Electricity standing charges to double in April

wrf12345

Ofgem and the energy companies seemed to have sneaked this in without any notice in the initial press release that generates most of the comment in the media.

This is an insult to low energy users, especially those who have spent time and money ensuring they have a well insulated home or fitted solar panels, and little incentive for people to save energy as they are being taken for nearly £200 in some regions even before they switch anything on. This is an absolute disgrace.

Consumers ultimately have all the power, if everyone cancelled their March direct debits until all s/c's are removed then it would crash the industry!

GingerTim

A couple of points:

• There are £billions to be recouped following the failure of energy companies, for which we are all going to be picking up the tab for years to come through standing charges, in addition to the costs of running the network.
• Zero standing charge tariffs have, I fear, gone the way of the dodo.

Astria

You are simply paying back for the loss the energy companies have been making, plus the bailouts for the companies that were on the verge of collapsing.

You are not forced to pay the standing charge - you are welcome to go off-grid, which is what will happen if you refuse to pay your energy bill (plus black marks on your credit record)

QrizB

You are Don Quixote and I claim my five pounds.

savers_united

They have increased the Elec SC quite a bit but the Gas is only by a penny or 2.
If you look at the Ofgem release network costs have increased along with the SOLR costs, Elec usage for most tends to be evenly distrubuted over the 12 months so a higher standing charge here compared with Gas and lower unit rate can work, not everyone has Gas but everyone uses Electric so I guess that is why they lump most of these charges onto Elec SC.

I don't really see how insulating your house reduces your Elec costs, if you use Elec heating then a higher standing charge and lower unit rate should be welcome.

With regards to solar panels the very generous feed in tariffs was one of the things that increased energy bills & SCs as we all had to pay for it. 

What_time_is_it

wrf12345 said:

Ofgem and the energy companies seemed to have sneaked this in without any notice in the initial press release that generates most of the comment in the media.

This is an insult to low energy users, especially those who have spent time and money ensuring they have a well insulated home or fitted solar panels, and little incentive for people to save energy as they are being taken for nearly £200 in some regions even before they switch anything on. This is an absolute disgrace.

Consumers ultimately have all the power, if everyone cancelled their March direct debits until all s/c's are removed then it would crash the industry!

If the government don't get a grip on the energy/climate crisis in the next year or so then people will be doing a whole lot more than just cancelling their direct debits!

wrf12345

"If the government don't get a grip on the energy/climate crisis in the next year or so then people will be doing a whole lot more than just cancelling their direct debits!"

Be interesting to see if there any protests, I can imagine Jeremy Corbin leading the pack and calling for nationalisation without compensation

bristolleedsfan

Astria said:

You are simply paying back for the loss the energy companies have been making, plus the bailouts for the companies that were on the verge of collapsing.

Who is paying back ?, everyone including those on fixed rates with special levy on bills or just those on SVR tariff whom energy cap was designed to protect, it is a fact -

"The consumers who are most vulnerable and in need of help from a price cap are low income households as they are least able to avoid paying high prices for energy and most likely to suffer hardship as a result. In particular, they consume the smallest amounts so the standing charge forms a large proportion of their total bill, which means they pay the highest overall rate for the energy they use."

Summary (ofgem.gov.uk)