Standing Charge 10% Increase

coupleuk

Octopus have announced a 10% Price Increase to the Daily Standing Charge (and knocked a whopping 1p off the unit rate).

These Standing Charges are a disgrace - when wholesale rates tumble, the Standing Charge goes up.

How does that help people reduce their electric bill? - where is the incentive?

Forget unit rates, the biggest ripoff in the energy market is the Standing Charge.

Amazed this website does not fight the issue.

matt_drummer

Why is the standing charge a rip off?

The supplying company gets none of it.

How do you propose to pay for the costs of distributing energy to your home?

coupleuk

matt_drummer said:

Why is the standing charge a rip off?

The supplying company gets none of it.

How do you propose to pay for the costs of distributing energy to your home?

The same as it should be with Car Tax.

Use more energy, pay more per unit/litre.

Those who can least afford the cost are proportionally worse off.

Where is the encouragement to save energy when tied to high standing Charge.

Far easier to cut back and get the benefit when coat is unit based.

MikeJXE

coupleuk said:

Octopus have announced a 10% Price Increase to the Daily Standing Charge (and knocked a whopping 1p off the unit rate).

These Standing Charges are a disgrace - when wholesale rates tumble, the Standing Charge goes up.

How does that help people reduce their electric bill? - where is the incentive?

Forget unit rates, the biggest ripoff in the energy market is the Standing Charge.

Amazed this website does not fight the issue.

That puts my standing charge up £28 a year 

And my energy use down over £50 a year and I'm a low user 

matt_drummer

You will still save money by using less whatever the standing charge is, that is the encouragement to use less.

I buy almost no electricity each year, if there was no standing charge I would benefit more than most people, but I can afford to pay the standing charge, your theory does not work.

Those with the most money probably have and certainly could have solar panels, if the standing charge was incorporated in the unit rate then those with the most money would benefit most.

The distribution costs are fixed, if we all cut down to zero, or almost zero, where would the money come from to run the network?

matt_drummer

coupleuk said:

Far easier to cut back and get the benefit when coat is unit based.

It is exactly like that, if you use zero units, your usage bill will be exactly zero!

matt_drummer

coupleuk said:

Octopus have announced a 10% Price Increase to the Daily Standing Charge (and knocked a whopping 1p off the unit rate).

Octopus Energy don't benefit at all from their 10% increase in the daily standing charge, it all goes to other companies, if Octopus didn't increase the standing charge they would be subsidising energy supply network to your home!

matt_drummer

coupleuk said:

The same as it should be with Car Tax.

Car tax is not like this, vehicle excise duty is the same if you do zero miles or one million miles a year, just like the energy standing charges.

coupleuk

matt_drummer said:

coupleuk said:

The same as it should be with Car Tax.

Car tax is not like this, vehicle excise duty is the same if you do zero miles or one million miles a year, just like the energy standing charges.

If I drive 1,000 miles a year with car tax at £145 then it's 14p per mile before I leave home or add fuel.

A 10,000 mile user will pay less than 1.5p per mile before fuel.

Why should I subsidise a heavier polluter, pay extra toward road repairs etc etc

Add 2p per litre and everyone pays their way - we'd get rid of a few pen pusher Gov jobs too once excise duty goes.

coupleuk

matt_drummer said:

coupleuk said:

Far easier to cut back and get the benefit when coat is unit based.

It is exactly like that, if you use zero units, your usage bill will be exactly zero!

Duh no it's not.

If I use zero units I still pay a 56p per day charge.

matt_drummer

coupleuk said:

matt_drummer said:

coupleuk said:

Far easier to cut back and get the benefit when coat is unit based.

It is exactly like that, if you use zero units, your usage bill will be exactly zero!

Duh no it's not.

If I use zero units I still pay a 56p per day charge.

That's not what I said.

What's your charge if you use 10 Kwh a day?

What is it if you use 20 Kwh a day?

I bet it's less if you use 10 Kwh a day rather than 20 Kwh a day?

So there's an incentive to use 10 Kwh a day rather than 20 Kwh a day?

If you use zero you will only pay 56p a day.

What would you do for 56p a day?

These companies will supply you with electricity, fix any faults to ensure you still have electricity and protect any credit balance you have with your supplier so that if they went bust you won't lose your money.

Sounds like a bargain to me!