but low, medium users effectively are paying standing charges by stealth just like we did with the old two tier pricing.