High Standing Charges

jonezbond

I've just moved into a new property and in the process of moving Energy suppliers to BG, however ExtraEnergy (current supplier that previous occupant had) have provided my first bill and there is Standing Charge of £43.15 which is charged at 68.499p per day.

Should I have to pay this high charge when I didn't chose this supplier and their heavy Standing Charge fees? could I argue this charge?

Any thoughts?

System

Hi - welcome to the forum. When you moved in and turned on a light you established a Deemed Contract with the existing supplier. Deemed Suppliers are not allowed to place you on a fixed tariff without your agreement so most contracts default to the supplier's standard variable rate. The Deemed Supplier is entitled to charge you for the period up to any transfer of supply.

payandisplay

You need to look at the whole package before condemning high standing charges. I am a heavy-ish gas user and I chose a high standing charge with a lower cost per kw as it worked out cheaper for me.

Cardew

jonezbond wrote: »

I've just moved into a new property and in the process of moving Energy suppliers to BG, however ExtraEnergy (current supplier that previous occupant had) have provided my first bill and there is Standing Charge of £43.15 which is charged at 68.499p per day.

Should I have to pay this high charge when I didn't chose this supplier and their heavy Standing Charge fees? could I argue this charge?

Any thoughts?

Welcome to the forum.

The legally binding 'deemed contract' provision was introduced so you would have gas/electricity available as soon as you occupied the house.

If you intended to move supplier to, say, Ebico with a zero daily standing charge(DSC) and found that the existing supplier had a DSC of, say, 20p a day, would you feel you had grounds to argue against the 20p charge?

The Deemed contract provision is a lot better than the alternative of having gas/electricity cut off when the old occupant left.

jonezbond

Thanks for the advice guys