Energy prices £250 cheaper a year - my electric only £8.83 cheaper??

Netexporter

Helen_ said:

K_S said:

Helen_ said:

I got an email from octopus claiming energy prices will be £250 cheaper a year however in the attachment it says my electric will only be £8.83 cheaper??

My standing charge is going up to a massive 69.149p from 55.070p.

My unit rate is going down a bit to 22.580p from 27.360p. 

@helen_ Based on the numbers you’ve provided, you only use about 1,260 units of electricity a year, which is well below what’s considered to be ‘low usage’ of 1,800 units a year.

Your savings of £60 from the lower unit rate are mostly eaten up by the extra £51 you’ll pay due to the higher standing charge, giving you a net saving of £9 or so.

If you consumed the ‘medium usage’ figure of 2,700 units that OFGEM use, your total electric bill would drop by around £78.

I suspect the £250 figure mentioned in the Octopus blurb refers to a dual-fuel (gas+electricity) bill for a medium usage consumer, hence the difference with what you’re predicted to save.

Martin has been campaigning against high and rising standing charges for a while now and OFGEM has conducted a review on this over the past few months. They will issue a final response soon so hopefully that will result in a more reasonable outcome than the current one.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/11/energy-standing-charges-ofgem-review/

Thank you for your helpful reply.

I am very careful how much electric I use for example I don't use a dishwasher or a tumble dryer. I hope Martin's campaign is successful as it seems very unfair that despite being a low user because of the big increase in my standing charge my cost of electric is hardly coming down at all. Paying nearly 70p standing charge a day is ridiculous. How much is everyone elses standing charge increasing too? Mine seems so high. 

Have you looked at Octopus Agile or Tracker? The standing charge is lower and the electricity is much cheaper.

MeteredOut

Helen_ said:

K_S said:

Helen_ said:

I got an email from octopus claiming energy prices will be £250 cheaper a year however in the attachment it says my electric will only be £8.83 cheaper??

My standing charge is going up to a massive 69.149p from 55.070p.

My unit rate is going down a bit to 22.580p from 27.360p. 

@helen_ Based on the numbers you’ve provided, you only use about 1,260 units of electricity a year, which is well below what’s considered to be ‘low usage’ of 1,800 units a year.

Your savings of £60 from the lower unit rate are mostly eaten up by the extra £51 you’ll pay due to the higher standing charge, giving you a net saving of £9 or so.

If you consumed the ‘medium usage’ figure of 2,700 units that OFGEM use, your total electric bill would drop by around £78.

I suspect the £250 figure mentioned in the Octopus blurb refers to a dual-fuel (gas+electricity) bill for a medium usage consumer, hence the difference with what you’re predicted to save.

Martin has been campaigning against high and rising standing charges for a while now and OFGEM has conducted a review on this over the past few months. They will issue a final response soon so hopefully that will result in a more reasonable outcome than the current one.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/11/energy-standing-charges-ofgem-review/

Thank you for your helpful reply.

I am very careful how much electric I use for example I don't use a dishwasher or a tumble dryer. I hope Martin's campaign is successful as it seems very unfair that despite being a low user because of the big increase in my standing charge my cost of electric is hardly coming down at all. Paying nearly 70p standing charge a day is ridiculous. How much is everyone elses standing charge increasing too? Mine seems so high. 

Here's the standing charge by region:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/get-energy-price-cap-standing-charges-and-unit-rates-region

pseudodox

The standing charge is the price you pay for having energy at the flick of a switch 24/7/365.  It's like having a car sitting on your drive, costing road tax, insurance, depreciation, repairs etc.  It costs more per mile if you never use it and never put petrol in.  However the more miles you drive, the more petrol you buy, the cheaper per mile the running cost becomes.  You don't get to pay less road tax or insurance simply because you don't drive very far.  The costs without fuel are for the facility to have that car available 24/7/365.

I don't like the s/c anymore than the next man but it is the means to pay for supply costs - materials, maintenance, wages, administraion etc etc. Should the people who work in the industry be paid minimum wages?  No doubt they are also paying the rising costs of energy for their own homes, along with food, Council Tax, water, insurances and all other living costs that we all face and many struggle with.

Scot_39

EOn do the same annoying thing on their price change notifications.

Maybe it's an agreed industry format.

They quote the Ofgem medium use (TDCV) duel fuel savings - regardless of use or fuel mix. 
Including to those without mains gas.  And those on MR tariff - so profile class 2 capped deals like e7(*) are covered by a different Ofgem cap anyway.

They quote the cap change then actual personal prediction later.

Would be far better  - if personalised figures - quoted first.

With the Ofgem cap quoted after to explain why.

As given the price changes for electric and gas are often wildly different - anyone who doesnt fit the same electric vs gas mix  balance on duel fuel - lat alone those on electric only - can often infer very little from it.


With electric heating I - and a couple of million others - are likely to lose out if Ofgem load unit rates rather than SC.

But for others low users in particular the SC rise has been brutal.

But the decent solution needs to be though out - and I fear it won't be.

They could say develop a different plan  for SR and profile class 2 MR tariff caps - to better protect those using 1000s kWh electric per year - but data they gather on profile class 2 metering is very poor - and other changes - even EPG discounting last winter - show a lack of regard / care for that still significant minority.


