Author: Home Manager

Understanding gas and electricity prices

Gas and electricity prices can vary greatly, this is down to many different factors, but you have the power to drive down the price of your bills by addressing how much you are paying on the standing charge and price per kWh. Understanding the meaning of these terms and what is a good price for both is essential to saving your family money on its energy costs.

Standing charge

A standing charge is the cost of having the electricity supply. It is very similar to when you pay line rental on a landline telephone or a base rate charge. This rate is fixed and does not change depending on your usage or what you spend on your gas or electricity. Standing charges can cover a variety of things such as maintenance, meter charges etc.

What about zero / no-standing charge contracts?

This is when you don’t pay anything for having the electricity or gas delivered to you. You just pay for the electricity or gas you use (referred to as the unit rate or kWh). Homeowners, however, need to be mindful though as having a zero-standing charge as it will more than likely be that you pay more for your gas or electricity.

What is Price per Kilowatt Hour (kWh)
A kWh is a measurement of energy. For example, a 1000 watt product will need 1000 watts (1 kWh) of power to make it work and uses 1 kWh of energy in an hour. The kWh is sometime referred to as the unit rate.

The price of a kWh (unit) can vary depending on how much the supplier wants to charge, it can be anything from 10p and 30p.

What we at Edan Home think
It is essential for people to shop around for a better deal as the savings they could be making are impressive and not to be missed out on. Plus, if you do not shop around for a better deal, utility suppliers could carry on charging what they want for the utility as there would be no competition to help keep the prices down.

Electricity prices; why are they so high?

Electricity prices are up and down, this is due to many different factors, but there is a way Edan Home can help control your bills by auditing how much you are paying on your standing charge and Unit rate price. Edan Home understands electricity prices and the terms used by electricity suppliers, we understand also what a good price for your home means, to help you save money on your electricity costs.

Price per kWh

kWh is how energy is measured a 1000-watt light bulb needs 1000 watts (1 kWh) of power to make it work and uses 1 kWh of energy in an hour. The kWh is called a unit rate in the energy world, electricity is charged by the kWh, so your home’s electricity bills are calculated according to how much KWH you have used.

What is a standing charge?

Standing charges are the costs of having an electricity supply, a bit like a mobile phone contracts monthly rental. It’s normal fixed on a monthly or daily amount and does not change its fixed no matter how much electricity you use. Standing charges vary from supplier to supplier, average standing charge is 28p a day, but this can vary from 10p and go as high has £2. The reason the standing charges vary so much is dependent on how much power you use, in a nut shell the higher the standing charge the lower the unit rate.  Edan Home can assess this for you to make sure you get the correct balance on your electricity contract, example if you’ve hardly any electricity usage you’re better off having a low standing charge, on the other hand if you’ve high daily usage with a  high standing charge, a lower unit rate will be more cost-effective.

What about no-standing charge deals?

No standing charges mean you just pay for the electricity usage. Only a few suppliers offer these types of contracts but be warned only if your electricity usage is low, will a no standing charge contract benefit you. They are good for circumstances such as if you only live there occasionally and not at all for certain times of the year, Edan Home can assess if these will work for you or not.

Are energy price comparison sites good?

How do you compare gas and electricity prices?

It can take a lot of time and effort in finding the right business electricity prices for your home. That’s where comparison sites and experts in the industry such as Edan Home come into the picture to try and take away the problem for you.

Edan Home’s online tool simply takes a few details from you and begins the process of trying to find the right supplier for your home. Rest assured that it’s our priority to get you the best deal.

We do not just look at which supplier is the cheapest we work and understand the supplier features and how they fit with your lifestyle and with what you require. These could include features to help make your life easier such as online billing, good customer service and obviously having a good relationship with yourselves to make it as easy as possible.

What affects gas and electricity prices?

Electricity and gas prices can vary depending on different variety of things such as:

The size of your property
Its average energy consumption
Its location
Which fuels/utilities you require
Your current supplier
The length of your contract

It’s important to understand and consider all of these factors when getting energy supplier quotes.  Prices can be affected by the wholesale cost of gas or electric (the price your supplier pays), hikes in taxes or environmental levies, and even an increase in demand, all of these are sometimes our of both yours and your supplier’s control.

How to choose the best energy deal for your home

Price comparison sites like Edan Home’s are a great place to get started. It’s our job to ensure you understand what you are getting and what the best deal is for you. Fill out one of our simple forms or simply give us a call on 0121 399 0023.