A standing charge is a fixed daily fee that gets added to your energy bill, regardless of how much gas or electricity you use. Even if you switched everything off and didn’t use a single unit of energy all day, you would still pay this set daily amount.
The money from your standing charge doesn't pay for the energy itself. Instead, it covers the essential, behind-the-scenes costs of keeping your home connected to the wider network. This generally includes:
Maintaining the grid: Upgrading and repairing the national network of wires, pipes, and pylons that physically carry energy to your house.
Supplier costs: General expenses for suppliers like us, including customer support.
Government initiatives: Funding for some national environmental schemes and financial support programs for vulnerable households.
Costs of failed suppliers: When electricity suppliers go bust, the cost of moving their customers to a new supplier and protecting their credit balances goes on to the standing charge (when gas suppliers go bust, those costs are usually added on to the unit rate).
Standing charges are different in different regions. Find out why.
We think that standing charges are too high. Find out what we're doing to bring them down.