Do all energy suppliers charge the same standing charges and energy prices for the Price Cap

kroggy

I am about to dump Shell Energy for their atrocious customer service, I know that there is a price cap and we are pretty much all paying the same amount for average use, however, I seem to remember that some companies get to that average in different ways.

I know they front loaded the Electricity standing charge to pay for the energy companies that went bust but I am wondering if there is a difference in the actual standing charge rates and the energy rates that may make it cheaper to move to some companies if one has low gas or low electricity or both?

Is there a single thread showing what people are actually being charged?

Can Energy companies refuse a switch in this new normal (price cap)?

The_Fat_Controller

SV capped charges vary by region and payment method.

EDF's are on this page.

https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/r1299r884.pdf

Energy companies are under no obligation to take you as a switching customer.

Alnat1

There's very little difference between them, fractions of a penny usually. Most are not accepting new customers on the SVT.

Reading threads on here, service seem bad in many of the companies. If you can get someone to accept a switch, try and use a provider that issues monthly bills and give them regular meter readings. Many of the complaints here are about shocks with 6 monthly bills and estimated readings.

Ultrasonic

Your biggest issue is that you'll struggle to find any supplier who will accept you as a customer on the standard variable tariff that is subject to the price cap. OVO have a fix available to new customers that is probably the best option for you to consider, as shown in the comparison table here:

Martin Lewis: Is it time to fix my energy bill or should I stick on the price cap? (moneysavingexpert.com)

kroggy

The_Fat_Controller said:

SV capped charges vary by region and payment method.

EDF's are on this page.

edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/r1299r884.pdf

Energy companies are under no obligation to take you as a switching customer.

Thanks for that, so a huge difference at EDF between their London and South West tariffs, by my basic math it cost EDF customers in the South West £71 more on Electric Standing charge per annum.  Energy units are slightly cheaper in SW but one would need to use a lot of energy to recover the extra charges 

	London	SouthW
Standing Elec	0.3215	0.5162
Elec	0.2964	0.2841
Standing Elec	0.2722	0.2722
Gas	0.07517	0.07476

Obviously one can't move but it does suggest that there are differences.and if these differences occur between different suppliers and a customer used a low amount of energy they may benefit.

Alnat1

Back in the day that's what everyone did, switched to the best deals that suited their use.

Now we're all pretty much stuck with who we are with now and the only choice is the SVT v Fix gambles

pochase

There are no big differences between standing charges. The standing charges are done by Ofgem and the supplier is collecting the money to be paid over for different purposes like SOLR process or infrastructure.

Even if there were differences it would not help you. Currently only one supplier will accept you on SVT and that is EDF and only when you call them. Until recently Octopus was also accepting new customers, but users were reporting that you had to call several times, and now that even after 3 calls they were unable to get accepted.

pochase

That leaves nowhere to go for you. 

EDF is only billing every 6 months, so after your complain about your current provider your are out of luck.

Only thing you could do with EDF is go onto variable direct debit and they will you monthly. Even than it is not guaranteed that you will get the bill exactly at the date you want, they might ask for meter readings earlier than you would like, and if you don't give them will debit you a higher direct debit.

kroggy

pochase said:

There are no big differences between standing charges. The standing charges are done by Ofgem and the supplier is collecting the money to be paid over for different purposes like SOLR process or infrastructure.

Even if there were differences it would not help you. Currently only one supplier will accept you on SVT and that is EDF and only when you call them. Until recently Octopus was also accepting new customers, but users were reporting that you had to call several times, and now that even after 3 calls they were unable to get accepted.

OFGEM are the biggest villain in all of this mess in my opinion.

I think OFGEM, OFWAT and OFCOM should be broken up and merged into an organisation that works for consumers not the industry.

These energy companies and their shareholders made billions over the years and now expect us to bail them out, I accept that the Government had to intervene but the Government should have frozen prices and given the investment directly to all companies but taken shares by issuing of shares.  The existing shareholders would then have a choice, match the investment or see their percentage of ownership diluted.

Some would have gone bust but could have been put in the special administration then we could merge them into the most efficient and float the companies in a few years.  Instead we pay every household £400 while we rip off every household with hiked Electric standing charges to fund the bail out. This means less money for those in need with the help being too little and too late.

Spoonie_Turtle

For reference, Octopus' rates are here https://octopus.energy/documents/122/Flexible_Octopus_April_2022__PDF_VAT.pdf

[I don't want to get drawn into your other thread - the notifications system on this forum is a mess - so I'll just mention it here: Octopus generate a bill whenever you submit a meter reading.  If you were able to switch to them (seems it may not be possible now) then you could give them a first reading on whatever date the switch may be completed, then monthly on the 1st of each month thereafter.  Whether you can get your DD to sync up with the reading/billing date straight away I don't know.]

Ultrasonic

Spoonie_Turtle said:

For reference, Octopus' rates are here https://octopus.energy/documents/122/Flexible_Octopus_April_2022__PDF_VAT.pdf

[I don't want to get drawn into your other thread - the notifications system on this forum is a mess - so I'll just mention it here: Octopus generate a bill whenever you submit a meter reading.  If you were able to switch to them (seems it may not be possible now) then you could give them a first reading on whatever date the switch may be completed, then monthly on the 1st of each month thereafter.  Whether you can get your DD to sync up with the reading/billing date straight away I don't know.]

Recent posts suggest that the OP won't be able to switch to Octopus on an SVR though.