Why are Standing Charges different for Fixed and Variable accounts? My enquiries are deflected by suggestions that Ofgen set the Standard Charges but this is not true. Ofgen only cap the Standing Charges that may be applied. As a green consumer who has reduced energy usage through fitting solar panels and heat pump at a time when these were not subsidised it would appear that I am now paying for others to be subsidised to do so? I am already being penalised by higher fuel prices caused by Russia/Ukraine conflict when my choice of renewable power only for last 10 years or more means I am not utilising the fuel that has increased in cost? I am also subsidising the deficits accrued from those unable to pay increased bills because they continued to use fossil fuel sources.
It’s all about what costs can be locked in and for how long upstream. In general, the longer you commit, the easier it is to get some form of “committed use discount” - and the easier it is for OVO to negotiate with upstream sources.
This doesn’t just apply to energy supplies - it works the same for just about everything these days.
I seem to think the standing charges are connected to the National Grid tarrifs and are based on electricity usage. Due to the accounting differences between fixed and variable tarriffs this may mean your supply fits into a different band and hence charge.
As for the other points, life is basically unfair. You make a long term decision based on the current situation predicting that it will carry on and then the world goes crazy. As you've got solar panels you've cut out some of the worst electricity costs but a heat pump was probably not a good move. Who knew all this would happen.
I bought an EV (because its an automatic) two months before the fuel tanker driver shortage so I was very happy not to be paying £1.90 a litre for petrol but later on my unit cost went from 15p to 34p so that was not so good. If you think that anyone is ahead of the game on this then they either have a time machine or were very lucky. I don't have solar panels because I don't see how they pay back. I don't have an ASHP because they are stupidly expensive. I do have an A2AHP because it was cheap and it keeps my house warm without using much gas (10% of previous usage) and the tariff I'm on means the heat pump is cheaper than gas most of the time which is when it runs.
If you are a true green consumer then you can't really complain at the cost of making that decision. I've always said in my blogs that the only true path to going green is the one that is affordable otherwise it's not going to happen.
Peter
Hi
I can see our forum volunteers have already stopped by here to answer your question.
This thread may also help:
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