Posted 2 days ago

Energy Standing Charges disgrace.

Mam just received EON letter to say how much the new electricity charges are going to be from 1st April. She is old fashioned and pays bill by cash on receipt of bill. Although the unit price is coming down the standing charge is going up by 13p. She thought it might go up a few pence but going up by 13p is taking the biscuit.

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15th Mar
Someone's got to pay for all the people who didn't pay their bills with the government support they got.
16th Mar
And don't forget the Martin Lewis tax for all those suppliers that he promoted/recommended that went bust. DIfficult to say who was worse. Him or rhe regulator.
16th Mar
We are all paying the extra standing charge to cover the bad debt incurred by those who don’t / can’t pay their bill. I assume the bad debt gets written off of those who own it

too many reasons not to work in this country now for some people
16th Mar
I do feel some blame goes to the government on this one.
Paying the support and the extra financial support for the vulnerable groups direct in their bank accounts rather than direct to the energy suppliers was a problem.
I know of many who just used the year before lasts, and last years payments for little extras, they had a good Christmas. They left their energy bills for another day as there's far too much protection for them.. Can't be cut off etc...

The sensible ones are now paying for this to be written off which is a sad failure of the government.
Unfortunately mismanagement of money is one of the reasons why the vulnerable and poorer in society are struggling.
The UK needs to rethink education. Maybe drop RE and do more social skills in School.
They need to move away from financial support benefits to more direct needs and means benefits.
Benefits paid directly to energy companies, and food deliveries like a hellofresh system where families can have proper food delivered, rather than cash to buy take outs, sweets and food deliveries which is now becoming the norm.
15th Mar
If on Octopus people should have fixed last month. No exit fees.
Octopus screwed up. They discounted the charges but for got to raise standing charges first.
This was their first fix, was changed 3 times in a week or so.

15th Mar
Youd save more by joining tracker unless you're a very very light user
15th Mar
Cost of living crisis mate, Christmas party costs have gone right up for energy companies they need to recoup some of it
15th Mar
I hope all of you shared your opinion on standing charges during the recent public consultation.
15th Mar
Same boat as everyone I'm afraid. We are going from 48p to a 61p standing charge. We will now be saving £10.38p a year, even with the drop in unit price! With the gas standing charge at 29p, Even before you have used any electric or gas octopus energy has taken £1 from me, £30 a month! Thanks octopus.
15th Mar
It’s not Octopus fault. It’s Ofgem that sets the standing charge.
15th Mar
Its like a cartel. Even chopping and changing suppliers can get messy and still the standing charge remains. Something I found brilliant is that a dehumidifier in say the main room I can lower the (oil) heating by a degree. I got really good draft excluders too. These worked and its cheaper. (edited)
15th Mar
indeed
5 h, 13 m ago
British Gas had the cheek to send me an email with the heading "Good news - energy prices are going down"

However the email went on to say that I'm actually going to be paying more overall, due to the standing charge increasing to 71.2p per day
2 h, 57 m ago
Flippin' heck, even British Gas is cheaper than OVO.
15th Mar
I agree. Profiteering.
15th Mar
My electricity standing charge will be up from 42p to 53p 😮‍💨
15th Mar
Lucky you. 65.121p here. From 56.635p
13 h, 46 m ago
Mine going to 73.54p with OVO