SSE (OVO) seeking permanent price rise?

Freedonian_Exile

Today I got notification of how the 1st April 29022 price increase will affect me.

I'm electricity-only, and my kWh price will go up by around one-third; which is bad but not catastrophic.

At the same time, however, my standing charge will go up by 85% - and, if I understand the small print correctly - even if energy prices plummet, the kWh price will follow but the standing charge can only move one way (so it will never fall from its new heady height).

I understand that the cost of electricity follows the market - so the kWh price increases proportionately - but the standing charge should be matched to the actual costs incurred by the business in providing me wth the service. I know inflation is rampant but 85%?!

MWT

Asked and answered many times recently, short version is that the electricity standing charge not only covers the network delivery cots, it also carries the various levies for things like the 'Warm Home Discount' and most importantly in relation to the large increase, it includes the first tranche of the cost of the recent supplier failures and the subsequent claims by the various 'Suppliers of Last Resort'.

That part will drop eventually, but certainly not within the next 12 months.

[Deleted User]

There are a number of threads about this already. The standing charge is more complicated than just covering the costs associated with a supplier providing you with a service. It includes all the green taxes imposed by Ofgem; the cost of supplier failures which are only going to increase in the short term; the Ofgem consumer levy; the cost of the smart meter programme; WHD Scheme et al as well as getting energy from the generator to your home. 

The Government could reduce the standing charges at a stroke if it decided to move all the Net Zero costs and the WHD to general taxation. I guess it isn’t going to happen.

Freedonian_Exile

Sorry to have been repetitive - I tried searching for the topic, but maybe I was being a bit too precise in my terms.

When it comes to supplier failures, even though I am happy to contribute, I think that the customers of failed electricity companies should be made to pay more, given that they have (mainly) paid less for their electricity - as it turned out, too little for the business to be run 'competently.'

MWT

Freedonian_Exile said:

When it comes to supplier failures, even though I am happy to contribute, I think that the customers of failed electricity companies should be made to pay more, given that they have (mainly) paid less for their electricity - as it turned out, too little for the business to be run 'competently.'

That is an idea that many might agree with, but it is not how it works unfortunately, so we will all be paying for those loses for some time to come...

EssexHebridean

Freedonian_Exile said:

Sorry to have been repetitive - I tried searching for the topic, but maybe I was being a bit too precise in my terms.

When it comes to supplier failures, even though I am happy to contribute, I think that the customers of failed electricity companies should be made to pay more, given that they have (mainly) paid less for their electricity - as it turned out, too little for the business to be run 'competently.'

Interesting. So, my gas supplier was unable to continue to provide me a service - I was transferred to British Gas. At the close of play on the fix I was transferred with, rather than offer me a deal that I now know was there and suitable for us, BG decided to push us towards a far more expensive "customer loyalty" tariff that they CLAIMED was their best value. 10 minutes research confirmed that they were lying, and as a result I decided I was reluctant to stay with them, so I switched - as an ultra-low user my options are ALWAYS limited - I went with a supplier with moderate pricing and decent customer service ratings. Less than a month after the switch completed (I literally never even got a bill from my "new supplier") the firm I'd switched to went bust, and I was SOLR'd. Could I ask what the view from the moral high ground is on how much extra someone like me should be charged?  

*edit for typo