'Scam' on energy prices!!!!

I'm with EDF as well. I don't know how they compare to other suppliers. I am paying an enormous amount already for gas and electricity - it's a large percentage of my pension - to pay that much more is scary.

On top of this they are all posting vastly inflated profits too 🤬🤬🤬🤬

Does anybody have an official link to these new prices?

I think (hope) you've got this wrong Franbern and that the daily charges are going up to the amounts you've quote and not by them.

This from Andrew Capstick at MoneySavingsExpert writing on 25 August 2023:

Despite the fall in the amount we'll pay under the Price Cap from October, the high daily standing charge – that we all pay just for the facility of having a gas and electricity connection – remains high. So perversely the less you use, the less you save.

Currently, under the July Cap, it's £300 a year before you even use any gas or electricity, if you pay by direct debit. From October, it will rise to £303 a year. We've asked Ofgem why standing charges have increased again, and we'll update this story when we hear back.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/08/energy-bills-to-fall-as-new-price-cap-is-announced---what-you-ne/

Here's the chart from the link but remember they are average prices. Standing charges vary by region. Generally, the further you are away from the south east, the more costly it is to get energy to you, the higher the standing charge.

I think you may be reading the numbers wrongly, Franbern.

Average gas standing charge going up to 0.2962 per day from 0.2911 i.e 0.0051 half a penny a day not half a £.

Average electricity standing charge going up to 0.5337 from 0.5292 i.e. 0.0045 less than half a penny a day.

So around a penny a day dual fuel, hence £3 a year £ 300 to £303.

I wish the media would stop using "average prices".

I don't use anywhere near "average". I want to know how much my standing charges and unit costs are - I can work the rest out for myself.

Caranversera Not really interested (personally) in average rises. My letter/.email from EDF clearly state that MY charges are going up as from 1st October as follows;
Electricity Standing Charge from 58.28p per day to 58.70p
Gas Standing charge from 29.11p per day to 29.61p perday

To my maths, that is an increase of, per day ,on Leccie 42p and gas 50p (each per day). (92per day work out as just over six quid per week! Yes, unit charges decreasing, very, very slightly. ALso, to add on to these amounts is VAT.

Your maths are wrong. The standing charges are pennies and fractions of pennies. They are not going up from £58.28p a day to £58.70p a day.

For the moment, ignore the numbers after the decimal point or imagine it says 58.00p and 59.00p

If your charge was going up from 58.00p a day to 59.00p a day, that's a penny a day.

Your charges are going up by fractions of pennies 0.42 for one fuel (less than half a penny) and 0.50 for the other, less than one penny a day in total.

You may not be interested in averages but use them as a guide. If Martin Lewis and his collagues at MSE say that the average rise is £3 a year, why would yours be £312 (52 x£6)?

Sorry Franbern, but my maths tells me the increase is 0.42p per day for electricity and 0.5p for gas, ie less than 1p per day for both.

I really don’t understand your maths Fran. The increases you quote are respectively 0.42p and 0.50p per day, not 42p and 50p As Caravansera and growstuff say, a combined increase of less than one penny a day.

Our house electric supply is around 50p a day but the current talk is much higher 90p+ per day.
It’s a total rip off and hits small users highest because for high users daily charge is a small part of the bill.

Yep, I was taking into account the decimal point However, I just do not understand why the Standing Charges are Increasing at all. Or, perhaps I do - as the companies have been told to lower their prices, this is their way if ensuring they are still continuing to overcharge us all.
The on top is the VAT.

To be fair Fran, vat on fuel prices and standing charges is only 5%, so your vat-inclusive standing charges are going up by very little.

From Martin Lewis:

blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2023/07/martin-lewis--why-are-energy-standing-charges-so-high--what-can-/

Why Ofgem sets the cost of the standing charge so high

This is to cover some of the 'fixed costs' of energy, which it believes should be mostly shared equally. The fixed costs are especially loaded on to the electricity standing charge, as that is 'more universal' than the gas one.

These costs have rocketed over the last few years, for a host of reasons, including covering the costs of the energy retailers that went bust (which is about 6% of the standing charge cost), and there have been large increases in policy and networks costs.

I know some will be saying: "I thought it was more about the green levy, or the costs for firms going bust was bigger". Yet some of that is within the unit rate– and what's often quoted is the cost of those things a 'typical user' pays. This is about the standing charge, ie, what you'd pay on zero usage.

