Standing Charges

Krakkkers

Surprised no government has mandated solar panels on new builds, micro generation is the way to go.

BarelySentientAI

BillTee said:

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

Which is why I said "did" in my comment.  Past tense.

BillTee said:

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.

Why?  Any particular reason other than "shouldn't"?  Being "not the same as the 1990s" isn't a reason.

Both standing charges and discussions about whether they are too high have existed since long before deregulation.

DE_612183

BillTee said:

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.

Could it be that in fact prices of electricity have been lower than inflation ( matching generation costs ) whist standing charges ( maintaining the infrastructure ) have matched?

I saw a stat that in 1970 energy represented 8% of the average salary, where as in 2020 it was about 7.5% - so overall it is better..

MP1995

Those with solar panels dilute the percentage of SC of their bill statements for obvious reasons, especially this time of year.

I suspect it's a fair percentage of most people's summer bill July it was 30% of ours and in December it will be 8% of the bill.

You might suggest those with solar should pay double SC to build the infrastructure to handle the extra power created. (I wouldn't mind that if I had solar it probably equates to one good hour of shnlight)