Gas standing charge

Mstty

la531983 said:

QrizB said:

la531983 said:

Mstty said:

Switch to Octopus they will disconnect your gas for free.

This seems odd if true. Why would a company accept you as a gas customer and then immediately agree to get you off the gas network for no charge at all? 

It's their philosophyOctopus see their role as being to lead the transition to a zero-carbon energy network. Removing gas connections meets that goal.

Fair enough, seems bizarre to me given its not a cheap procedure, and that just under 40% of the electric they sold in the last year is technically generated by fossil fuels, no matter how they spin that one. 

You need to read up on Octopus they put a lot more green in the overall tank.

la531983

Mstty said:

la531983 said:

QrizB said:

la531983 said:

Mstty said:

Switch to Octopus they will disconnect your gas for free.

This seems odd if true. Why would a company accept you as a gas customer and then immediately agree to get you off the gas network for no charge at all? 

It's their philosophyOctopus see their role as being to lead the transition to a zero-carbon energy network. Removing gas connections meets that goal.

Fair enough, seems bizarre to me given its not a cheap procedure, and that just under 40% of the electric they sold in the last year is technically generated by fossil fuels, no matter how they spin that one. 

You need to read up on Octopus they put a lot more green in the overall tank.

They buy their electric from the same Grid as all other normal suppliers, therefore it's 40% fossil fuels (based on the last 12 months) 

ArbitraryRandom

la531983 said:

QrizB said:

la531983 said:

Mstty said:

Switch to Octopus they will disconnect your gas for free.

This seems odd if true. Why would a company accept you as a gas customer and then immediately agree to get you off the gas network for no charge at all? 

It's their philosophyOctopus see their role as being to lead the transition to a zero-carbon energy network. Removing gas connections meets that goal.

Fair enough, seems bizarre to me given its not a cheap procedure, and that just under 40% of the electric they sold in the last year is technically generated by fossil fuels, no matter how they spin that one. 

If you were a cynic, you might consider that dual fuel customers have an average lower energy spend than electric only - even most people newly installing heat pumps aren't saving money because of the difference in price per unit. 

So it's a one off cost (that's likely not as expensive for the supplier as it is for the customer) that's a business expense and has is good press/will likely translate to customer loyalty. 

CSI_Yorkshire

la531983 said:

Mstty said:

la531983 said:

QrizB said:

la531983 said:

Mstty said:

Switch to Octopus they will disconnect your gas for free.

This seems odd if true. Why would a company accept you as a gas customer and then immediately agree to get you off the gas network for no charge at all? 

It's their philosophyOctopus see their role as being to lead the transition to a zero-carbon energy network. Removing gas connections meets that goal.

Fair enough, seems bizarre to me given its not a cheap procedure, and that just under 40% of the electric they sold in the last year is technically generated by fossil fuels, no matter how they spin that one. 

You need to read up on Octopus they put a lot more green in the overall tank.

They buy their electric from the same Grid as all other normal suppliers, therefore it's 40% fossil fuels (based on the last 12 months) 

Nobody buys any electricity from "the Grid" (well, apart from positional imbalances at settlement, but that's not what you're talking about).

Suppliers buy electricity from power stations (or more likely from energy trading companies who bought it from the power stations).  A supplier can, and several do, choose to only buy from renewable generators.

The electricity that you import into your house is grid mix, but that's not what you're talking about either.

la531983

CSI_Yorkshire said:

la531983 said:

Mstty said:

la531983 said:

QrizB said:

la531983 said:

Mstty said:

Switch to Octopus they will disconnect your gas for free.

This seems odd if true. Why would a company accept you as a gas customer and then immediately agree to get you off the gas network for no charge at all? 

It's their philosophyOctopus see their role as being to lead the transition to a zero-carbon energy network. Removing gas connections meets that goal.

Fair enough, seems bizarre to me given its not a cheap procedure, and that just under 40% of the electric they sold in the last year is technically generated by fossil fuels, no matter how they spin that one. 

You need to read up on Octopus they put a lot more green in the overall tank.

