It drives me crazy that the price cap is announced and reported based on a yearly cost for the average consumer. We all get charged based on prices per kWh, why isn't the cap discussed using the same metric?
this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
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It probably should also be reported as such. But they're going for ease of understanding.
All you need to remember and understand is how your household compares to the average. Higher lower or about the same and you can make a (fairly decent) guess as to how your bills will change quickly. That's the main goal.
Telling the vast majority of mathematically and scientifically illiterate scum (obviously I'm joking 😜) of the UK about the changes in kWh you then have to know what a kWh is and how much you use and what that means for your overall bill. A much more complicated equation than the former.
I'm sure somewhere for those that are interested it is expressed in these terms but for a mass communication I don't see the issue with how they're doing it.
It could be reported alongside the yearly igure, in brackets, or a greyed out "*" note. I would write it like "Ofgem have announced the new energy price cap to be 30p per kWh for electricity and 7p per kWh for gas, making an average household bill to amount to £1638 per year" I don't think that would be confusing.
What I find more frustrating is even after having spent some time searching I couldn't find the actual kWh figures.
Saying that, I just foudn what I was looking for :) https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/changes-energy-price-cap-between-1-april-30-june-2024
Energy price cap rates 1 April to 30 June 2024 Electricity rates
If you are on a standard variable tariff (default tariff) and pay for your electricity by Direct Debit, you will pay on average 24.50 pence per kilowatt hour (kWh). The daily standing charge is 60.10 pence per day. This is based on the average across England, Scotland and Wales and includes VAT. Gas rates
If you are on a standard variable tariff (default tariff) and pay for your gas by Direct Debit, you will pay on average 6.04 pence per kilowatt hour (kWh). The daily standard charge is 31.43 pence per day. This is based on the average across England, Scotland and Wales and includes VAT.
Read about typical household energy use and how the energy price cap is calculated on our Average gas and electricity use explained page.
View and compare 1 April to 30 June 2024 and 1 January to 21 March 2024 Energy price cap standing charges and unit rates by region.
You can also get and compare all the Energy price cap (default tariff) levels.
However this says "average", and I now understand why they announce it like they do.
The price cap is different per region! https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/get-energy-price-cap-standing-charges-and-unit-rates-region
Fuck you if you don't live in or near London I guess
You noticed that too right. The 33% difference in standing charge from north and south seems very much like "fuck you" indeed.
A bigger question is why energy prices are still linked to gas prices, and not decoupled for renewables.
People would kick off when the price goes sky high and they have to pay it because they didn't realise or no one told them, or whatever.
Don't underestimate how stupid everyone is.
If you're on a renewables tariff your prices would go down. It would encourage people to switch. Otherwise you're prices would be no different to current.
Because as I type this wind and solar combined are accounting for around 12% of generating capacity and over the course of a year gas sti makes up the biggest slice
OK, sure. But why should I, someone on a 100% renewable tariff, continue to pay energy prices that are dictated by a energy source I'm not using? That makes no sense to me.
You're not. It's a cap. So, I'm on an agile rate with octopus and there are times when my electricity prices are negative.
How? We're also with Octopus and our prices have never been negative.
You on Agile? With prices that change every 30 minutes?
Ah, no, we're not. We're on 'flexible', so that makes sense. Thanks.
Because this is the natural state of a market. Everything end up roughly at the same price, the price that buyers are willing to pay.