Martin Lewis: Why are energy standing charges so high? What can be done

rodmaker

I don't know if this aspect has been covered already?

 It seems very unfair that if you have 10 flats in a block for instance and each household pays the standing charge,.That to me makes the combined standing charge way out of proportion to what is needed for the grid to service that block of flats.

Surely there should be a reduced rate for each households to make up an overall contribution towards grid maintanence?

MattMattMattUK

rodmaker said:

I don't know if this aspect has been covered already?

 It seems very unfair that if you have 10 flats in a block for instance and each household pays the standing charge,.That to me makes the combined standing charge way out of proportion to what is needed for the grid to service that block of flats.

Surely there should be a reduced rate for each households to make up an overall contribution towards grid maintanence?

Costs are averaged over a region, if they were not things would start to get messy with granular detail. They can be calculated on a per dwelling basis in each region with a simple calculation, if they started to get into meters of cable for supply, shared use of main cables, dwellings per transformer etc. things would get far to messy. As the grids function as smaller grids on a regional level those costs are easy to work out, anything on a smaller scale would be a huge and pointless administrative burden. 

4ThePeople

gov petitions 644887 Stop standing charges, people are paying around £300 a year to power a smart meter in their home, often they don’t work correctly and you still have to pay each day. 

It doesn’t matter if you don’t like this government or the next, they are the only ones that can force the change, just sign it, and post it out on social media.
Make enough noise and someone will listen. 

MattMattMattUK

4ThePeople said:

gov petitions 644887 Stop standing charges,

So there are 644,877 people who are either too dim to understand, or want "someone else" to pay, great.

4ThePeople said:

people are paying around £300 a year to power a smart meter in their home, 

They are not, you do not pay for the power that powers a smart meter. They are paying for a grid connection, which supplies, on demand, up to 100 amps of power, as well as the maintenance of the grid which supplies that power. 

4ThePeople said:

often they don’t work correctly and you still have to pay each day.

Spreading conspiracy theories about smart meters not working helps no one.

4ThePeople said:

It doesn’t matter if you don’t like this government or the next, they are the only ones that can force the change, 

No government is going to change smart meters, every advanced nation in the world is rolling them out, they are needed for the way our power usage will need to evolve over time.

4ThePeople said:

just sign it, and post it out on social media. 

Or, apply some common sense, and do not sign it or spread disinformation.

4ThePeople said:

Make enough noise and someone will listen. 

Make enough noise and sensible people will realise you are noisy and anti-social, being noisy does not make one right.

GingerTim

I think '644877' is the petition's identifying number - it currently has 24 (count 'em) signatures...

Chrysalis

At least one supplier is looking to offer SC relief this year, but using the controversial WHD criteria to identify those who need assistance.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/09/edf-standing-charge-discount-martin-lewis/

I like EON's approach though.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/09/e-on-next-winter-support-scheme/

Spoonie_Turtle

Chrysalis said:

At least one supplier is looking to offer SC relief this year, but using the controversial WHD criteria to identify those who need assistance.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/09/edf-standing-charge-discount-martin-lewis/

I like EON's approach though.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/09/e-on-next-winter-support-scheme/

Eon's T&Cs state WHD eligibility.  On Twitter they're responding with the blog post but both there and on the community pages people who are eligible under the blog criteria aren't being allowed the tariff because they don't get the WHD.

Chrysalis

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Chrysalis said:

At least one supplier is looking to offer SC relief this year, but using the controversial WHD criteria to identify those who need assistance.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/09/edf-standing-charge-discount-martin-lewis/

I like EON's approach though.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/09/e-on-next-winter-support-scheme/

Eon's T&Cs state WHD eligibility.  On Twitter they're responding with the blog post but both there and on the community pages people who are eligible under the blog criteria aren't being allowed the tariff because they don't get the WHD.

Thanks for posting that, thats sad to hear.

dealyboy

Interesting article in today's The Sunday Telegraph (8th October 2023) ... 

Why the energy industry has turned against net zero levies on household bills - Bosses believe the switch to greener power is being slowed by extra charges

"We do need to make electricity cheaper and gas proportionately more expensive. We will consult on passing some of those levies over to gas bills or possibly on to general taxation but discussions still need to take place." Lord Callanan - Minister for energy efficiency ... plans for a consultation by the end of the year.

MiserlyMartin

They really seem to have it in for gas. Banning gas boilers, with cookers to be coming for next, now putting green electric subsidies onto gas. But end of the day gas is cheaper per KwH and their policy of artificially inflating gas prices so that electricity is cheaper will fail, because the networks and grid will just not cope with demand for that instead of gas, then with all the electric car use on top. But by their logic - With high standing charges I was wondering if you should be able to tell your gas company to disconnect you for 9 months of the year and only have it on in Jan - March when you need to heat the house