I can’t believe it! That cold freezing wind made me put on the aquaroll insulated jacket. First time in years.
Did you have to cut holes in it for your head and arms 
Just had notification from our energy provider of the price increase effective April, they are saying global energy price increases are responsible which I understand, but the biggest percentage increase is the standing charges, so even if we cut down our electricity or gas we will be paying more than double for the standing charges. Seems to me like another rip off and hope nobody notices.
Some charges previously in the kwh unit rate have been switched to the standing charge - as REQUIRED by Ofgem - there's no rip-off, complain to Ofgem if you aren't happy.
Hello Roger L
No mention of transfer as required by OFGEM, from the energy supplier, their e mail focussed on rise in world energy prices, so if they are required to transfer prices by OFGEM , why is it OK to increase standing charges, which impact every customer, as I said originally it is a rip off whichever way it is dressed up.
No mention of transfer as required by OFGEM, from the energy supplier, their e mail focussed on rise in world energy prices, so if they are required to transfer prices by OFGEM , why is it OK to increase standing charges, which impact every customer, as I said originally it is a rip off whichever way it is dressed up.
Surely standing charges aren’t static as they cover other aspects of operating the business and they will be affected by increases in costs.
Compared to what is claimed to be the average before the April increase £1200 per annum doesn’t seem that high for energy.
The bigger companies with better capitalisation will place contracts for longer term purchase up to two years ahead. Many of the companies that have hit difficulty were buying on the spot market or short term ahead. Great when there’s more supply than demand or if it’s a stable low risk market.
Those increased costs should be in relation to inflation which although not nice is acceptable, but not a 25% or more percent hike as standing charge costs are not related to the cost of producing energy!
The whole business of standing charges is in my view nothing short of a rip off or scam, during the Covid lockdowns we were obliged to close our business, as a result we paid more in standing charges for water and electricity than we did for the product used, Ok it is all tax deductable and the VAT is reclaimable which softens the blow, but for a consumer it is impossible to avoid the standing charge. If I buy something in Tesco or Sainsburys I don't pay a standing charge, so why can't the utility companies be honest and just have a single charge, and then there are the banks, with their charges for the privilege of having an account that allows them to use our money. I suspect it is something to do with the fact that they get away with it because they can, and the consumer has no option but to go along with it.
OC my rise per month will be £100, dd up from , £184 to £284. So string vest, fleecy base layer and a jumper for next winter. Justs mean we will not go to the pub for two days. 🍻
So what is a”Standing Charge”? I see some jiggory pokey here😉
You do have an option - get a prepayment meter, no standing charges at all there - but the unit rate is higher - or find another supplier.
The standing charge covers the cost of energy distribution networks, meters, environmental levies etc
While energy companies still have customers on older fixed price tariffs, they're losing money which they can't recover from capped tariff customers - difficult to see how they're ripping anyone off when they make a loss - or worse go bust like so many have.
Are you serious? See https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/op...illion-pounds-profit-cost-of-living-increase/ There are a number of other sources for the samee headlien if you Google.
Crikey that is a big Ouch. Hopefully when I come off my £80 pm in April 2023 some sanity in the market will have been restored, but I suspect we will not be where we were ever again, until the transition to renewables has gone a lot further.
That’s a typical media grabbing article. Nowhere does it attempt to analyse the company accounts or even try and deduce what the ratio of profit is to turnover, or anything else relating to the businesses accounts. Without such data just quoting profit is meaningless. My savings and investments and two of my pensions rely on businesses making a profit, as do many other people in this country.
We all know how a lot of private pensions are linked to the stock market. I am one of the lucky ones like Clive. But there are thousands not so lucky. So when we read this headline
British Gas profits jump 44% as energy bills soar for millions of households,
it doesn’t bring much comfort for others. If we start taking short term views on these types of profits then sadly we will all sink, lose gas etc and end up exactly as Putin wants us. Just remember only in the last two years the Utilities were not making any money. There is an argument that says re nationalise the Utilities. God help us all. Like it or not there are only two options, Putin’s way or our precious free world way.
British Gas profits jump 44% as energy bills soar for millions of households,
it doesn’t bring much comfort for others. If we start taking short term views on these types of profits then sadly we will all sink, lose gas etc and end up exactly as Putin wants us. Just remember only in the last two years the Utilities were not making any money. There is an argument that says re nationalise the Utilities. God help us all. Like it or not there are only two options, Putin’s way or our precious free world way.
That profit relates to the last year which had cold winter/spring and then saw gas prices start to increase as Russia only shipped contracted amounts of gas and would not increase shipments to Europe., whilst Asia was buying up LNG like mad. So as world prices rose BG (Centrica) benefited as they had hedged their future purchases. But as other energy companies failed British Gas has taken on 700,000 customers from failed companies and those customers are now on capped tariffs and British Gas in a recent interim statement are now loosing money. Hence the reason the Government introduced their recent changes that allow losses to be offset against future payments by the customers. So I would expect that when the BG report their 6 monthly figures it may show a loss.
Nationalisation could be one option but at what cost and timescale and which elements of the energy sector would you nationalise? I would rather see effort put into reducing reliance on gas, increased renewables, insulation and dare I say it "SMR" for base load on dank, windless days.
Come April when the new rates start hitting hard coupled with other world issues sadly going to hit some very hard .... Lets hope the Budget keeps this in mind.....👀
GAS
GAS
Roger L said
"The standing charge covers the cost of energy distribution networks, meters, environmental levies etc"
So why charge for it as a separate item, in any normal business that would be overheads, and would only be shown in the annual accounts, and like any other overheads would be factored in to the selling price.
"The standing charge covers the cost of energy distribution networks, meters, environmental levies etc"
So why charge for it as a separate item, in any normal business that would be overheads, and would only be shown in the annual accounts, and like any other overheads would be factored in to the selling price.
Because low usage customers wouldn't be contributing enough to cover the fixed costs if there was no standing charge - although they can opt for a prepayment meter which has no standing charge.
Energy bills include all the costs of the energy company plus the costs forced upon them as surcharges and levies to pay for political good causes - paying the bills of defaulters who have their human rights protected, the cost of the money often squandered on daft projects. This lot is more than the VAT and adds up to a big percentage of our bills.
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