Moved the comment but not provided an answer from a technical perspective. 

Looks like that poster was a spam sign up, @SparkBright - I’ve deleted their comment!

Please have a read of this OVO article, as standing charges are covered. Anything you’re not sure of, come back and post and we’ll find an answer for you! :) 

Ovo please please sort out your shockingly high standing charges. As suggested above, please offer a low SC option for those aiming for low use, as we all must in these terrifying times.... We are all stuck with our current providers, but those of us with Ovo's high standing charges are least able to mitigate costs with lower fuel use. As discussed above the high SCs effectively mean lower fuel users are penalised with higher costs per unit consumption. I'm a single Mum with a school age child... Why can't I be allowed to reduce my costs? 

Related to this, why are Ovo's standing charges higher than  allowed by the price cap? 

I've now got a 49p+ SC for electrify and 27p+ for gas (and the October terrifying rise hasn't even kicked in yet). That's 80p/day even if I use nothing...  That's £300 before I have any fuel - a quarter of my old bill including all its power. 

Can Ovo give us reassurance that it won't raise the already extremely high SC any further with the upcoming cap changes.? 

The price cap varies slightly by region. 

You can see the new Ofgem standing charge caps by region on this page

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-are-the-price-cap-unit-rates-/#tool

OVO have said they will give at least 10 days notice before the 1st October increase of what their new  Simpler Energy rates will be given the maximum Ofgem cap. 

The price cap varies slightly by region. 

You can see the new Ofgem standing charge caps by region on this page

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-are-the-price-cap-unit-rates-/#tool

OVO have said they will give at least 10 days notice before the 1st October increase of what their new  Simpler Energy rates will be given the maximum Ofgem cap. 

Hi Jeffus. Thanks. I see you have lots of replies on here - do you work for OVO/have access to them?  (genuine question, not bait 😁).  If Ovo's only reply is giving us 10 days notice, that literally makes no difference at all.  We are all stuck with our current  providers for now, ans Ovo's SCs are particularly eye-watering. Those of us in small places, desperately cutting expenses, subsidise the lavish fuel users.

No i don't work for OVO. I am just a customer like you. Some of us post from time to time if we think we can help with specific queries. I sometimes mention this when posting but not always. 

You will see _OVO in a persons screen name if it is a reply from a OVO moderator on the forum. The OVO moderators also don't have access to your account.

All i would say is that OVOs standing charges on the Simpler energy tariff are in line with other suppliers. It is only fixed rate tariff you will see differences between suppliers.

Some suppliers may price their price cap tariff a very small amount lower than the ofgem price cap. Octopus have done that in the past. But it is very marginal. The biggest difference in the price cap rates is due to the region of the country you live in. Some areas of the country it costs more to get the electricity into your home unfortunately at the moment. 

If you want to lobby anyone, i would start by writing to your MP. The more people do this, the more likely things will change.

Lots of suppliers are lobbying government for changes, just this morning Octopus Energy were lobbying for the scrapping of standing charges amongst other things as you suggested. 

We should have a new Prime Minister shortly so the lack of action from the government recently will hopefully come to an end. 

Hi Sarah, 

Just one more thing to add, OVO are in favour of abolishing the standing charge, as we outline in OVO’s 10 point plan to address the national energy crisis

4. Make bills simpler and fairer by abolishing the standing charge.\ There are fixed costs to serving energy consumers, regardless of how much energy they use. The economic principle behind standing charges is sound, but the reality is standing charges represent the single biggest source of customer confusion on energy bills, and causes the greatest resentment. If we ever want to make a meaningful impact on energy efficiency, consumers must be able to make a clear link between the number of energy units they use, and the amount they pay. Doing away with standing charges is the simplest way to make energy easy to understand. It will also benefit low income households more than wealthy households, and further reward energy efficiency. It is a compromise, but definitely one worth making. We must make household energy bills simpler and fairer by removing the standing charge for all domestic tariffs. 

If you wondered what a standing charge is for, we outline this below:

What are standing charges?

A standing charge is a daily fixed charge for supplying energy to your home. It includes the cost of the pipes and power lines, and maintenance of your meters.

You’ll pay your standing charge no matter how much energy you use – even if you have a smart meter. It’s like the ‘line rental’ on your telephone contract. You’ll see it listed on your ‘Plan details’ page.

We’ll apply standing charges to your balance every time you send us a meter reading.