yearly standing charge for gas and electricity

Its purpose is to pay for all the infrastructure needed to get the gas and electricity to our home. The unit charge for the energy you use is only for the energy it self, but to get gas to your house requires a huge network of gas mains from huge high pressure ones that go from one end of the country to another, the pumping stations that keep it moving, the engineers and equipment needed to maintain it and deal with any leeks.

The same with electricity, the elctricity cables that straddle the ountry on pylons, and under ground, that reach out to each new source of emission free electricity, the men that go out and work unremittingly when wind or other extreme weather cuts brings down cables and pylons and cut people off.

Thatis what your standing charge pays for.

The reason it has gone up is to bail out the companies who went bust and their penny pinching customers looking for a cheapo deal. So everyone else has to subsidise the incpmpetent and the feckless.

Agree with you Biglouis, various articles and TV investigative programmes have confirmed that we are indeed having to bail out energy companies, (often run from someone's kitchen table) because their financial background was not properly checked and they were almost insolvent before they even started.! Monica is right about the purpose of the standing charge but the enormous rises we are seeing now are totally due to a lack of regulation.

biglouis

The reason it has gone up is to bail out the companies who went bust and their penny pinching customers looking for a cheapo deal. So everyone else has to subsidise the incpmpetent and the feckless.

Precisely Big Louis and a huge upfront standing charge means people on very limited means are the worst affected. If the standing charged was dropped and the unit price increased then those on low incomes could budget their use. As it is some families have had to ask to have their utilities cut off. What a disgrace in the 21st century that families are having to live in 19th Century conditions.

Also agreeing with*biglouis*. My standing charge of almost 50p a day with Octopus, is the equivalent of paying for a 13 month year now.
I appreciate standing charges are necessary, but feel we are being ripped off now.

Esspee

biglouis

The reason it has gone up is to bail out the companies who went bust and their penny pinching customers looking for a cheapo deal. So everyone else has to subsidise the incpmpetent and the feckless.

Precisely Big Louis and a huge upfront standing charge means people on very limited means are the worst affected. If the standing charged was dropped and the unit price increased then those on low incomes could budget their use. As it is some families have had to ask to have their utilities cut off. What a disgrace in the 21st century that families are having to live in 19th Century conditions.

I wouldn’t argue with the rip off but logic compels me to point out that if the cost of infrastructure was part of the unit price then users of a standard amount would be subsidising users of as all amount.

So families subsidising singles who would probably have much more disposable income.

of a small

biglouis

The reason it has gone up is to bail out the companies who went bust and their penny pinching customers looking for a cheapo deal. So everyone else has to subsidise the incpmpetent and the feckless.

I blame Martin Lewis ?

Ouch, BigLouis! I am not a penny pincher.
I joined Bulb ( then the sixth largest provider in Britain) for it's green credentials.
It went bust . I object to being demonised on baseless grounds.

Tizliz. On what basis are you blaming Martin Lewis? He is one of the few public figures (Mick Lynch being another) who cares about the people of this country and talks common sense.
Personally I wish he (or Mick) could be offered the job of Prime Minister.

I joined Bulb ( then the sixth largest provider in Britain) for it's green credentials.

Same here.

I'd vote for Mick Lynch. He and Martin Lewis talk sense and really seem to care about ordinary people.

I’m sure Tizliz and biglouis made some of their comments in jest. I still maintain the increased standing charges are a rip off.

Esspee

*Tizliz*. On what basis are you blaming Martin Lewis? He is one of the few public figures (Mick Lynch being another) who cares about the people of this country and talks common sense.
Personally I wish he (or Mick) could be offered the job of Prime Minister.

My comment was a bit tongue in cheek. He is the person encouraging people to change suppliers. I know he did caution people about new companies on the other hand it is his site where most people found out about them. I am assuming that everyone reads his site ?

biglouis

The reason it has gone up is to bail out the companies who went bust and their penny pinching customers looking for a cheapo deal. So everyone else has to subsidise the incpmpetent and the feckless.

So the people trying to save money and not pay more than they have to are incompetent and feckless?

What has this country come to? The milk of human kindness has gone sour.

So the people trying to save money and not pay more than they have to are incompetent and feckless?

NO, NO it is the fact that ordinary people have to bail out the electricity companies. WHY? They have far more money than we do.

No, wait. The electricity companies, especially those that went bust, were allowed to operate the way they did because the government allowed them to. They weren't really electricity companies, they were financial companies. You can't blame people for setting up completely legal companies to make money for themselves. They are businesses, not charities.

So the government need to regulate when it comes to the provision of necessary services. That's it, plain and simple.

And the "incompetent and feckless" comment seems to have been aimed at the people using these companies, wasn't it? Even if it wasn't, the people running these companies were doing what the government encouraged them to do.

I don't think people were 'incompetent and feckless'. I agree that the government didn't regulate properly and, as usual, it is the ordinary people who have to pick up the slack.

Since all these companies could not get an operating licence until they had been approved by Ofgem, the government appointed energy industry regulator. Consumers were acting entirely responsibly when they looked for the cheapest gas and electricity rate that they could get, because every company available had got the Ofgem seal of approval.

For those on small incomes every penny thy could save on their fuel bills, made it easier to feed and clothe their families

What evidence do you have biglouis that these people were incompetent or feckless. I assume you do have evidence and were not flinging round accusations based only on personal prejudice.

It was the companies who were incompetent since they obviously did not have the necessary financial reserves to survive the ups and downs of the market. So poorly planned business models. Going with a company to save a few £££ without doing due dilligence on their finances is IMO feckless.

But the government should be the ones showing due diligence into companies they approved of to supply energy, not each individual consumer. This is why privatisation and deregulation of essential utilities is a nonsense.

Sunday Telegraph reporting energy to go up to £6000 pa.

Our standing charge is just over £1 per day.The rise in our area was the second highest in the country.

I was with “We look after your bills” and they said they could get me a better deal with “peoples energy” so I switched. I had been with octopus for a couple of years and after there was a big data leak from “peoples energy”I switched back to octopus, As it turned out just in time as I managed to get a two year fixed with them…