They buy their electric from the same Grid as all other normal suppliers, therefore it's 40% fossil fuels (based on the last 12 months) 

Nobody buys any electricity from "the Grid" (well, apart from positional imbalances at settlement, but that's not what you're talking about).

Suppliers buy electricity from power stations (or more likely from energy trading companies who bought it from the power stations).  A supplier can, and several do, choose to only buy from renewable generators.

The electricity that you import into your house is grid mix, but that's not what you're talking about either.

I was perhaps being simplistic but yes, I am with Octopus and 40% of the electric into my house has been from fossil fuels.
I don't have an issue with this btw, I was bemused a company would take a customer on and immediately pay the 400 quid or whatever it is to have them disconnected. 

But we are digressing a bit now. 

Mstty

la531983 said:

Mstty said:

la531983 said:

QrizB said:

la531983 said:

Mstty said:

Switch to Octopus they will disconnect your gas for free.

This seems odd if true. Why would a company accept you as a gas customer and then immediately agree to get you off the gas network for no charge at all? 

It's their philosophyOctopus see their role as being to lead the transition to a zero-carbon energy network. Removing gas connections meets that goal.

Fair enough, seems bizarre to me given its not a cheap procedure, and that just under 40% of the electric they sold in the last year is technically generated by fossil fuels, no matter how they spin that one. 

You need to read up on Octopus they put a lot more green in the overall tank.

They buy their electric from the same Grid as all other normal suppliers, therefore it's 40% fossil fuels (based on the last 12 months) 

Again it's about knowledge but Octopus across Europe puts more green energy in from their owned solar farms than other big suppliers 2Twh I think from memory. Have a red and a research. Just another reason for people to join them.

Spoonie_Turtle

la531983 said:

QrizB said:

la531983 said:

Mstty said:

Switch to Octopus they will disconnect your gas for free.

This seems odd if true. Why would a company accept you as a gas customer and then immediately agree to get you off the gas network for no charge at all? 

It's their philosophyOctopus see their role as being to lead the transition to a zero-carbon energy network. Removing gas connections meets that goal.

Fair enough, seems bizarre to me given its not a cheap procedure, and that just under 40% of the electric they sold in the last year is technically generated by fossil fuels, no matter how they spin that one. 

That's a major reason why they're pushing for more usage of renewably-generated electricity (e.g. Agile, and to an extent Tracker). 

They can't single-handedly change the industry, but they're trying to do what they can without charging customers more by default like the 100% renewable companies do.  (Not that I take issue with those companies, simply stating a neutral fact.)

wrf12345

Octopus have said it is free for the moment but if they get overwhelmed with requests then they may charge. Bear in mind, house buyers will not be amused if there is no gas connection (and may or may not be cheap to reconnect depending how far the disconnection has gone down the line), but if you are keeping the house for 15-20 years then should be ok as by then there will probably be no gas, or extremely expensive gas. BTW Octopus remove the gas meter and cap the output which is easy and cheap for them, later the pipework to the house is disconnected - not sure by whom but not octopus,there are layers of companies involved but they are obligated to do the final disconnection to stop people reconnecting without a meter.

bristolleedsfan

wrf12345 said:

Octopus have said it is free for the moment but if they get overwhelmed with requests then they may charge. Bear in mind, house buyers will not be amused if there is no gas connection (and may or may not be cheap to reconnect depending how far the disconnection has gone down the line), but if you are keeping the house for 15-20 years then should be ok as by then there will probably be no gas, or extremely expensive gas. BTW Octopus remove the gas meter and cap the output which is easy and cheap for them, later the pipework to the house is disconnected - not sure by whom but not octopus,there are layers of companies involved but they are obligated to do the final disconnection to stop people reconnecting without a meter.

Also worth bearing in mind British Gas not only remove gas meter without charge they were doing so before Octopus existed, 

https://twitter.com/BritishGasHelp/status/423839813125435394 

2014 and still the case

We charge this if u use gas or not but have a gas meter. We can arrange a free removal(1/2)

3:31 PM · Jan 16, 2014