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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the impact that (a) reducing or (b) removing the standing charge on energy bills will have on alleviating cost pressures on consumers.

Energy suppliers use standing charges to recover the on-going costs to provide a live supply, regardless of a consumer’s usage.

The largest element of the standing charge is the cost of the electricity and gas transmission and distribution networks, which vary depending on different geographical area. Reducing or removing the standing charge would likely see the system costs being added to the unit price of energy. This could result in increased bills for high energy users, such as those with medical equipment used at home.