OVER the past few months we have all become painfully aware of the massive rise in electricity prices. The excuse provided by the energy companies has been the rise in the wholesale price of the fuel, mainly gas, that they use to generate the electricity. The fact that the costs to extract the gas from a hole in the ground have not increased has largely been ignored by gas suppliers keen to extend their profit margins. As far as I am aware the cost of the wind to power the many turbines on our hillsides has also not increased recently.

It appears that the next phase (pun intended) in the electricity companies’ price war on their consumers is to massively increase standing charges. Customers will face very different cost increases depending on where they live. Customers in south Scotland, Merseyside, north Wales and the south-west of England will see the daily payments double from April. Those in London and the east of England will see increases of less than 60%.

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The standing charge has always varied depending on where you live, due apparently to different costs to supply homes with power in rural or more remote areas. However the increase this spring varies disproportionately in different parts of Britain, when comparing standard variable tariffs for electricity paid for by Direct Debit. Suppliers are clearly moving charges which were once part of a consumer’s unit price for energy over to their standing charge and also raising standing charges to the maximum level for each region, which means a big jump for some places.

The average increase – of just under 20p per day – will add more than £71 a year to a standard electricity tariff. But in north Wales and Merseyside, the south-west, the Midlands, south Scotland and south Wales, the rise will add more than £80 a year. In London less than £30 will be added.

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Price per day for a single-rate electricity meter from April 2022 by British region in order of percentage charge:

London: up 8p a day to 31p – a 38% increase

Eastern: up 13p a day to 36p – a 58% increase

South-east: up 17p a day to 40p – a 73% increase

North-west: up 17p a day to 40p – 73% increase

Southern: up 18p a day to 41p – an 80% increase

Yorkshire: up 21p a day to 46p – an 81% increase

North Scotland: up 22p a day to 48p – a 83% increase

Northern: up 21p a day to 46p – an 85% increase

East Midlands: up 20p a day to 43p – an 88% increase

Midlands: up 22p a day to 46p – a 92% increase

South Wales: up 22p a day to 46p – a 94% increase

Southern Scotland: up 24p a day to 47p – a 100% increase

South Western: up 25p a day to 49p – a 101% increase

North Wales & Merseyside: up 23p a day to 45p – 102% increase

(Source: Ofgem)

The changes are slightly different for customers using prepayment meters.

The standing charge not only covers costs such network maintenance, administration fees and certain government schemes, it is also the part of your bill that will contribute to the cost of the 28 energy suppliers that have gone bust since last autumn.

The last time I studied physics, some 50 years ago, I was under the impression that electricity travelled along cables at the speed of light at 186,000 miles a second. So it in fact travels from any generator to any consumer virtually instantly. The electricity supply industry are implementing a pricing policy that would be best likened to the Victorian era of carrying coal by horse-drawn canal barges. The costs of maintaining their network have not risen in proportion to these rises in charges, as those consumers who were recently without electricity for many days will no doubt testify.

Brian Lawson
Paisley