'Unfair' standing charges need to go: MPs back Martin's and MSE's calls for energy bill overhaul

Gerry1

markin said:

Making it a fixed yearly bill more like the TV licence would help some people see how much they are saving in summer by reducing usage.

Better to stop paying the TV Licence altogether: completely legal if you don't watch or record live TV on any channel on any device and don't use the BBC iPlayer.  Just watch catch-up programmes via the internet.

Scot_39

markin said:

mmmmikey said:

markin said:

Making it a fixed yearly bill more like the TV license would help some people see how much they are saving in summer by reducing usage.
 

Not really sure what you mean by that - are you suggesting splitting the SC out and presenting it anually? Or somehow annualising energy bills? Be interesting to hear your thoughts....

Yes split off and annually, *So the IHD shows 0p in the morning.

 

It's not the real daily cost then is it.

And by morning you will have used several hours of electric - even if just fridge freezer etc, so not 0p either.   The day changes at midnight gmt on my meter.  So do the figures split that way.


And the IHD price can easily be wrong.

It can take days for some meters to be updated by some companies every 3 months - and thats the smart meters with good comms links.

EOn Next system foobar in Apr set many of their DD discounted rate customers IHD pence per kWh rates and standing charge to standard credit rates - an error that took them 3.5 months to correct - so prices out by c10%.  (It also showed those rates to CS operators - but not actual billing - or suspect they would have been buried by complaints).  Fixed eventually late July on mine.

When I first got my IHD the SC didn't show in total - I found that mildly annoying - but easily fixed - by simple arithmetic.

Then the rates didn't include VAT - I found that mildly annoying - but easily fixed by simple arithmetic.

But the kWh totals - which you can look at daily for last 7 days, weekly, for last month, or monthly for last year - on my old smets1 meter - should always be good.

But for multirate electric - annoyingly only the total electric on my smets1.  And pretty sure smets2 has the same limitation.  Ignoring the info useful for upto c4m households for peak off peak rate splits.  But again split easily recovered from totals and rates etc by simple gcse level arithmetic.

Xbigman

Here are some numbers taken from my spreadsheet.

My anticipated energy costs over the next year are £795.75.
Usage costs are  £522.11
Standing Charge £273.64

My best guess is that unit rates will need to go up by about 14% on average to cover the SC.
Estimated new total standing charges are £73.10 saving me a nice round £200 per year, about 25%.

But if I save £200 then someone else will have to pay an extra £200. It is more likely to be someone elderly or low paid than someone rich, and that would bother me. It really would.


Darren

Scot_39

Link or basis for the £73.10 ?

matt_drummer

Scot_39 said:

Link or basis for the £73.10 ?

£522.11 x 0.14 = £73.10

+14% on the current usage charge 

Scot_39

OK the basis of the 14%.

At a guess thats simply  the current average standing duel fuel charges divided by the average duel fuel cap. 303/c2074 = 14.6%.

And seems optimistic.  Given the mse article says they have only gone up 65% in 5 years - albeit CI forecasting another 8p electric + gas =9p / £30pa in Q2/Apr 24.

And some of that is very real hardware - in the air on pylons, undersea HVDC links and under ground and the substation mods to integrate and regulate it - required grid upgrades for new renewables.

[Deleted User]

Scot_39 said:

OK the basis of the 14%.

At a guess thats simply  the current average standing duel fuel charges divided by the average duel fuel cap. 303/c2074 = 14.6%.

And seems optimistic.  Given the mse article says they have only gone up 65% in 5 years - albeit CI forecasting another 8p electric + gas =9p / £30pa in Q2/Apr 24.

And some of that is very real hardware - in the air on pylons, undersea HVDC links and under ground and the substation mods to integrate and regulate it - required grid upgrades for new renewables.

Based on the average Ofgem consumer’s usage, I calculated that the unit price would have to rise by 24% to cover the standing charge. 

Netexporter

Does anyone know when the SoLR costs will work their way out of the standing charge? That should bring the rate down by good amount.

[Deleted User]

Netexporter said:

Does anyone know when the SoLR costs will work their way out of the standing charge? That should bring the rate down by good amount.

Unless the Government decides to a pass on the cost of Bulb’s Special Administration to consumers: fortunately, it is predicted to be a lot less than initially forecast.

bristolleedsfan

Netexporter said:

Does anyone know when the SoLR costs will work their way out of the standing charge? That should bring the rate down by good amount.

SoLR costs are currently £19 per year, Octopus Energy previously told a customer that nearly half of SoLR costs are on gas unit rate.