'Scam' on energy prices!!!!

This all has me so confused. Why are there so many deals and tariffs why can’t we just pay the same. I was brainwashed into paying monthly a set fee, last year they had over 400.00 of my money. They said it was a good idea to keep it in case my consumption rose over the winter. I ended my agreement and now just pay for what I use but I pay by direct debit. They are now hassling me to join a scheme to pay 170 per month when the most I used even in winter was 55.00 a month. They said that by paying what I use I would have my charged risen by 1.50 per unit elec and 1.00 gas. My question is why do they feel the need to budget for their customers. I’ve come to the conclusion it’s to keep the greedy shareholders happy. Why do they think they need to keep our money, why do they think we can’t budget for ourselves. I am happy to be cold in the winter to save my bill, I was cold in the 1950s/60s as a child.
I also remember picking up sticks from the hedges to burn for kindling.
Don’t get me started on standing charges which I’ve been told are going up next month.
My 92 year old mother has been hassled continually by Eon and now pays by cheque every month they have put her unit price up too. It’s a form of bullying everyone to pay extra.

Sorry, that should read Franbern, not Granbern!

Granbern , I think you are confusing £0.42 with 0.42p and £0.5 with 0.5p.

I'm with Octopus. At the moment I'm paying 34.8p per day for electricity, and 26.16p per day for gas. I thought THAT was too much, but judging from some of the messages here, it's one of the lower ones. I've not been told yet of any increase.

Talk about confusion lOL

I was with EDF until 2 months ago when I moved I’m now with Scottish power. My last place was all electric this place is both but I’m paying the same amount per month than I was but it’s charging me less in power in this place than I was in my other by £50 a month but I’m doing the same things. I watch my smart meter to see what stuff is costing me.

Thanks for the link growstuff.

It will be interesting to see if the other big five follow. As we’ve discussed, this latest increase in the standing charge is small, £3 a year per household on average but if, say, OVO serves 5 million households that’s still 15 million in revenue it is waiving.

It’s also a timely gesture that could attract new business. Octopus is now vying with BG to be the biggest supplier. Having just spent six months assimilating former Bulb customers, it’s now got to do the same with a similar number from Shell Energy. There could be a bit of turbulence in Octopus’s levels of customer-service while that happens.

In Martin Lewis’s latest podcast (near the end) he talks about a new electricity only supplier called Fuse Energy that is offering good prices. His advice comes with the usual caveats: it’s small, questions whether it could it cope with big influx of new customers, better for customers who are used to regular switching and know the drill, but worth a look.

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/

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

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

Thanks Caravansera

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/

Nor me. Let’s hope it doesn’t.

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.

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)?

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.