Standing Charges (3)

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Standing charges for energy.

While I’m at it.

I’ve just had by recent bill for the 31 days from 9/12 to 8/1, 20% of it was standing charges.

Now, Energy Companies will say that’s what you pay towards the maintenance of the network.
So, we not only pay overinflated prices for electricity, because your wind turbines didn’t whirl, but we also bear the costs of maintaining and expanding?

How’s fuck off sound?
Yurt in a wood, anyone?

Nominated by Jeezum Priest.

60 thoughts on “Standing Charges (3)”

  1. There’s nothing you can do about it apparently, but I got away with standing around doing fuck all for years in jobs and still got paid. Now I’m having to pay it back from my pensions. Robbing Peter to pay Paul still exists.

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  2. And to add insult to injury the toothless stupid “Consumer Watchdog” that has the powers to limit prices has said they will only control the energy price NOT the standing charge.
    So fill the house with insulation, use less energy but the standing charge increase will make up for the loss of YOUR energy sale, BUT will mean the energy that you didn’t use can be sold to some other bugger (with a standing charge of course) and so without increasing the quantity of your “product” you can increase your customer base. A brilliant business strategy.I have to say.
    But who pays for all this insulation …err Government grants? Oh you mean the tax payer or energy consumer then. It makes pyramid schemes look positively amateurish.
    (Yes I have just recently got my bill) chizz-chizz as Mouldsworth minor would say.
    Mornin’ all

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    • Exactly. It stands to reason that these companies will not accept a reduction in turnover/profits, quite the reverse, they are constantly seeking to increase them, so even if everyone reduced their energy consumption by 80%, their overall bills will not come down due to standing charges.

      Let’s not forget that ALL these companies, plus water, telecoms, gas, trains, buses, etc were nationalised companies. For those of us that haven’t pitched up on a on a beach in Kent recently, our taxes and those of our parents and grand-parents built the networks we are now paying yet again for, and no, they are not being maintained, just look at the water leakage rates and Victorian sewer systems in major cities for example.

      This is also one of the reasons petrol/diesel is so expensive now; consumption has reduced because of more effecient engines and the proliferation of electric golf-carts, ergo prices increase.

      Capitalism is a giant scam and we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

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      • I use a fraction of the electricity used 20 years ago, almost entirely due to energy saving products – light bulbs, fridge/freezers, TVs, etc.

        As a result my electric bills have never been higher, many times higher in fact.

        The less energy we use, the more the energy companies charge us to compensate for and maintain their record breaking profits.

      • I’m afraid I must respectfully disagree with our esteemed conqueror from the east on his view of capitalism and ask him what he’d rather have?

        Communism? Socialism? Feudalism?

      • Precisely.

        Capitalism is NOT the problem – far from it.

        The problem is lack of effective regulation.

        Ofgem Is A Cunt!

      • People think we live in capitalist country. We kind of do, but the full implementation of the system has not yet taken place.

        Capitalism is a process, one which is constantly evolving. We are approaching full capitalism now, whereby the assets of a nation are held in the hands of a VERY few individuals, their companies so powerful they effectively control the gov, not the other way around.

        Look at the major cities and towns in the UK, US, etc. They are all the same: massive chain stores in faux-competition with each other, with real competitors bought out or forced out of business. See also fuel and energy suppliers, train companies, telecoms and internet etc, etc.

        I favour Distributism, closely linked to Meritocracy, a system yet to be tried, most likely because it strips the capitalists of their power and also severely restricts the power of government.

        I recommend The Servile State by Hilaire Belloc as a suitable starting place for the intetested reader.

        Failing that, a benevolent dictatorship would be worth a go.

      • Cheers for that Ter. I do like Belloc so shall give him a go.
        Have you read “The Road” sponsored by the concrete industry if I remember right.

  4. I think it’s time the UK had another referendum.

    This time to see if the British people want a return to the Dark Ages.

    YES or NO

    Instead of forcing it on us by stealth.

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  5. How much will Standing Charges be going up to pay for over-indulged infant Ed’s Great British Energy?

    Not to worry, Ed says GBE is going to create 650,000 jobs. Yes of course it will, now calm down Eddie, it’s time for your milk, Farley’s rusk and afternoon nap.

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  7. I dont have a standing charge, instead I have a ridiculous tariff that charges just over 50p per kwh for the first 2 of the day from midnight and then 24.something p for each after the initial 2 of the day. Amounting to over 50p a day standing charge.
    Recently moved to this place and should investigate better tariff if such a thing exists.

