Ways to reduce standing charges on half-hourly meters?

chickenwings89

I’ve just moved my business into a new premises and discovered it has a half-hourly meter installed. Our electricity usage will be very low, probably under 2000 kWh a year, but I’m being quoted standing charges of at least £13 per day, despite going to several suppliers.

I've also talked to the energy broker we've occasionally used but I can't get a coherent explanation of why it's so high.

Has anyone been in a similar situation who can explain why these are so high, and if there's anything I can do about it?

Ayr_Rage

The type of meter and reporting frequency is not relevant to standing charges.

DorkingChicken

Yes, I had a very similar situation for my business.

Half-hourly electricity meters are generally fitted at commercial properties with a Maximum Import Capacity (the maximum demand for electricity the connection can support) of 100kVA+. For comparison most small commercial properties/households have a 8kVA connection.

The electricity grid in your area will charge much higher distribution fees to your supplier because of the higher capacity of your connection. These get incorporated into your standing charges.

The best explanation I've found of this is here: https://www.businessenergydeals.co.uk/blog/half-hourly-meter/

If you don't need the capacity, then you can get your local distribution network operator to downgrade the connection for you, but you'll need to pay for this work.