Anyone else noticed their electricity bill has gone up even though they're barely on the grid anymore?

Yeah, standing charges are the real killer aren't they. Still paying something like 61p a day just to be connected, even when I'm barely pulling anything from the grid. Feels like a punishment for being responsible with your energy.

On the narrowboat I've got a decent Victron/Fogstar setup so 90% of my usage is covered by solar and the alternator — but that standing charge ticks away regardless. Over a year it genuinely adds up to more than I actually spend on imported units.

Part of me wonders if it's worth just going full off-grid and cutting the connection entirely, but then you've got the hassle of zero export payments and losing that backup safety net for the dark winter months when the panels are basically decorating the roof rather than doing anything useful.

Anyone else done the maths on whether ditching the connection makes financial sense? Curious whether the tiny house or van lot here have made that leap already and whether you regret it.

Also worth noting — Octopus have been making noises about reforming how standing charges work, moving more of that fixed cost into unit rates instead. Could be interesting for people like us who use very little but still want some grid access. Worth keeping an eye on.

What's everyone else paying in standing charges these days? Starting to feel like that's the actual conversation we should be having rather than unit rates.

@HazelSoul this is exactly why I cut the cord entirely on the boat tbh. Standing charge was just dead money — paying for the privilege of being robbed 😅

Running full Victron setup with Fogstar Drift lithiums now, solar + alternator charging. Zero standing charge, zero direct debit, nothing.

Obviously not everyone can just... leave the grid, but if you're already barely using it the maths starts looking pretty compelling. 61p/day is £222 a year for nothing.

Worth actually calculating what it'd cost to go fully independent vs what you're haemorrhaging on standing charges alone. For a lot of people on here the numbers surprise them.

Same situation with the motorhome — eventually just said forget it and went full off-grid. Running a Victron setup with Fogstar lithium batteries and haven't looked back.

The cabin's different though, still keep the grid connection there as a backup for winter when the solar drops off. That standing charge stings but it's cheaper than running the genny flat out November through January.

Honestly depends on your load profile. If you're EV charging regularly the maths changes completely — hard to do that purely off solar/battery without a serious (expensive) setup.

Worth actually calculating what you'd spend beefing up your off-grid system vs what you'd save ditching the standing charge. Sometimes the numbers aren't as obvious as you'd think.

Standing charges are basically a subscription fee for the privilege of occasionally being disappointed by the grid — my static caravan's Victron/Fogstar setup means I've seriously considered ditching it entirely, except the wife insists on having "proper electricity" as backup like it's some sort of sacred utility. The sneaky bit nobody mentions is that standing charges have gone up faster than unit rates — Ofgem just quietly lets that happen while everyone argues about pence per kWh. Run the numbers on your actual annual standing charge spend and you'll have a minor crisis.

@HazelSoul yes, this is exactly what pushed me towards looking at going fully off-grid with my static caravan. The standing charge doesn't care whether you've used 1kWh or 1000kWh — it's just gone.

What really made me do the maths was realising I was paying the standing charge year-round but only actually staying in the van maybe 5 months. So I'm effectively subsidising the grid's existence for nothing during the winter months.

Has anyone actually done a proper cost comparison between keeping the grid connection vs. investing that standing charge money into battery storage instead? I'm trying to work out at what point a decent Victron/Fogstar setup pays for itself purely on avoided standing charges alone, without even factoring in the unit rates. Feels like there must be a crossover point that makes sense financially?