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Why does my business pay a standing charge?

All customers pay a standing charge to stay connected to the energy network

This is a fixed daily charge that keeps your business on the grid.

It’s one of the main ways suppliers charge you for your energy, along with the cost of the amount you consume.

Your standing charge stays the same no matter how much you use.

Think of it like line rental on your landline phone: even if you don’t make any calls, you still pay to keep your phone line active.


It's made up of a few different costs

These are the components that make up the overall charge:

  • Maintaining the energy network - all connected homes and businesses pay towards upkeep of the network. This keeps things like cables and pylons working all over the country

  • Balancing services - this is a pot of money that National Grid uses to ensure it doesn’t have either too little or too much energy available to meet national demand

  • Transporting your energy across the network - this splits into 2 categories:

    • Transmission charges - the cost of transporting the energy you need from the generator to your local distributor

    • Distribution charges - the cost of transporting the energy from your distributor to you

  • Giving to national initiatives - energy consumers pay towards government action in the energy market. This includes:

These costs vary according to your meter type and where you live. For example, customers who live further away from power generators pay more in transmission charges.

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