Energy standing Charges - OFGEM's inability to address unfair standing charges on consumers

Qyburn

Markus779 said:

The commercial rates have never been cheaper here. . 

So has your electricity always been more expensive, and were you made aware of this when buying?  Is it possible to get your own supply installed, and separate yourself from the shared system?

TheElectricCow

wrf12345 said:

Octopus energy, oddly, offer a zero standing charge electric business tariff, the unit rate is around 32p, not directly comparable to the residential rate as the business rate is usually quite bloated even with a s/c.

Interestingly, based on the rates in my region (Eastern), that tariff would only be better value for users with a consumption between 3572 and ~3800 kWh. Any lower and you’re not eligible for the tariff, and any higher would see you pay more than sticking with the regular tariff paying a SC.

I suppose if you had a business with predictable and consistent enough energy use patterns to land your annual use within that 228kWh range it certainly would save you up to £11.32 for the year. Otherwise you’d simply be paying more for the privilege of “not having a standing charge”.

RD_Kryten

My only concern with getting rid of standing charges is that in the long run it will end up costing me more.  I don't use very much energy as it is and I only heat the room I'm in and wear jumpers and gloves around the house (heating my body etc) all my light bulbs are LED and everything (apart from my fridge-freezer) is turned off over night and during the day when I'm at work.

A lot of the time my standing charge for gas is more than what I use, especially during the summer.

The reason for my reservation is I still remember when BT was the only company doing directory enquiries.  They used to charge a flat fee of 40p no matter how long it took and in my experience they were always 100% correct no matter how vague you were with your query.  Then they let any old Tom, !!!!!! and Harry do it and overnight it costs for the service shop up exponentially!  They said competition would mean it would be cheaper but it was the exact opposite.