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  8. May as well lump BT into this, so far as I know they are still preying on the elderly/gullible and charging line rental charges while almost all other phone/internet providers do not.

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    • Having dealt with a bereavement fairly recently I was going through some bills and stuff, found BT were charging my grandparents £102 a month for nothing other than basic broadband and calls package, line rental was still on the bill. Naturally my granny is now not with BT and pays closer to a quarter of the £102.
      Having just looked it up they claim line rental is not charged seperately bit the recent bills I seen clearly showed it to be around the same price as a broadband and calls package from other companies.

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  9. Another load of inept Gravy Train Cunts.

    The standing charge is huge because the “regulator” allowed so many “energy suppliers” to flood the market,such as Bulb etc…but failed to police them in any meaningful way so when politicians created the post Covid inflation meltdown and subsequent energy crisis none of the companies could afford the spot rate for gas and collapsed in ruins.

    Now we have to pay for their pathetic shambles.

    Another day Another expensive mess.

    Created by unaccountable vermin.

    Overheated Oven.

    Good morning.

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  10. But…. We have been promised cheaper bills.

    Use less energy and it’s cheaper, I can’t understand the logic surely the more you use it should be cheaper like bog off buy 2kw get one free. Standing charges should be limited to a set proportion of the usage, the less you use the lower the standing charge.
    It’s all a big con.

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  11. Yes, you pay a green levy and a nuclear levy plus the bonuses of the bosses. As far as I’m concerned having no choice as to paying the green levy makes me feel like a turkey supporting Christmas. Paying the nuclear levy I do not mind. If successive governments had established a viable nuclear program with safe disposal of course. We poor fucks who pay for it all would not be having to fork out £12,000,000 for about four hours runtime for two gas fired power stations that were needed a short time ago as the wind wasn’t blowing. Pretty obvious that the reason our country is in an energy toilet reliant on overseas supplies of, well energy is entirely due to short termism, lack of balls and ideology. This is the 21st century and we do not have a guaranteed energy supply which puts us on the same level as mbongo land but without the good weather. We know who to blame politicians fuck them all.

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    • There is no reason, other than corporate greed and government corruption and insanity that the UK could not be a massive net exporter of electricity, coal, shale gas, natural gas or even oil. None.

      Energy could be very significantly cheaper, therefore everything that is manufactured or transported would be cheaper, job vacancies would rocket, as would the economy, and in the North and West in particular the communities that are riddled with addiction, crime and deprivation could be restored by reversing the garbage green/privatisation policies that started under the Wicked Witch herself.

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  12. Imagine if prostitutes applied standing charges. They would be unaffordable for the average punter. Why should the national grid be any more expensive to run than a woman who spanks one’s bottom?

    Good morning, everyone.

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  13. First, let me say up front that standing charges are nothing but a scam, a massive rip off. When I go to Tesco’s I don’t expect to see a separate extra charge on my bill for the cost of running the distribution centres and transport of goods to the store.

    However, the old folks like me on here (I’m 73) will remember the days when the utilities were nationalised. It was a fucking long way from Utopia. BT or the GPO as it then was had a monopoly on telecomms. Calls cost amounts the younger generation would not believe. Any new and improved i.e. cost effective technology which appeared on the scene was no problem, they simply banned it. When we moved into our first home in 1974 we asked for a telephone to be installed. We were given a date literally months down the road and we were put on a “party line”. For the younger cunters that meant you shared a line with a near neighbour and if they were using the phone you couldn’t ring out and no-one could ring you. Also you could listen to their conversations and they to yours. One day a GPO man was up the telegraph pole in the street doing something and after he left our phone was dead. I tried for a week to get the cunts to sort it and was spoken to like I was an arsehole for giving them a problem. Eventually I got it sorted by a mate of mine in the trade and I never heard back from GPO/BT. In the same house the gas boiler went down. The Gas Board sent a man to fix it who after an hour departed with the final words “You need to get someone in who knows how these things work”. I received a bill from the Gas Board for his time. Glad to say I didn’t pay it. I fixed the boiler myself. The point of my diatribe is that nationalisation is absolutely, positively NOT the fucking answer. The regulators need sorting out and as with all the other problems we have in society that means sorting out the fucking politicians! As I’ve said before if you don’t fancy bloody revolution, vote Reform!

