Price Cap

Astria

The price cap is simply so energy providers can't bill you at £5 per kWh.

If you take the average household with average usage then it can't be higher than the cap rate regardless of supplier. The supplier may decide to offer a rate less than the cap rate however.

So you may be paying an additional 50% ish - depends on the supplier.

dave0564

Rosie1001 said:

Last bill for 6 weeks worth of electric 

You seem to have 2 meters, 1 which is for the day (with a few bits of night usage), and the other, which has recorded 1,552 kWh for the 6 weeks.  The actual period is 41 days (hence 82 days of standing charge).

The latter usage is 40 kWh per night, give or take.  That seems a lot.  Are you charging a car?  Or is there some heating system running overnight?

Might be worth enquiring with EDF (who I see are your supplier).

Sorry, trying to be helpful without much success, it seems.  

QrizB

dave0564 said:

Rosie1001 said:

Last bill for 6 weeks worth of electric 

You seem to have 2 meters, 1 which is for the day (with a few bits of night usage), and the other, which has recorded 1,552 kWh for the 6 weeks.  The actual period is 41 days (hence 82 days of standing charge).

The latter usage is 40 kWh per night, give or take.  That seems a lot.  Are you charging a car?  Or is there some heating system running overnight?

I suspect Rosie1001 has "complex metering"; one of the legacy arrangements popular in Scotland where there's a second meter, originally intended for heat-only.

Rosie1001

QrizB said:

dave0564 said:

Rosie1001 said:

Last bill for 6 weeks worth of electric 

You seem to have 2 meters, 1 which is for the day (with a few bits of night usage), and the other, which has recorded 1,552 kWh for the 6 weeks.  The actual period is 41 days (hence 82 days of standing charge).

The latter usage is 40 kWh per night, give or take.  That seems a lot.  Are you charging a car?  Or is there some heating system running overnight?

I suspect Rosie1001 has "complex metering"; one of the legacy arrangements popular in Scotland where there's a second meter, originally intended for heat-only.

I have night storage heaters… so 2 Mpan numbers…. 

Day  / night for normal usage , other night only for heat 

QrizB

Rosie1001 said:

QrizB said:

I suspect Rosie1001 has "complex metering"; one of the legacy arrangements popular in Scotland where there's a second meter, originally intended for heat-only.

I have night storage heaters… so 2 Mpan numbers…. 

Day  / night for normal usage , other night only for heat 

That is complex metering. Most people with NSHs would have one meter, with the NSHs switched to heat on the night tariff.

Rosie1001

Yes I know I have complex meter 

my concern is how does the new price rise affect economy 7 … 

QrizB

Rosie1001 said:

Yes I know I have complex meter

That's good, it seemed as though you thought that having two MPANs was normal for E7!

my concern is how does the new price rise affect economy 7 … 

Capped rates for E7 ("multi-rate metering") are more difficult to calculate than single-rate electricity. Ofgem set a cap on the standing charge in the usual way but the cap on energy bills is for a typical user with a certain split of day/night units. How the energy companies meet that cap is up to them.

Let me illustrate with an example.

In the North-West, Ofgem's caps for multi-rate metering paid by DD are:

• Zero kWh : £147.15/yr
• 4200kWh: £1203.78/yr

The cap on the standing charge - the zero kWh cap - is relatively straightforward. Divide it by 365 and add 5% VAT and you get 42.3p/day.

If the standing charge is £147.15/year, 4200kWh of electricity costs £1056.63. If it was all charged at the same rate, that would be 25.16p/kWh+VAT = 26.42p/kWh.

But it isn't all charged at the same rate. In Ofgem's model, it's assumed that the consumer uses 58% on the day rate (DR) and 42% on the night rate (NR). The energy company can therefore set two rates such that DRx0.58 + NRx0.42 = 26.42

So the following rates would all be acceptable to the cap:

• DR 28p/kWh, NR 24.24p/kWh
• DR 30p/kWh, NR 21.48p/kWh
• DR 32p/kWh, NR 18.71p/kWh

... but there's an endless combination of options available for the suppliers to choose from.

dingue

I've been on E7 since the 70s. I heat the water at night and keep some background heat on throughout the day using panel convectors. I don't have any storage heaters or gas central heating. Over the years I saved about 10-20% compared to single rate tariff. My EDF energy fixed tariff ended in October last year. Comparison web sites were still operating. I could have allowed my supplier to switch me to the standard variable capped tariff but decided to switch to British Gas fixed for 3 years. Day rate 19.16p Night rate 14.31p. At my 42/58% split gives an average of 17.6p kwh. Did I do the right thing? Thanks for a very informative and interesting post. 

QrizB

dingue said:

decided to switch to British Gas fixed for 3 years. Day rate 19.16p Night rate 14.31p. At my 42/58% split gives an average of 17.6p kwh. Did I do the right thing?

Yes, it seems you did.

jbuchanangb

@Rosie1001 It has been stated elsewhere in the forum, that in your situation you should only be paying one standing charge. You may be able to search for the thread and negotiate with EDF about it. Also I notice that you say you are paying £188 per month, but the bill is £292.13 for 41 days which is about £220 per month. The figure of £188 on the bill is just the VAT exclusive charge for the dedicated night-time usage.