Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing systems to compare energy suppliers' standing charges to consumers' ability to pay for energy.

Changing standard charges would inevitably create trade-offs. Ofgem recently reviewed the components of the standing charge to assess if it could be reduced. They concluded that whilst some low consuming users might benefit, there are a number of higher consuming users, including vulnerable individuals and users with electric heating in areas off the gas grid, that would end up paying more through higher unit rates. As a result, Ofgem decided not to mandate changes to the standing charge calculation methodology.