(*) The single rate and multirate (total or average if you like) unit pricing can vary significantly - often greater than actual cap change in past - last Jan the price difference between them shifted by over 2p/kWh in many regions.

rp1974

hamski said:

But I pay nearly as much standing charge as I do for electricity so it’s use less pay more

I'm not a huge fan of the standing charge setup as it is currently,for many people it's probably the least worst option,as ever though it doesn't accommodate everyones needs or wants.
If the standing charge bothers you,to such a degree,maybe bare in mind it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to generate and store your own for 70 pence,per day,I can't do that myself so need to pay someone that can on my behalf.
In my supply area,southern Scotland my electricity standing charge is 63.31p per day,I consider that as being pretty good value overall,which I couldn't remotely approach if I were to try doing my own electricity supply.

Chris_b2z

pseudodox said:

Should the people who work in the industry be paid minimum wages?

Really? Bumper earnings for National Grid come as energy firms are accused of ‘greedflation’

National Grid’s John Pettigrew, one of the country’s highest-profile energy executives, took home £7.2m last financial year, up from £6.6m a year earlier, according to the FTSE 100 power networks company. His fixed pay fell but variable pay, which includes bonuses and long-term incentives, rose from £5.2m to almost £6m.

Pettigrew’s remuneration is far greater than the £4.15m median package paid to FTSE 100 chief executives. The company transports the nation’s energy and receives about £20 a year from each household through bills as part of an electricity transmission charge.

National Grid said last month its annual profits climbed by 15% to £4.58bn on the previous year.

Swipe

pseudodox said:

The standing charge is the price you pay for having energy at the flick of a switch 24/7/365.  It's like having a car sitting on your drive, costing road tax, insurance, depreciation, repairs etc.  It costs more per mile if you never use it and never put petrol in.  However the more miles you drive, the more petrol you buy, the cheaper per mile the running cost becomes.  You don't get to pay less road tax or insurance simply because you don't drive very far.  The costs without fuel are for the facility to have that car available 24/7/365.

I don't like the s/c anymore than the next man but it is the means to pay for supply costs - materials, maintenance, wages, administraion etc etc. Should the people who work in the industry be paid minimum wages?  No doubt they are also paying the rising costs of energy for their own homes, along with food, Council Tax, water, insurances and all other living costs that we all face and many struggle with.

I'm sure most people don't have an issue with the standing charge but they do have an issue with how much it has increased over the last couple of years.

ArbitraryRandom

Chris_b2z said:

pseudodox said:

Should the people who work in the industry be paid minimum wages?

Really? Bumper earnings for National Grid come as energy firms are accused of ‘greedflation’

National Grid’s John Pettigrew, one of the country’s highest-profile energy executives, took home £7.2m last financial year, up from £6.6m a year earlier, according to the FTSE 100 power networks company. His fixed pay fell but variable pay, which includes bonuses and long-term incentives, rose from £5.2m to almost £6m.

Okay, so we take his 7.2 million away from him and share it out amongst UK households... which account would you like your 26p depositing into? 

Chris_b2z

ArbitraryRandom said:

Chris_b2z said:

pseudodox said:

Should the people who work in the industry be paid minimum wages?

Really? Bumper earnings for National Grid come as energy firms are accused of ‘greedflation’

National Grid’s John Pettigrew, one of the country’s highest-profile energy executives, took home £7.2m last financial year, up from £6.6m a year earlier, according to the FTSE 100 power networks company. His fixed pay fell but variable pay, which includes bonuses and long-term incentives, rose from £5.2m to almost £6m.

Okay, so we take his 7.2 million away from him and share it out amongst UK households... which account would you like your 26p depositing into? 

Thank you for that constructive suggestion.

I'm sure that National Grid under John's leadership will continue to generate healthy shareholder returns. So it's £7.2m worth spent.

The thing that bugs me is that he stands to pay exactly the same standing charge contribution as @Helen_ and everyone else that's struggling financially or making an effort to reduce energy usage.

matt_drummer

Chris_b2z said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Chris_b2z said:

pseudodox said:

Should the people who work in the industry be paid minimum wages?

Really? Bumper earnings for National Grid come as energy firms are accused of ‘greedflation’

National Grid’s John Pettigrew, one of the country’s highest-profile energy executives, took home £7.2m last financial year, up from £6.6m a year earlier, according to the FTSE 100 power networks company. His fixed pay fell but variable pay, which includes bonuses and long-term incentives, rose from £5.2m to almost £6m.

Okay, so we take his 7.2 million away from him and share it out amongst UK households... which account would you like your 26p depositing into? 

Thank you for that constructive suggestion.

I'm sure that National Grid under John's leadership will continue to generate healthy shareholder returns. So it's £7.2m worth spent.

The thing that bugs me is that he stands to pay exactly the same standing charge contribution as @Helen_ and everyone else that's struggling financially or making an effort to reduce energy usage.

Why would he have to pay more for the same service?

Would his food be more expensive at the same supermarket?

Does he have to pay for for his broadband or mobile telephone from the same providers as the rest of us?