British Gas Standing Charge Increase

McMickly

British Gas is unsurprisingly putting up the unit price of the electricity supplied to my static caravan holiday home, but what I don’t understand is why the standing charge per day is going up from 25.664p per day to 51.626p per day an increase of 101.16% !!

It stinks of a scam whereby they increase profits while adhering to the energy price cap.

You can reduce the amount of energy you use but not the standing charge.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Can anyone explain what is going on?

Thanks

Ultrasonic

It's not a scam and all energy providers are doing this. There are loads of other threads already covering this if you have a look.

Recovering the costs associated with energy suppliers going out of business last year and their customers being transferred is a major part of the reason.

MWT

McMickly said:

It stinks of a scam whereby they increase profits while adhering to the energy price cap.

You can reduce the amount of energy you use but not the standing charge.

... also, the Ofgem cap specifically limits the standing charge separately from the total bill, so it wouldn't be possible to exceed the Ofgem capped limit on the standing charge.

Read the other posts for the details, but the short version is that Ofgem have added the first tranche of the cost recovery for the Supplier of Last Resort scheme to the electricity standing charge which explains the majority of the increase.

wild666

McMickly said:

British Gas is unsurprisingly putting up the unit price of the electricity supplied to my static caravan holiday home, but what I don’t understand is why the standing charge per day is going up from 25.664p per day to 51.626p per day an increase of 101.16% !!

It stinks of a scam whereby they increase profits while adhering to the energy price cap.

You can reduce the amount of energy you use but not the standing charge.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Can anyone explain what is going on?

Thanks

Most of the increase, 18.6p,  is due to OFGEM reclaiming money they paid out to SoLR's. There was so many that's why the price they increased was so large. Then when the government start reclaiming the £200 expect another 11p per day increase on the standing charge of electric. These are charges that I doubt suppliers will not reduce lightly once the money is paid back.

Phones4Chris

wild666 said:

McMickly said:

British Gas is unsurprisingly putting up the unit price of the electricity supplied to my static caravan holiday home, but what I don’t understand is why the standing charge per day is going up from 25.664p per day to 51.626p per day an increase of 101.16% !!

It stinks of a scam whereby they increase profits while adhering to the energy price cap.

You can reduce the amount of energy you use but not the standing charge.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Can anyone explain what is going on?

Thanks

Most of the increase, 18.6p,  is due to OFGEM reclaiming money they paid out to SoLR's. There was so many that's why the price they increased was so large. Then when the government start reclaiming the £200 expect another 11p per day increase on the standing charge of electric. These are charges that I doubt suppliers will not reduce lightly once the money is paid back.

Whilst your comment and those above are undoubtedly correct, it is still IMHO and no doubt many others opinion, a SCAM. Most of the companies that have entered SoLR are because they were charging too little on the unit cost (in the main). Many of those smaller companies were a bit more efficient in operating costs and so daily charges could be lower. So the cost of the SoLR scheme should be more proportionately but put on the unit cost not just the standing charge, otherwise low users are more disproportionately affected, especially if they make efforts to save energy. OFGEM are not fit for purpose, if they'd been doing a more effective job there wouldn't have been so many companies going to the wall.

Ultrasonic

Phones4Chris said:

wild666 said:

McMickly said:

British Gas is unsurprisingly putting up the unit price of the electricity supplied to my static caravan holiday home, but what I don’t understand is why the standing charge per day is going up from 25.664p per day to 51.626p per day an increase of 101.16% !!

It stinks of a scam whereby they increase profits while adhering to the energy price cap.

You can reduce the amount of energy you use but not the standing charge.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Can anyone explain what is going on?

Thanks

Most of the increase, 18.6p,  is due to OFGEM reclaiming money they paid out to SoLR's. There was so many that's why the price they increased was so large. Then when the government start reclaiming the £200 expect another 11p per day increase on the standing charge of electric. These are charges that I doubt suppliers will not reduce lightly once the money is paid back.

Whilst your comment and those above are undoubtedly correct, it is still IMHO and no doubt many others opinion, a SCAM. Most of the companies that have entered SoLR are because they were charging too little on the unit cost (in the main). Many of those smaller companies were a bit more efficient in operating costs and so daily charges could be lower. So the cost of the SoLR scheme should be more proportionately but put on the unit cost not just the standing charge, otherwise low users are more disproportionately affected, especially if they make efforts to save energy. OFGEM are not fit for purpose, if they'd been doing a more effective job there wouldn't have been so many companies going to the wall.

The opposite argument could easily be made - putting it on unit prices would disproportionally affect high energy users. Which is 'right'? The approach applied also presumably allows the total amount charged to be controlled much more closely, since use varies but the number of households (and days in the year!) will be more stable.

Ultimately I suspect what has happened was already defined in agreements with OFGEM from years ago, rather than being a recent decision.

GingerTim

Phones4Chris said:

wild666 said:

McMickly said:

British Gas is unsurprisingly putting up the unit price of the electricity supplied to my static caravan holiday home, but what I don’t understand is why the standing charge per day is going up from 25.664p per day to 51.626p per day an increase of 101.16% !!

It stinks of a scam whereby they increase profits while adhering to the energy price cap.

You can reduce the amount of energy you use but not the standing charge.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Can anyone explain what is going on?

Thanks

Most of the increase, 18.6p,  is due to OFGEM reclaiming money they paid out to SoLR's. There was so many that's why the price they increased was so large. Then when the government start reclaiming the £200 expect another 11p per day increase on the standing charge of electric. These are charges that I doubt suppliers will not reduce lightly once the money is paid back.

