to think Npower are effectively charging me twice.

[Ezio]

Just had my gas bill.

£98 for 16 weeks.

This works out as:

£43.65 for 1196 kWh of gas

£49.84 for standing charge, 111 days at 44.900p a per day.

So im being effectively charged twice, for the gas used.

Anyone else noticed this?

no, you're not. Thats how gas bills have always worked.

Your probably right, Peppi, just seems rather excessive for summer months.

Seems pretty cheap to me, its half of what I pay.

My standing charge is £35.00 for year, you might be better looking at ebico they don't have standing charges obviously the gas is more expensive

There is a selection of tariffs, depending on your typical usage
Some will have no/a low standing charge and higher unit costs, others will have a higher standing charge and lower unit costs

If you put the info from your last couple of bills into one of those comparison sites, they will give you a few options based on the sort of amounts you use. Uswitch.com was the main one, but I'm sure comparethemarket and all those do it as well now

You need to consider a whole year's usage. Then you could potentially switch to a no-standing charge option. Be aware that if you do, you will pay more for each kWh of gas to make up for it, so it depends on the whole year's usage of gas.

I used to work for British gas and I remember that the standing charge is for transco and for the pipes and distribution of gas. It's the same for the original electricity companies and would charge a standing charge as well. Always best to go with an electricity company for gas and a gas company for electricity from what I remember! It was a long time ago though about 12 years!

Same as Lisy said. The standing charge is to cover the safe and secure running of the gas transportation system, network, pipes and metering. The charges for this are regulated by Ofgem and the costs are spread over everyone connected to the gas grid. The kWh usage is for gas you've burned, I'm guessing mostly for hot water during the summer so £2.75 a week sounds ok.

Wish my gas bill was this cheap