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Wed, 21 Oct 2026

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 Burnham proposes plan to cut standing charges from gas bills

The prime minister provided little detail, and there are questions over shifting the fees onto unit costs.

* Prime Minister Andy Burnham has asked ministers to develop a plan to remove standing charges from gas bills, which are fixed daily fees that cover connection costs.
* Industry body Energy UK says the impact on bills would depend on how or where the charges were reallocated on the bill.
* Research foundation Nesta argues removing standing charges would be a progressive move that would help low-income households and knock £27 off a typical annual bill.
* Average standing charges are 54.8p a day for electricity and 29.7p a day for gas.
* Removing standing charges could be done by moving them to the unit rate, external, so people pay for what they use.
* This would likely benefit customers who don't use much gas, but heavy users could end up paying more.
* The government is running a pilot scheme on low standing charge tariffs, but no firm conclusions have been drawn.
* Vulnerable people who don't have a high income but have high energy usage could be penalised by removing standing charges.