Standing Charge

trainedsoldier

Why does my neighbour pay a lesser standing charge than me, we use the same pipes and cables to our houses so why the difference?

JGB1955

Do they have a different supplier to you?  Even if you DO have the same supplier you may well have signed up to different tariffs.

Qyburn

trainedsoldier said:

Why does my neighbour pay a lesser standing charge than me, we use the same pipes and cables to our houses so why the difference?

Are you both on the same tariff, from the same supplier?

Mark_d

It sounds like your neighbour is on a different tariff to you!  If they have lower standing charges, they probably have higher unit rates.
If you were a very low user, you would likely choose a tariff with low standing charge but would be prepared to pay very high unit rates for the little energy you use

Scot_39

Standing charges  are only fixed by Ofgem for standard varaible default tariffs.

And they vary by payment method - so prepay, direct debit and standard credit

Fixes or any social specials - can have lower or higher SC.

And iirc at least one supplier used to discount SC by around 2% per fuel even on default SVT.

Electric SC went up on ave c7p (-0.6 to 14p iirc) - any fix predating Apr change could have old SC still

trainedsoldier

I understand that ofgem fix the rates but surely it costs no more to supply me with power than it does my neighbour 

Alnat1

Maybe your neighbour hasn't had a bill for a few months and is quoting an old rate from Oct or Jan.

trainedsoldier

I used to pay by variable direct debit but when they changed their system they said they no longer do variable direct debit, i dont see why they dont when i spoke to british gas they said that it would be available in 14 days that was months ago. i like to pay what i owe each month as i have a caravan and i am away most of the summer months as i am retired so i do not want ££££ going out of my bank account every month when i am not using Power.

Qyburn

trainedsoldier said:

I understand that ofgem fix the rates but surely it costs no more to supply me with power than it does my neighbour 

You need to give us the two tariffs before anyone can even guess. Otherwise it's like asking "why does my neighbour get milk cheaper than me?"

Netexporter

Move to Octopus, if you want variable DD.

MeteredOut

trainedsoldier said:

I understand that ofgem fix the rates but surely it costs no more to supply me with power than it does my neighbour 

You misunderstand how the SC is paid. The supplier is required to pay it on behalf of each and every customer, and that is capped for SVT tariffs. But suppliers can also offer different tariffs with different SCs and different unit rates to customers. Those customers may pay a higher or a lower SC, but the supplier will still pass the SC on to support infrastructure costs, green levys, repayment of bad debts/SOLR etc.

So if someone is on a tariff that has no SC but a higher unit rate, the supplier will pay on the equivalent of the SC out of the customers' unit rates. If that customer uses no units at that higher unit rate, the supplier will still have to pass on the SC amount, presumably out of its profits.