Standing charges

jpglass94

I am just about to leave Scottish Power for another energy provider and they have hit me with a £223 standing charge, firstly I have never ever heard of a standing charge, I am on pre payment top up metres and I was never told by Scottish Power about a standing charge, when I queried this charge this was the email they sent back to me (Attached to the bottom). I am extremely confused and upset as I do not have £223 to spare, I have also never in my whole time renting this property received a letter or email or any information about a standing charge. I have given my estate agents permission to talk to Scottish Power on my behalf to resolve this as my estate agents are also baffled by this. Any other advice would be appreciated, I am considering legal advice if they still in insist i owe them this money. 

"Your query relates to the outstanding balance on your gas account at (Removed by Forum Team). We have looked at your account and the shortfall is for standing charges. Standing charges are for the rental, use and maintenance of a meter – be it gas, electric, direct debit or pre-payment. All customers in the UK have to pay standing charges on each of their meters regardless of whether the meter is capped, of whether they top up the meter or whether they use energy. The daily standing charges are about £2.50 for the gas meter and about £1.50 for the electric meter depending on area. Your gas account shows that you topped up on £15.00 between 22 October 2019 and 7 July 2021. The standing charges accumulated on the meter, to be paid off at a later date. Looking at your gas account, it appears that the standing charges accumulated gradually since 2019."

 

MWT

Usually the only way you can accumulate a debt for the standing charge on a prepayment meter would be if you were always using the emergency credit and only making small infrequent top-ups...

jpglass94 said:

"The daily standing charges are about £2.50 for the gas meter and about £1.50 for the electric meter depending on area. Your gas account shows that you topped up on £15.00 between 22 October 2019 and 7 July 2021. The standing charges accumulated on the meter, to be paid off at a later date. Looking at your gas account, it appears that the standing charges accumulated gradually since 2019."

The amounts quoted should be per week not per day, but was the property mostly unoccupied, or do you just not use the gas for heating or hot water perhaps?

They seem to be suggesting that you only put £15 on the gas meter over a period of nearly 21 months?

If that is the case then yes, the standing charges would have been building up and not be paid as you didn't top up frequently enough to pay them, but they still accumulated.

This accumulation would have been visible on the meter if you had looked at the right screen.

yelias

jpglass94 said:

I am just about to leave Scottish Power for another energy provider and they have hit me with a £223 standing charge, firstly I have never ever heard of a standing charge, I am on pre payment top up metres and I was never told by Scottish Power about a standing charge, when I queried this charge this was the email they sent back to me (Attached to the bottom). I am extremely confused and upset as I do not have £223 to spare, I have also never in my whole time renting this property received a letter or email or any information about a standing charge. I have given my estate agents permission to talk to Scottish Power on my behalf to resolve this as my estate agents are also baffled by this. Any other advice would be appreciated, I am considering legal advice if they still in insist i owe them this money. 

"Your query relates to the outstanding balance on your gas account at (Removed by Forum Team). We have looked at your account and the shortfall is for standing charges. Standing charges are for the rental, use and maintenance of a meter – be it gas, electric, direct debit or pre-payment. All customers in the UK have to pay standing charges on each of their meters regardless of whether the meter is capped, of whether they top up the meter or whether they use energy. The daily standing charges are about £2.50 for the gas meter and about £1.50 for the electric meter depending on area. Your gas account shows that you topped up on £15.00 between 22 October 2019 and 7 July 2021. The standing charges accumulated on the meter, to be paid off at a later date. Looking at your gas account, it appears that the standing charges accumulated gradually since 2019."

 

Welcome to MSE, @jpglass94

Don't worry. As you are on prepayment meters and you are about to change supplier, the new supplier may accept the debt you have accrued.

You need to ask the new supplier to agree to transfer your debt along with your supply (this is called the ‘Debt Assignment Protocol’).

They will then be able to recover the debt through the pre-payment meters.

I hoped you checked out the standing charge the new supplier will apply, as you state " I have never ever heard of a standing charge"
Don't worry, as many of the PPM tariffs are very much the same, no matter what your supplier - you'll probably see a range of about £100 per year for an average dual fuel user.

What made you decide to change supplier? I would always recommend consulting a comparison site to find the best deal for you, as even £100 in your pocket is better than in some energy suppliers.
If you had consulted a comparison site, you would usually see details of any new tariff on offer, and many also display the details of your existinmg tariff too. So you would have seen the standing charge displayed.

Similarly if you decide (or are forced) to remain with SP, they can add the debt to the electricity meter.

So there is no need for you to find £223 at this time.:)
- not unless you plan to pay it to some lawyer when you seek legal advice that is.

MWT

yelias said:

Similarly if you decide (or are forced) to remain with SP, they can add the debt to the electricity meter.

So there is no need for you to find £223 at this time.:)
- not unless you plan to pay it to some lawyer when you seek legal advice that is.

That only works if the meter is being regularly topped up enough to pay the debt and cover the new standing charges...

yelias

MWT said:

yelias said:

Similarly if you decide (or are forced) to remain with SP, they can add the debt to the electricity meter.

So there is no need for you to find £223 at this time.:)
- not unless you plan to pay it to some lawyer when you seek legal advice that is.

That only works if the meter is being regularly topped up enough to pay the debt and cover the new standing charges...

You are absolutely correct, and presumably the electricity meter is being topped up regularly, especially as the user appears to have used very little gas in the past 2 years.

I'd also like to clarify that the DSC quoted are probably more like the weekly cost.

MWT

yelias said:

I'd also like to clarify that the DSC quoted are probably more like the weekly cost.

Agreed, I mentioned that as well in my first post.

It does seem that gas is not being used for heating or hot water based on the very low use.

Perhaps it should be, but if there is no provision for gas heating/hot water then it may be cheaper to get the gas supply removed rather than continue to pay the standing charge, but without knowing what it is use for (gas hob perhaps) and also knowing if there is a realistic option to use gas for heating, it is difficult to know if removal is the best option.