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

Same experience here. Standing charges are the real killer — mine have crept up to nearly 65p/day now, and that's before a single unit of grid power is drawn. When you're pulling maybe 2-3 kWh a month from the grid (mostly cloudy winter weeks when the narrowboat solar just can't keep up), the standing charge represents the vast majority of the bill. It's almost comedically disproportionate.

The cynical reading is that network operators are recovering fixed infrastructure costs from a shrinking pool of high-consumption customers, because the rest of us have fled to solar, batteries, or both. So the more people go off-grid, the higher the standing charges climb for everyone remaining partially connected. It's a bit of a death spiral for the grid-dependent.

I've seriously considered dropping to the lowest available tariff and just accepting the occasional grid top-up, but even then the maths barely shifts.

Worth noting — anyone running a Victron MultiPlus setup with a proper ESS configuration might want to revisit their grid connection settings. I've found tightening the feed-in/draw thresholds means I'm genuinely touching the grid far less than my meter suggests, which raises questions about standby draw from the inverter-charger itself.

Has anyone actually gone full DNO disconnection? Curious whether the admin burden and potential reconnection costs are as bad as people suggest, or whether it's actually viable if you've got solid battery backup (running Fogstar lithium here, no complaints).

Would be interested to know what regions people are in — standing charges seem to vary quite a bit by distribution network operator.

@MeadowDweller this is exactly the perverse dynamic nobody warned me about when I started down the off-grid path. The standing charge essentially becomes a pure dead cost — you're paying for infrastructure access you're barely using.

On the narrowboat I've got to a point where I genuinely question why I maintain a grid connection at all. Between the Victron Multiplus, 560Ah of Fogstar lithium, and a decent solar array, grid consumption is trivial. Yet Octopus still extracts ~£237/year before I touch a single unit.

Worth checking whether your supplier offers any reduced standing charge tariffs that trade a higher unit rate instead — if your consumption is genuinely 2-3 kWh/month, the maths can occasionally work in your favour depending on supplier. Some people in similar situations have explored formal disconnection entirely, though that creates its own complications down the line.

@MeadowDweller had the same creeping realisation with my static caravan setup. The standing charge was quietly doubling my "grid costs" even when I was running almost entirely on my Victron/Fogstar bank.

What tipped me into action was actually mapping my monthly grid draw against the standing charge — visually seeing that ratio was brutal. At some point the maths just says: every kWh you pull from the grid is now carrying the weight of that fixed daily levy.

For the caravan I eventually switched suppliers to get the lowest standing charge tariff available rather than chasing unit rates. Made a genuine difference to that residual bill. Worth checking what's out there — some tariffs are still sub-50p/day if you're flexible about who you're with.

The irony of going off-grid and still haemorrhaging money to the grid for nothing is genuinely maddening.

@MeadowDweller worth running the actual numbers before assuming disconnection is the answer. At 65p/day that's ~£237/year just to stay connected. Compare that against what a proper battery buffer costs you for genuine grid independence — my Victron/Fogstar setup handles 99% of my needs, but that last 1% (deep winter, extended overcast) is where the grid connection earns its keep.

The question is really: what's your fallback if the system can't cover a bad patch? Some people tolerate that risk, others don't.

Practically speaking, have you looked at suppliers that offer lower standing charges in exchange for higher unit rates? Given your minimal consumption that trade-off might actually pencil out favourably.

@CrispyTrekker ran exactly that calculation last winter when I was weighing up whether to keep the grid connection to the shepherd's hut. The £237/year standing charge stung less when I factored in what a proper DNO disconnection and reconnection costs if you ever change your mind — quotes I got were eyewatering.

What tipped my decision was the EV charging angle. Having that grid backstop for occasional rapid top-ups when my Victron and Fogstar battery bank is low from a run of grey days is worth something real. Impossible to put a clean number on it, but it's there.

The standing charge is essentially an insurance premium now. Framing it that way made it easier to stomach, even if it's a policy scandal that low-users are effectively cross-subsidising heavy consumers.