Posts tagged #standing-charge

DNO standing charges: why your electricity bill is higher than your neighbour's

Two households on identical tariffs with identical usage can pay different electricity bills — purely because of where they live. The culprit is the Distribution Network Operator standing charge, which varies across the UK's 14 DNO regions. For heat pump owners comparing tariffs, understanding this regional variation matters: it affects both your daily standing charge and, on some tariffs, your unit rates.

Economy 7 and heat pumps: why it usually isn't the right tariff in 2026

Economy 7 was designed for storage heaters and immersion tanks in the 1970s. Heat pumps are a different beast — they run throughout the day, not just overnight. That mismatch, combined with Economy 7's high daytime rate, means most heat pump households end up paying more on E7 than they would on a modern time-of-use tariff. Here's why — and the narrow cases where Economy 7 still makes sense.