standing charges for energy

stella_aurakzai

I was looking at changing my tariff with Npower but a change in tariff increases the standing charges for gas from 23.89p per day to just under 32p per day! I have also just found out that standing charges vary for different post codes. The person on NPower chat line said this is allowed by OFGEM rules? It seems very wrong for people to have to pay more because of their postcode

JJ_Egan

No its not post codes as such .
Energy supply prices vary with areas .
Standing Charges vary with supplier and tariff.
Two components one standing charge and two unit price .

editor1

stella_aurakzai wrote: »

I was looking at changing my tariff with Npower but a change in tariff increases the standing charges for gas from 23.89p per day to just under 32p per day! I have also just found out that standing charges vary for different post codes. The person on NPower chat line said this is allowed by OFGEM rules? It seems very wrong for people to have to pay more because of their postcode

Standing charges not only are impacted by Postcode, but by type of deal you are on, given this fact, and that duel fuel standing changes can actually be quite steep, if you can Switch supplier, try Outfox The Market, its offer a membership fee structure for Electricity only and no standing charges for gas whatsoever, if you are on a low to medium usage for electricity, its £6.99 & £8.99 - my folks are heavy users and their membership fee would be £10.99 a month, which when multiplied by 12 and divided by 365 works out two quid cheaper a month than what i presently pay.

CashStrapped

Outfox the market is available to compare against on comparison sites such as the one I often use (energyhelpline). Currently, there are tariffs from other suppliers that beat outfox (check for your own consumption). So while they have this odd membership fee arrangement, they are no more or less competitive than other suppliers.

Regarding the standing charges query. This is often asked in the forum.

The accepted logic regarding how tariffs are structured is that those with higher standing charges and lower unit rates benefit higher users. Those with low standing charges and high unit rates normally benefit low users.

However, in my view, there is no need to get too caught up on this fact.

As long as you use accurate annual figures in kwh when comparing on comparison sites.....what ever tariff comes up cheapest for your annual use.....is the cheapest one....regardless of how it is structured....you have to decide which company to choose based on the result after that it comes down to customer feedback, and whether it is fixed or could be subject to variable changes.

So, compare, ensure that you compare covering the whole market. See what comes up, and switch.

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It is not just the standing charges that vary by postcode, the pence per kwh are usually slightly different too. This is because of our fragmented energy network. Each supplier can tailor their tariffs to the perceived costs of supplying specific areas.

For example, and this is only a very rough example, it may cost less (in terms of infrastructure) to supply a densely populated area than it costs to supply a very sparsely populated area. It is just like the issues with broadband. I can get a much better broadband connection in a city, at a much cheaper price (because the infrastructure exists) than I could out in the countryside.

nPower

stella_aurakzai wrote: »

I was looking at changing my tariff with Npower but a change in tariff increases the standing charges for gas from 23.89p per day to just under 32p per day! I have also just found out that standing charges vary for different post codes. The person on NPower chat line said this is allowed by OFGEM rules? It seems very wrong for people to have to pay more because of their postcode

Hi stella aurakzai,

Thanks for your message. Please contact us using the details on our profile page if you require help with your tariff prices.

Thanks,

Jen