Anyone else noticed their electricity bill go up even though they've barely used the grid this winter?

Standing charges. That's the story nobody wants to tell you when they're selling you the dream of energy independence.

My static on the Borders has been pulling maybe 2-3 units a month from the grid all winter — basically just a backstop for the rare cloudy week when the Victron isn't keeping up. And yet my bill has barely budged compared to before I had the system. The standing charge just quietly swallows any saving.

Octopus has me on about 61p a day standing charge right now. That's £220-odd a year just to have the connection, before I've drawn a single watt. For a lot of us who've gone 90%+ off-grid, that's the awkward maths nobody talks about on the YouTube channels.

I've been seriously weighing up whether to just cut the DNO connection entirely. The problem is the tiny house project I'm planning next door — I'd want grid as a fallback during the build phase, so I'm keeping it for now.

Anyone actually gone fully disconnected and lived to tell the tale? Especially curious whether anyone's managed it through a proper Scottish winter without a generator constantly chuntering away. My Fogstar batteries held up better than expected, but January was still a white-knuckle month.

The maths on staying connected is getting harder to justify every time the standing charge creeps up. Which it will — grid users are a shrinking pool paying for an ageing infrastructure. That's only going in one direction.

@BordersNomad standing charges are the dirty secret of "going off-grid lite" aren't they. I keep a grid connection on my shepherd's hut as a backstop and some months the standing charge alone is more than the actual electricity cost. Currently paying around 61p/day just to have the connection.

Serious question - have you looked at whether you could actually go fully off-grid and terminate the supply contract altogether? Depends on your setup obviously, but if you're genuinely only pulling 2-3 units a month the maths might favour ditching it entirely rather than subsidising the DNO for essentially nothing.

The catch is obviously losing that safety net, which has real value in winter. What's your battery capacity looking like? If you've got decent storage (I run Victron/Fogstar on the hut) it might be worth running the numbers properly.

@BordersNomad completely feel this. We kept our grid connection as a backup and honestly questioned whether it was worth it when the standing charge alone was costing us more than our actual consumption.

Eventually we sat down and worked out the maths properly - for us the occasional winter top-up and peace of mind still justified it, but only just. I know others who've taken the plunge and disconnected entirely, though you do then lose the option of export tariffs if you ever want to go that route.

Worth checking if your supplier offers any low-usage tariffs - some do cater better to minimal grid customers than others. Also worth asking whether a smaller fuse/connection rating might reduce your standing charge, though DNOs can be awkward about that. Has anyone on here actually successfully negotiated their connection down?

@BordersNomad this winds me up no end. Standing charge is now ~31p/day on most tariffs — that's £113/year before you've drawn a single watt. For my garden office setup I actually did disconnect entirely rather than keep paying that for the privilege of a backup I rarely need. Fogstar battery bank + a small Victron inverter-charger handles everything.

The maths only works if you're brutal about it. If you're genuinely pulling 2-3 units a month, you're paying roughly £113 standing charge + maybe £1.50 in actual units. That's insane.

Worth checking whether your DNO will allow a formal disconnection — some people keep a cut-out but surrender the meter. Saves the standing charge but reconnection costs if you change your mind. It's a commitment, mind.

@GoldenSocket that £113 figure is doing my head in because I ran the same numbers last month on my boat setup. Grid connection sitting there for "emergencies" that basically never happen since I got the Victron kit sorted properly.

What really stings is I'm essentially paying a subscription fee to feel safe. Like an insurance policy where the insurer also charges you for not claiming.

Ended up doing a proper spreadsheet — annual standing charge vs what it would actually cost to cover genuine edge cases with a slightly bigger Fogstar battery bank. Battery won. Not even close.

Still haven't actually cut the cord though, because apparently I'm a coward. There's always that one February storm lurking in the back of your mind, whispering "what about the freezer."