300% standing charge increase

RobLincs

Eon; my current energy provider has increased their standing charges for gas and electricity by 300%. My gas bill for last year was only £24 for gas with a standing charge of £30. They have increased their standing charges to £94 per year, so I would be asked to pay £128 for £24 worth of gas,
I am a pensioner who lives alone with my solid fuel boiler and I used to use my gas for hot water and cooking, but with these charges I have asked Eon to remove my gas meter and I will get an electric hob; they say that they will for nearly £200 or I have to pay £94 a year extra. 
There is no hope for the poor in this money making world that we now have to live in!
My question is; is there an energy plan available that has a tariff without this scandalous standing charge?

Mineral1

There should be tariffs with cheaper standing charges, I think the rate of £94 a year equates to 25p a day, mine is currently 13p a day although it was a fixed deal signed up for back in February before everything went crazy. 

I wouldn't have your gas supply removed, you never know when you might need it and it will cost to have it installed again. You'd also have to get an electric hob as you say which will be a few hundred pounds plus potentially re wiring to ensure a suitable supply is available for it.

That being said even if there aren't cheaper standing charges currently available, £8 a month to have a gas supply in case you need it isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things is it? Someone still has to maintain the gas distribution network and employ people to read the meter and administer your billing and all of that needs paid for.

gt94sss2

There have been tariffs with no standing charges from time to time.

You can try inputting your details at https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk/ to see if you can get a cheaper tariff based on your usage but prices have gone up everywhere this year.

dbks

RobLincs said:

Eon; my current energy provider has increased their standing charges for gas and electricity by 300%. My gas bill for last year was only £24 for gas with a standing charge of £30. They have increased their standing charges to £94 per year, so I would be asked to pay £128 for £24 worth of gas,
I am a pensioner who lives alone with my solid fuel boiler and I used to use my gas for hot water and cooking, but with these charges I have asked Eon to remove my gas meter and I will get an electric hob; they say that they will for nearly £200 or I have to pay £94 a year extra. 
There is no hope for the poor in this money making world that we now have to live in!
My question is; is there an energy plan available that has a tariff without this scandalous standing charge?

Of course there is.  Have a read of recent threads on this very board

QrizB

RobLincs said:

My question is; is there an energy plan available that has a tariff without this scandalous standing charge?

All mainstream tariffs currently on offer charge around £90/yr standing charge.

Verdigris

I am a pensioner who lives alone

So am I. The trick is remain informed of current events. The best deal you can get, at the moment, is the Standard Variable Tariff (STV) which will be essentially the same whichever supplier you choose. I suspect that is the rate you've been put on, as have many millions of us, owing to the current energy price crisis. Please rest assured that the suppliers are all losing money at that rate, as it is capped by Ofgem, until April 2022.

A question: How do you think a supplier with a low standing charge is going to be able to supply you, with very low usage, profitably?

Energy supply isn't a charity (nor should it be a licence to print money, I might add). Have you applied for the Warm Homes Allowance?

EssexHebridean

Until a few months ago we always searched out a zero standing charge tariff for our gas supply as like you OP we are also extremely low users. Unfortunately we’ve also had to now go over to paying a standing charge as there simply weren’t any “zero standing charge” tariffs available when our last one ended. I agree it does sting a bit to go from (in our case) £2 a month for gas to £7.30 a month, but unfortunately we’ve had to accept it. To change our existing gas cooker to an electric one would be expensive, and generally I believe electric is a lot more expensive to cook on than gas too, so over time it may well be a false economy in any case. 

luvchocolate

Even without any other befits we pensioners living alone get £200 fuel allowance which is a great help to me 

RobLincs

I don't think a 313% increase in the SC is justified!

QrizB

RobLincs said:

I don't think a 313% increase in the SC is justified!

Nevertheless, the authorities think it is.

MWT

QrizB said:

RobLincs said:

I don't think a 313% increase in the SC is justified!

Nevertheless, the authorities think it is.

To be fair, the cap on the standing charge has gone up 25% in 4 years, large changes being reported here have little to do with anything determined by Ofgem and more to do with addressing unsustainably low returns from very low use accounts.

Suppliers have always had the option to reduce the standing charge if they wish, but we had already seen the demise of almost all of the 'zero' SC tariffs some months ago.

Similarly the very low SC tariffs were already being replaced as they expired by higher SC tariffs before the recent problems arose.

We would be seeing complaints of large percentage increases regardless as people came out of their fixes this time around.