Whilst your comment and those above are undoubtedly correct, it is still IMHO and no doubt many others opinion, a SCAM. Most of the companies that have entered SoLR are because they were charging too little on the unit cost (in the main). Many of those smaller companies were a bit more efficient in operating costs and so daily charges could be lower. So the cost of the SoLR scheme should be more proportionately but put on the unit cost not just the standing charge, otherwise low users are more disproportionately affected, especially if they make efforts to save energy. OFGEM are not fit for purpose, if they'd been doing a more effective job there wouldn't have been so many companies going to the wall.

Why should we low users (including me) be subsidised by others? We all use the same infrastructure to deliver electricity and gas to our homes. 

MattMattMattUK

Phones4Chris said:

wild666 said:

McMickly said:

British Gas is unsurprisingly putting up the unit price of the electricity supplied to my static caravan holiday home, but what I don’t understand is why the standing charge per day is going up from 25.664p per day to 51.626p per day an increase of 101.16% !!

It stinks of a scam whereby they increase profits while adhering to the energy price cap.

You can reduce the amount of energy you use but not the standing charge.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Can anyone explain what is going on?

Thanks

Most of the increase, 18.6p,  is due to OFGEM reclaiming money they paid out to SoLR's. There was so many that's why the price they increased was so large. Then when the government start reclaiming the £200 expect another 11p per day increase on the standing charge of electric. These are charges that I doubt suppliers will not reduce lightly once the money is paid back.

Whilst your comment and those above are undoubtedly correct, it is still IMHO and no doubt many others opinion, a SCAM. Most of the companies that have entered SoLR are because they were charging too little on the unit cost (in the main). Many of those smaller companies were a bit more efficient in operating costs and so daily charges could be lower. So the cost of the SoLR scheme should be more proportionately but put on the unit cost not just the standing charge, otherwise low users are more disproportionately affected, especially if they make efforts to save energy. 

You do not understand what a scam is. 

Phones4Chris said:
OFGEM are not fit for purpose, if they'd been doing a more effective job there wouldn't have been so many companies going to the wall.

The only way to stop more companies going bust would have been to have raised the price cap earlier, or abandoned it entirely, neither of which Ofgem are allowed to do, because the price cap is enshrined in legislation. 

EssexHebridean

Phones4Chris said:

wild666 said:

McMickly said:

British Gas is unsurprisingly putting up the unit price of the electricity supplied to my static caravan holiday home, but what I don’t understand is why the standing charge per day is going up from 25.664p per day to 51.626p per day an increase of 101.16% !!

It stinks of a scam whereby they increase profits while adhering to the energy price cap.

You can reduce the amount of energy you use but not the standing charge.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Can anyone explain what is going on?

Thanks

Most of the increase, 18.6p,  is due to OFGEM reclaiming money they paid out to SoLR's. There was so many that's why the price they increased was so large. Then when the government start reclaiming the £200 expect another 11p per day increase on the standing charge of electric. These are charges that I doubt suppliers will not reduce lightly once the money is paid back.

... it is still IMHO and no doubt many others opinion, a SCAM. ...

It might be your opinion, but it's not based on any fact. 

Astria

IMO, putting the cost on the standing charge is the best way to distribute the cost. They have (say) a couple of billion to reclaim, and to do that using a fixed cost per day over X many years is the fairest and easiest way to do it. Everyone pays the same regardless.

Phones4Chris

MattMattMattUK said:

Phones4Chris said:

wild666 said:

McMickly said:

British Gas is unsurprisingly putting up the unit price of the electricity supplied to my static caravan holiday home, but what I don’t understand is why the standing charge per day is going up from 25.664p per day to 51.626p per day an increase of 101.16% !!

It stinks of a scam whereby they increase profits while adhering to the energy price cap.

You can reduce the amount of energy you use but not the standing charge.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Can anyone explain what is going on?

Thanks

Most of the increase, 18.6p,  is due to OFGEM reclaiming money they paid out to SoLR's. There was so many that's why the price they increased was so large. Then when the government start reclaiming the £200 expect another 11p per day increase on the standing charge of electric. These are charges that I doubt suppliers will not reduce lightly once the money is paid back.

Whilst your comment and those above are undoubtedly correct, it is still IMHO and no doubt many others opinion, a SCAM. Most of the companies that have entered SoLR are because they were charging too little on the unit cost (in the main). Many of those smaller companies were a bit more efficient in operating costs and so daily charges could be lower. So the cost of the SoLR scheme should be more proportionately but put on the unit cost not just the standing charge, otherwise low users are more disproportionately affected, especially if they make efforts to save energy. 

You do not understand what a scam is. 

Phones4Chris said:
OFGEM are not fit for purpose, if they'd been doing a more effective job there wouldn't have been so many companies going to the wall.

The only way to stop more companies going bust would have been to have raised the price cap earlier, or abandoned it entirely, neither of which Ofgem are allowed to do, because the price cap is enshrined in legislation. 

What words I choose to use is my choice, of course I know what a scam is, you obviously don't like opinions that don't agree with yours. I'm well aware of what's enshrined in legislation and that is the fundamental problem. IF OFGEM were fit for purpose they'd have seen these problems coming a mile off and been campaigning HMG for changes to allow them to regulate more thoroughly, the Energy crisis has only exacerbated the problem. The problem is there are too many of these government quangos where it's just jobs for the boys.

@Ultrasonic I didn't say put it all on the unit price, I said more proportionately. Low users are going to be clobbered by the massive daily charge increases.