Here's a pie chart of how the cost of the standing charge is currently apportioned on a typical dual-fuel bill, according to Ofgem. Many of these are complex mixed costs, I've tried to explain roughly what most of them are, but it's not simple, I just wanted to give you an idea.

The monetary numbers add up to £299.70 i.e. the current average annual standing charge.

Here's a link to standing charge and unit rates per region for 1 October 2023 to 31 December 2023. Assumes payment by direct debit and includes 5% VAT.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-are-the-price-cap-unit-rates-/#unitrates

The increases on the standing charge are very little but the fact remains that they went up substantially over the last few years.

Should the cost of the standing charge be so high or should it be reflected in the price per unit? Should those who use very little pay towards the costs of energy suppliers which went bust?

Should there be more regulation in the industry which prevents firms with little or no experience setting up energy supply companies?

Katie59

Our house electric supply is around 50p a day but the current talk is much higher 90p+ per day.
It’s a total rip off and hits small users highest because for high users daily charge is a small part of the bill.

The only time my electricity usage goes below 50p a day is when I'm not at home. It's usually between £1 and £1.50, so I'd love to know how you keep it to below 50p all the time.

My standing charge is usually a third to a half of my usage for electricity. The standing charge for gas is currently (without heating because it's summer) just under half my usage.

I agree the standing charge is a lot, but apparently the argument was that those with high usage (including families and some with disabilities) would be penalised for higher costs per unit. My feeling is that those with identified higher needs should be supported rather than penalising low users who are trying to cut consumption and cost.

I think Katie was talking about standing charge, not usage growstuff.

Germanshepherdsmum

I think Katie was talking about standing charge, not usage growstuff.

Aha! That would make more sense to me. My daily standing charge is 41.57p, but I know it varies between regions.

I haven't read anywhere about it increasing to 90p.

Nor me. Let’s hope it doesn’t.

Callistemon21

The increases on the standing charge are very little but the fact remains that they went up substantially over the last few years.

Should the cost of the standing charge be so high or should it be reflected in the price per unit? Should those who use very little pay towards the costs of energy suppliers which went bust?

Should there be more regulation in the industry which prevents firms with little or no experience setting up energy supply companies?

My dual fuel standing charges (Eastern Region) are 72p a day including VAT. The very complex way in which the industry is organised and managed now would make it very difficult to integrate the two aspects of billing. As Martin Lewis explained in the quote upthread, only 6% of the standing charge is to pay for the failures. The cost of Bulb failure has been a lot less than was predicted:

www.energylivenews.com/2023/02/02/bulbs-rescue-to-cost-taxpayers-260m-says-octopus/

Ofgem will have learned its lesson about the low bar it set which let so many new operators into the market to provide competition for the big operators. Virtually all of those suppliers are gone. With the collapse of Bulb and now Shell Energy selling to Octopus, we have come full circle.

It looks like Octopus are now the biggest supplier of electricity, taking the top spot from British Gas which remains the biggest supplier of gas. Order of market share now BG, Octopus, E.ON, OVO, EDF and Scottish Power.

Ths National Audit Office report on the failure of Bulb is interesting for those who like the detail:

www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/investigation-into-bulb-energy.pdf

This from USwitch explains why energy costs differ by region:

www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/guides/why-are-energy-rates-different-by-region/

Thanks Caravansera

E.ON have just sent new prices through unit charge down by 2.75p and standing charge remaining the same 53.964p with a reminder to send reading in before 30th

As far as I can see, OVO has not published its new unit rates yet. On a variable rate rolling plan, current rates are fractionally under the Energy Price Cap average maximum rates as published by Money Savings Expert.

Note they they are not increasing their standing charges.

October price changes

Although the cost of standing charge has gone up for Pay Monthly customers, we’re not passing this increase onto any of our customers. The cost of living crisis is impacting so many people, so it’s important to us that we protect our customers from price increases where we can.

If you're on a variable rate plan we’re not passing on any standing charge increases. With the new price cap, you’ll pay a lower unit rate for your energy from 1 October. Daily standing charges should be increasing, due to rising costs of supplying energy to your home. Due to the challenges that a lot of customers face with the cost of living crisis, this increase won’t be passed on to you, and you’ll continue paying your current price for standing charge.

www.ovoenergy.com/pricecap

It's good to see OVO sticking to what it's been campaigning about:

www.energylivenews.com/2023/09/05/ovo-urges-ministers-to-drop-standing-charges-and-implement-social-tariff/