    Oh and if wind power was a sensible prospect we would still have sailing ships.

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    • 1970’s style nationalisation is not the answer, agreed.

      But essential national assets should be held in the hands of the people of that nation, for the sole benefit of those people.

      Obviously, we could not trust politicians to be in effective charge of those companies, but I’m pretty sure there would be plenty of takers if the position of CEO were offered at, say, 350 grand a year, no bonuses, share options or other bullshit. Contract would include no strike, zero corruption clauses under painnof imprisonment and loss of pension. Samecwith the workers, pay them 15% above tge industry standard, gold plated pension.

      Its not difficult, that’s why it’s so frustrating.

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    • The “Government” are living in cloud cuckoo land regarding “Nationalisation”.”Great British Energy” bollocks etc are all smoke and mirrors.Vote Reform 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

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  14. We are not seen as citizens.

    We are seen as consumers.

    Who’s only purpose in life, is to be financially arse raped by businesses and politicians alike.

    Every cheat you can execute, every bit of tax you can avoid, are all little wins against the rampaging behemoth of corporate and State thieves.

    According to a bloke down the pub 🙂

    Fuck them.

    Good afternoon 👍

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  18. I’m having a bit of trouble with this one. Please enlighten me.

    Are these companies with standing charges privately owned or state owned monopolies?

    Are they granted exclusive rights to market or do they have competition?

    Are they like the Beeb with its recently cunted license fee?

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      • Thanks for the info Doc.

        I’m still a bit confused but one thing that seems clear to me is that Ofgem is the real cunt in this clusterfuck.

    • Good questions General and I’m not sure how good answers I can give. Basically energy, telecomms, water and main drainage were traditionally state owned in the UK. Under Margaret Thatcher’s regime in the eighties they were hived off into the private sector along with other areas like social housing. Now as regards water supply and drainage there exists in reality a monopoly. I can only buy these services from one company, Thames Water and am reliant on the regulator to prevent me being charged £1 per gallon. Gas and electricity I have a wide range of suppliers to choose from. Nevertheless they are both hugely expensive in the UK despite there being a regulator supposedly to protect the consumer. Gas is between 6p and 7p per kilowatt hour and electricity between 23p and 26p per kwh varying with location. On top of these charges are fixed daily charges of 6p to 7p per kwh for gas and 23p to 26p per kwh for electricity. These prices are as catastrophic as they sound. Consider nearly all of the UK is north of the fiftieth parallel and it’s glaringly obvious why impecunious Brits freeze to death in their homes every winter. Telecomms on the other hand have benefited enormously from privatisation. I have a huge list of suppliers, the prices have collapsed since privatisation and years ago we couldn’t have dreamt of the range of services now available.

      Hope that helps.

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    • General,

      The companies in question were all once state owned monopolies, sold off in the late ’80s and early ’90s by the Conservartive mob at the time.

      The problem with state ownership was that these industries were very heavily unionised, those unions funding the Labour party, so the workers were prone to striking to attempt to force a change of gov if it was not to their liking, ie not Labour.

      There were many ways of dealing with this problem, selling the companies off was not the best solution.

      Standing charges are a legacy that should long since have been removed, instead of now funding shareholders and the Board of Directors. They were first implemented in order to help pay for the infrastructure of whatever was being supplied; sewers, powerlines etc, because there were not yet enough customers to cover the costs of the infrastructure, so these costs were borne by gov, local and national, and the SC was a way of recouping them while the profits from said supply funded wages and the day to day running expenses. These costs have since been recouped 10 times over. Today’s SC funds the bubbly for the Board, various bonus-scams, dividends etc, not to mention ‘lobbying’ (bribing) the gov to maintain the status quo, profits are spaffed around between shareholders and very little is actually reinvested in infrastructure, see any water company in the UK.

      You are correct that the regulators are an enormous part of the problem.

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    • The fact that these fuckers come and go as they please is a total fucking joke. They entered the country illegally thus a criminal offence has been committed. The skanky bastards should be held in secure camps on Dartmoor. But NO their human rights come a long long way before ours. What’s a few diddled kids compared to the joy of licking out the EU arsehole.

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  21. Wasn’t at home for 3 months due to family problems so I switched off all electricity at consumer box. I’m on a prepayment meter
    I was £50+ in debt
    Presumably fucking standing charge as I had used nothing.
    What a fucking rip off

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