Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of equalising energy standing charges across regions of the UK.

The standing charge reflects the ongoing costs that fall on energy suppliers to provide and maintain a live supply, regardless of a consumer’s usage. One component of these costs relates to distribution. It costs more to distribute electricity to some regions than others, therefore there are regional variations in standing charges to reflect higher costs to serve.

Under the Energy Price Guarantee, average standing charges for customers on default tariffs remain capped in line with the levels set by Ofgem.