Standing charge increase - how what why...

[dustypockets]

Mine is going up from 57.02p to 68.75p for electricity.

My 2021 price was 28.1p a day.

The unit rates are going down slightly to compensate. Those with less than average usage will therefore be paying slightly more. I want to know how long the electric standing charge will stay so high. It was to pay for the companies that went bust but what is the end date to pay this off?

Some standing charges are criminally high!

It is still worth shopping around though as not all are the same. e.g. Octopus is 48p a day. Their unit price may be higher than you are paying, though, so you would need to do the comparion but if you are a lower-than-average kwh user, you may find it saves money to move.

Link here for £50 off if you switch to them: https://share.octopus.energy/glad-seal-912

(I also get £50 off my bill but don't switch unless it makes sense for you to do so.)

They will be able to justify it. As well paying for the companies that went bust, regulation, you've also got factors like investment in renewables and smart meters.

Plus the increase is small compared with the general increase in prices. The standing charge has gone up by about a tenner a month in total, whereas the cost per unit of electricity has gone from about 15 p to about 40 p and most people will have seen a rise from about £30/40 to close to £100. So bills have still increased hugely whether or not the standing charge has gone up.

It's a significant percentage of my summer bills, and makes it hard to reduce my bills by cutting usage.

At the moment my daily electric standing charge costs more than my actual usage. Grr.

But if you are poor the standing charge makes up a larger % of your bill.

Standing charges should have been frozen, and unit rates increased. Therefore those who use the most, pay the most. (I know that doesn’t always mean rich people, but overall, it is).

I agree, they are currently about 27% of my yearly bill. If we just paid for what we used then we could cut usage by 10% to cut bills by 10%.

I have solar panels and the other day it was really sunny so we were on solar nearly all day. We used 9p in electricity and paid 34p in a standing charge!! Crazy.