Energy Costs Standing Charge

QrizB

Curiousgirl1 said:

Peggy0628 said:

My daily electricity use in the past month has been between 1 and 3 kWh a day. And that is in the middle winter with GCH/combi boiler on (in the summer it's even less). I have absolutely no incentive to reduce my use because it will make minimal difference to my bill... Including the SC in the unit price would be a fairer way of calculating the cost.

I find it very hard to believe you only use 1-3kwh per day for heating, cooking & water.

That post was referring to electricity use. Still low but more believable.

Peggy0628 said:

Why should I pay almost £10/week in SC just because my house happens to be connected to the gas mains when the actual cost of gas used is £4/week?

@Peggy0628 unless you're on a very odd fixed-rate tariff, your daily standing charge for gas should be around 25p. That's £1.75 per week, not £10.

You've posted elsewhere (here) that you're spending £3/day on energy. Of that, 50p will be standing charges (25p each for gas and electricity), one-sixth of your energy bill.

matelodave

Peggy0628 said:

I don't know about others but in my case on some days, the standing charge for gas is more than the actual cost of gas used. I have GCH, gas cooker/oven and a combi boiler. There are days when I only use gas to heat water for my shower and that costs less than the daily standing charge... Removing the SC and raising the unit price would actually save me (and others will low gas usage) quite a bit of money in the long term... 

That a pretty selfish attitude, expecting the rest of us to subsidise the provision of services to your property just because you don't use much. I guess that if you live a long way from the power station then you'd be quite happy to pay a higher s/c or price per kwh than those of us who live a bit closer.

Perhaps you would also be happy to have your standing charge reduced as you are a low user but get a call out fee when there's a power cut that affects you or even go to the back of the queue when there's a major outage due to the weather because you don't actually pay for your bit of the infrastructure

As others have pointed out, it doesn't cost any less to provide, maintain and repair all the infrastructure to your house just because you use less

TBH, low users should pay a higher standing charge as the energy company probably doesn't make sufficient money out of you for the value of the infrastructure that supplies your home.

Once upon a time, the unit costs did vary insofar as the first couple of units a day were charged at a significantly higher price than the rest to pay the standing charge, but OFGEM etc decided that this was too complex and brought in the fixed s/c. which is IMO probably the fairest way

[Deleted User]

Peggy0628 said:

Surely, everyone should pay for what they use. If I have low usage, I pay less, if I use more, I pay more. Put unit price up a bit to cover for the lack of SC and everyone will pay exactly for what they use. Why should I pay almost £10/week in SC just because my house happens to be connected to the gas mains when the actual cost of gas used is £4/week? Where's the incentive for me to reduce my gas usage? If I don't use any gas, I should not be paying anything...

The pieces of the puzzle that you are choosing to ignore are the additional costs imposed on consumers by Ofgem. For example, all the costs associated with supplier failures are paid for by consumers, as is the payment of solar FITs and the cost of smart meters.  Are you suggesting that low energy users should not have to pay their share of these costs which are not dependent on how much energy is used. Furthermore, those fortunate to have PV Solar and a battery may well be off grid from March through until September. Is it fair that they should pay nothing towards the cost of running the electricity Grid? 

Your final sentence with respect makes no sense. Unless you take action to get your gas supply cut off and the meter removed, then it is fair that you should contribute to the costs associated with maintaining a safe gas grid.

In all the posts about removing standing charges there is an unstated desire on the part of posters to see a reduction in their energy bills at an additional cost to others. The costs of running the gas and electricity grids et al don’t change if the method of charges is changed.

Astria

Peggy0628 said:

MWT said:

The kWh costs alone is sufficient incentive to reduce use...

My daily electricity use in the past month has been between 1 and 3 kWh a day. And that is in the middle winter with GCH/combi boiler on (in the summer it's even less). I have absolutely no incentive to reduce my use because it will make minimal difference to my bill... Including the SC in the unit price would be a fairer way of calculating the cost.

They've already tried that - we've had tariffs where the first 100 kWh per month costs significantly more because the SC has been rolled into the unit price. It was scrapped because it was deemed as too complicated to compare tariffs, so the SC was made separate to make it easier to calculate.

Remember the standing charge is the cost of getting the gas to your property, if you would be willing to do that yourself (by using bottled gas for example), then you'll only pay for the gas used.

MWT

Peggy0628 said:

MWT said:

The kWh costs alone is sufficient incentive to reduce use...

My daily electricity use in the past month has been between 1 and 3 kWh a day. And that is in the middle winter with GCH/combi boiler on (in the summer it's even less). I have absolutely no incentive to reduce my use because it will make minimal difference to my bill... Including the SC in the unit price would be a fairer way of calculating the cost.

...and with that level of consumption, there is no real reason why you should be reducing consumption, but you still cannot claim it is 'fairer' to push the costs of maintaining your supply onto others...

bristolleedsfan said

Summary (ofgem.gov.uk)

"Consumers most vulnerable low income households least able to avoid paying high prices for energy most likely suffer hardship, they consume smallest amounts so the standing charge forms large part of total bill,means pay highest overall rate for energy use"

Granted, but there is also support for those at the lowest end of the income spectrum, simply allowing people with low consumption to avoid the majority of the network fixed costs, including providing for the WHD for example, potentially just raises the costs for even those on low incomes who cannot reduce their usage to this level because they are in poorly insulated homes with electric only heating, while giving an advantage to those able to go 'off-grid' over the summer months for example...

Addressing social welfare needs through discriminatory pricing is generally a poor solution.

PennineAcute

Yes, SC are a pain for low users - but that is life.  My parents have a landline for emergency use only.  They pay around £17 a month for the pleasure of making zero monthly phone calls.  I suppose that they could bring in individual SC per household, depending on how far your gas or electricity has to travel through the pipe work.  I bet you would be complaining then!

bristolleedsfan

https://www.ft.com/content/05fc1440-5538-4072-ac46-4b87ecc3a5f3?sharetype=blocked

Scrap mounting energy standing charges

The levies hit the poor, confuse householders and undermine fair market

https://jnews.uk/scrap-mounting-energy-standing-charges/

Curiousgirl1

QrizB said:

Curiousgirl1 said:

Peggy0628 said:

My daily electricity use in the past month has been between 1 and 3 kWh a day. And that is in the middle winter with GCH/combi boiler on (in the summer it's even less). I have absolutely no incentive to reduce my use because it will make minimal difference to my bill... Including the SC in the unit price would be a fairer way of calculating the cost.

I find it very hard to believe you only use 1-3kwh per day for heating, cooking & water.

That post was referring to electricity use. Still low but more believable.

Peggy0628 said:

Why should I pay almost £10/week in SC just because my house happens to be connected to the gas mains when the actual cost of gas used is £4/week?

@Peggy0628 unless you're on a very odd fixed-rate tariff, your daily standing charge for gas should be around 25p. That's £1.75 per week, not £10.

You've posted elsewhere (here) that you're spending £3/day on energy. Of that, 50p will be standing charges (25p each for gas and electricity), one-sixth of your energy bill.

My mistake, her previous posts had all been about gas & I miss read that one. Happy to be corrected.