It’s not the news anybody wants to hear when planning their festive activities and possibly stretching their budgets more than usual, but it’s important to keep in mind the news that Ofgem has today (Thursday the 23rd of November) announced that energy prices will rise by around 5% from the 1st of January.

For the ‘typical user’ in Cheshire and Merseyside (based on an annual usage of 2,700kWh of electricity and 11,500kWh of gas, and our local tariff and daily standing charge rates) this will mean the average monthly direct debit payment of £163 will rise to £171.

Obviously, it’s bad to hear these prices are rising, when so many people are already finding energy costs unaffordable. But it’s worth looking further ahead, to Spring 2024 when Cornwall Insight (being the company that Martin Lewis relies upon for future energy bill predictions) expect the Price Cap to drop by 6% from the 1st of April. This means the £171 monthly payment will become £161.

If you’re in credit with your energy supplier, they may not even look to increase your direct debit payment for these three months.

You can read the full Ofgem press release by clicking here.

Energy Projects Plus Chief Executive, Peter Owen, spoke to Helen Jones on BBC Radio Merseyside about the Price Cap and how important it is for people to take action wherever they can, to reduce the amount of energy they’re using, to avoid waste and keep bills under control. You can hear the full interview below:

Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brierley (right)

During a recent visit to Energy Projects Plus by Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brierley (pictured, right, at a community engagement event delivered by our Jo and Katie), our team of Energy Advisors were keen to highlight to him how unfair we feel it is for prepay customers to be expected to find additional funds to cover their daily standing charge, on days when they don’t use any energy (either through deliberate choice, or because they can’t afford it).

Each Autumn we receive panicked calls from residents who have topped-up their gas meter for the first time since Spring. They’ve spent their last £10 and the meter still isn’t providing their family with any warmth. Has something broken? No, unfortunately, the current standing charge rate of 34.2p per day for prepay gas meters in Merseyside and Cheshire, means over 6 months they will owe £62 for daily standing charge costs, which they have to pay before they are allowed to access any gas through their meter. For electricity meters the current rate is 64.33p per day in our region. Combined, they add £360 to the annual bill.

We’re not alone in thinking something needs to change: Citizens Advice, NEA, Fuelbank Foundation, Martin Lewis, and others have been active in challenging government regarding the nature of standing charges.

What are standing charges?

A client’s smart meter display, showing a debt of £65.48 outstanding.

The standing charge is a cost that is included in each electricity and gas bill. It is a cost set by your supplier. It is also included in the energy price cap that Ofgem reviews and sets every three months. Your supplier will charge you this cost each day, even if you do not use any energy on that day. The amount you pay will depend on your supplier and where you live within England, Scotland or Wales. 

The charge covers the cost to maintain the energy supply network, take meter readings, and support government social schemes, for example helping people that cannot afford energy, and environmental schemes. 

Some suppliers do not include a standing charge in their tariffs. Instead, they offer a tariff that works in a similar way, but you pay a bit more for the first one or two units called kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy you use. 

How do I have my say?

Ofgem has today (16th November) announced it’s opening up the debate about standing charges. They want to hear views from: 

• consumers, people who pay the electricity or gas bill in their household 

• energy sector, including suppliers 

• consumer groups 

• charities 

How to respond

Read Ofgem’s standing charges call for input discussion paper and reply by emailing your views to StandingCharges@ofgem.gov.uk by Friday 19 January 2024.

A team of 14 employees from BYK Additives Ltd, based in Runcorn, completed The Dales Way challenge in three days and raised £10,000 for good causes.

The Dales Way runs for a gruelling distance of 80 miles from Ilkley in west Yorkshire to Bowness-on-Windermere in Cumbria, passing through the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the foothills of southern Lakeland to the shores of Lake Windermere.

Three charities were selected to receive the shared total sum of fundraising made by the company – The Lee Cooper Foundation, Widnes Food Bank and Energy Projects Plus.

A BYK spokesman said: “The group was made-up of employees from a number of different departments, including research and development, process engineering, IT, finance, quality, operations, site services and even a retired member of staff return to support the event.

Yesterday (Tuesday 31 October 2023), Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brearley saw the benefits of the energy regulator’s robust enforcement action when he visited our office, and joined us at a community event at the nearby Cherry Tree shopping centre in Wallasey (pictured).  

Thanks to us bidding successfully for a grant of £446,898 through the Energy Redress Scheme, our “Warm and Well” project is delivering energy advice to residents from Birkenhead to Bollington with household energy saving tips, understanding bills, how to contact suppliers and accessing grants and schemes for home energy improvements, all as part of our mission to reduce fuel poverty.  

Energy Projects Plus Chief Executive, Peter Owen, said: “The Energy Redress scheme provides vital support to our organisation. It enables us to give free advice and assistance to vulnerable residents across Cheshire and Merseyside, meaning they can keep warm and well in their home at a cost they can afford.”

Ofgem’s tough enforcement activity means that when an energy company breaches its service level requirements, the company is issued with a penalty notice. If improvements are not subsequently made, this can result in a fine. These penalty monies are then channelled into the Energy Redress Fund, and Energy Saving Trust helps make sure this cash goes to the right places, people and projects.  

With a rise of 100,000 in the number of fuel poor households in England to 3.26 million in 2022, meaning that 13.9% of households across Cheshire and Merseyside are in fuel poverty, this support is now more vital than ever.

Energy Saving Trust took on the management of the Energy Redress scheme in 2018 and have already redistributed over £100 million from Ofgem fines to targeted projects, meaning that over 500,000 households have also been reached with energy advice. 

At the visit, Jonathan Brearley met customers and staff and heard how the service customers are getting from some energy suppliers is still not good enough.  

Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brearley said: “Although it is great to see the money from our enforcement action making a positive difference in the local area, I am disheartened to hear that some customers can still not get through to their supplier on the phone, despite the minimum standards we have put in place. It is clear that more still needs to be done.” 

Tom Pridgeon interviews Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brierley

While visiting our office, Jonathan was interviewed for BBC Radio Merseyside, by reporter Tom Pridgeon. You can listen to the interview via our YouTube channel, here: https://youtu.be/6E7aUE_FaXk

Energy Projects Plus has helped over 9,000 households across the Wirral over the last year alone, and is pioneering joined up approaches such as GP heat referrals, as well as a study with Liverpool University.