No Standing Charge electricity tariffs in 2021

ZINXYX

I am in a similar situation as we use only electricity. We don't use gas at all ( we have a gas meter that's disconnected) and had been with Ebico  because of the no standing charge. I am looking for a way to not pay these companies.

[Deleted User]

ZINXYX said:

I am in a similar situation as we use only electricity. We don't use gas at all ( we have a gas meter that's disconnected) and had been with Ebico  because of the no standing charge. I am looking for a way to not pay these companies.

If you switch your gas supply to Octopus and ask them nicely they will remove your gas meter and cap off your supply for free. Once the meter has been removed, there is no standing charge to be paid.

ZINXYX

[Deleted User] said:

ZINXYX said:

I am in a similar situation as we use only electricity. We don't use gas at all ( we have a gas meter that's disconnected) and had been with Ebico  because of the no standing charge. I am looking for a way to not pay these companies.

If you switch your gas supply to Octopus and ask them nicely they will remove your gas meter and cap off your supply for free. Once the meter has been removed, there is no standing charge to be paid.

Thanks a lot.

RegoR

I have three units with their own electric supplies,  they have not been used for years so  having a NO standing charge tariff was good for me, paying a charge would be very expensive, as a last resort I was going to be asking to have the meters removed which I understood could be £80-£100 each….

There was an earlier comment about having a prepayment meter fitted, what would be the cost to having that done, are there any costs or annual charges.

Also “Dolor”. You mentioned that Octopus would remove a gas meter for free…  do you know if they would remove an electric supply FREE of charge.?

I would like to keep a meter fitted (maybe a small fee) if possible, interested to know what my options are..

Many Thanks…

MWT

RegoR said:

There was an earlier comment about having a prepayment meter fitted, what would be the cost to having that done, are there any costs or annual charges.

They have standing charges as well, often higher than the credit meters, so that is not a way around the problem.

RegoR said:

Also “Dolor”. You mentioned that Octopus would remove a gas meter for free…  do you know if they would remove an electric supply FREE of charge.?

No, the logic for removing gas was 'green' based to encourage people to move away from gas as a fuel. Does not apply to electricity.

akaWooders

If you're a B Gas customer and unhappy with the tariff(s) they offer when your current tariff is about to expire consider the following. BG has dozens of tariffs, all of which can be viewed if you search for British Gas All Tariffs. Using Google the link is the one headed "Tariff Information. Find tariff details - British Gas". Being a newbie I'm unable to post a link - sorry.

Find a tariff that is more attractive than those offered, call BG and ask nicely if you can be moved to that one when your current tariff ends. There's no guarantee that the tariff you select will be available to you but as they say, 'if you don't ask you don't get".

Good luck. 

bristolleedsfan

MWT said:

No, the logic for removing gas was 'green' based to encourage people to move away from gas as a fuel. Does not apply to electricity.

https://octopus.energy/blog/disconnecting-your-gas-supply/

"Right now, because we get a fairly small number of these requests, we’re shouldering these charges and removing the meters free of charge for customers. But as it becomes more common, we might need to start charging for the removal of gas meters, not just to cover the MAP’s costs but also to cover the cost for the engineer’s time. We’ll try and avoid this and will of course let you know about any costs before booking or carrying out the work"

Worth pointing out other suppliers might remove gas meter for free as well ( Bulb charge lol)

Rik on Twitter: "@cuthbertneil @janrosenow @SGNgas Top tip: get energy supplier to remove gas meter (some will do it for free, eg British Gas & Octopus). Do not inform network co. In 18 months or so, network wil contact you and should remove the pipe at their cost. (My learning from London with Cadent)" / Twitter

Back in 2014  "Eon charges £82 to remove gas meters. However, some companies, such as British Gas, Npower, and SSE, will remove the meter for free"

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2556952/Families-faced-gas-bill-use-electricity.html

yelias

akaWooders said:

If you're a B Gas customer and unhappy with the tariff(s) they offer when your current tariff is about to expire consider the following. BG has dozens of tariffs, all of which can be viewed if you search for British Gas All Tariffs. Using Google the link is the one headed "Tariff Information. Find tariff details - British Gas". Being a newbie I'm unable to post a link - sorry.

Find a tariff that is more attractive than those offered, call BG and ask nicely if you can be moved to that one when your current tariff ends. There's no guarantee that the tariff you select will be available to you but as they say, 'if you don't ask you don't get".

Good luck. 

Welcome to MSE.

Here is the link I think you were discussing.
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/GetAQuote/tariff-information

Unfortunately, whilst BG may list there "dozens of tariffs", that link provides details of all BG tariffs, old and new.
As it says "Just so you know, some of the energy tariffs you see may no longer be available to new customers. " as you also seem to acknowledge.

You can ask, but you won't get. You will only be offered a tariff from the range currently available.*

You can find the range of tariffs currently available and obtain a quote using this link:
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/energy/gas-and-electricity.html

BG only appears to offer 4 tariffs currently, 5 if you include the PAYG option.

*I believe they may also offer existing customers an 'exclusive' tariff come renewal time, details of which (if available) will be included in your personalised email renewal offer.

Alternatively, your online account should display all the BG tariffs available to you come renewal. But their online account is terrible.

akaWooders

Thank you for your welcome, Yelias. 😁

My comments above were principally directed at those who are existing customers of B Gas, on their Zero Fixed July 2021 tariff and therefore should not be a "new customer" when moving to another B Gas tariff.

I didn't want to speak too soon when I wrote my previous post as I had not had anything in writing, but today I have received confirmation from BG that they have switched my tariff to the Zero Fixed Oct 2022 tariff. An additional bonus is that the unit rate for both gas and electricity is cheaper than the July 2021 tariff, significantly so in respect of electricity.

So it was definitely worth asking!

Dee_Castle

akaWooders said:

So it was definitely worth asking!

I've just done the same. They had never heard of the Zero Fixed Oct 2022 tarrif but I asked nicely and they found it in the tarrif list, then passed a note to the back office to move me to it.

Fingers crossed I get the written conf soon. Appreciate the suggestion, cheers!