Standing Charges

exasperatedreformer

I have just fixed my dual fuel tariff with British Gas as it will save me £10 a month on my last fixed deal from last September. However my standing charges have risen by a staggering 11.4% which is a rip off. 
Standing charges were introduced many moons ago to cover the cost of reading meters by suppliers employees. With smart meters and self read these days they are totally unjustified. Needless to say my British Gas smart meter does not work either.
The campaign to fix, cap and standardise this unfair tax needs to go on and lobbying is required.

la531983

There are numerous, countless, endless threads on this subject.

TheElectricCow

Where do you propose the money for the things the Standing Charge covers should come from instead? Would you prefer to pay a higher unit rate, or are you suggesting general taxation should be increased to compensate?

DE_612183

exasperatedreformer said:

Standing charges were introduced many moons ago to cover the cost of reading meters by suppliers employees. With smart meters and self read these days they are totally unjustified. 

Wrong. Standing charges cover a whole plethora of things ( of which meter reading maybe a very very small portion ).

BarelySentientAI

exasperatedreformer said:

Standing charges were introduced many moons ago to cover the cost of reading meters by suppliers

No they weren't.  And that isn't what they pay for now either.  That was (and still sort of is) one of many components.

exasperatedreformer said:

The campaign to fix, cap and standardise this unfair tax needs to go on and lobbying is required.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/call-for-input/standing-charges-call-input

If you were that bothered, did you contribute to the actual review of the issue?

wrf12345

The idea that Ofgem is going to review s/c's in favour of customers is laughable but whether the current energy minister can get past the nonsense sprouted by them is another matter and would require a politician to actually be able to apply intelligent thought to the matter.

The compromise is to have prepayment smart meters, where it is impossible to rack up debt, set to zero standing charges and increased unit rates (not the Utilitia nonsense with double to four times the first 2kw) and then let a competitive market sort out the other tariffs, one way or another. Flat unit rate and no standing charge worked fine for Ebico before they were stopped offering the tariff by being forced to default to the std variable tariff, splitting customers between tariffs - I think that was an energy minister actually trying to do something useful and wrecking some of the companies.

BarelySentientAI

wrf12345 said:

The idea that Ofgem is going to review s/c's in favour of customers is laughable but whether the current energy minister can get past the nonsense sprouted by them is another matter and would require a politician to actually be able to apply intelligent thought to the matter.

The compromise is to have prepayment smart meters, where it is impossible to rack up debt, set to zero standing charges and increased unit rates (not the Utilitia nonsense with double to four times the first 2kw) and then let a competitive market sort out the other tariffs, one way or another. Flat unit rate and no standing charge worked fine for Ebico before they were stopped offering the tariff by being forced to default to the std variable tariff, splitting customers between tariffs - I think that was an energy minister actually trying to do something useful and wrecking some of the companies.

Somewhere between 20% and 30% increase in unit rates is the last calculation I saw.

There was one really interesting proposal that I came across looking through historical discussions - limiting the proportion of the total bill that was allowed to be standing charge.  Still having a 'normal' charge, just capping it like that as well.

I don't agree with that proposal, but it's far more interesting than some of the other nonsense that gets suggested.

BillTee

BarelySentientAI said:

exasperatedreformer said:

Standing charges were introduced many moons ago to cover the cost of reading meters by suppliers

No they weren't.  And that isn't what they pay for now either.  That was (and still sort of is) one of many components.

exasperatedreformer said:

The campaign to fix, cap and standardise this unfair tax needs to go on and lobbying is required.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/call-for-input/standing-charges-call-input

If you were that bothered, did you contribute to the actual review of the issue?

Review was closed in January

BillTee

BarelySentientAI said:

wrf12345 said:

The idea that Ofgem is going to review s/c's in favour of customers is laughable but whether the current energy minister can get past the nonsense sprouted by them is another matter and would require a politician to actually be able to apply intelligent thought to the matter.

The compromise is to have prepayment smart meters, where it is impossible to rack up debt, set to zero standing charges and increased unit rates (not the Utilitia nonsense with double to four times the first 2kw) and then let a competitive market sort out the other tariffs, one way or another. Flat unit rate and no standing charge worked fine for Ebico before they were stopped offering the tariff by being forced to default to the std variable tariff, splitting customers between tariffs - I think that was an energy minister actually trying to do something useful and wrecking some of the companies.

Somewhere between 20% and 30% increase in unit rates is the last calculation I saw.

There was one really interesting proposal that I came across looking through historical discussions - limiting the proportion of the total bill that was allowed to be standing charge.  Still having a 'normal' charge, just capping it like that as well.

I don't agree with that proposal, but it's far more interesting than some of the other nonsense that gets suggested.

When originally deregulated, there was minimal/no SC. It's now nearly 70% of my bill. That can't be right.

Krakkkers

Its over 60% of my bill at this time of the year.

FlorayG

I have solar panels and if there's weren't any standing charges I wouldn't have a bill at all in summer