Treasury scraps gas bill standing charges for millions of households
Millions of households will no longer pay fixed daily gas standing charges under plans confirmed by the Treasury ahead of the Budget, with average savings of around £45 a year.
The Treasury has confirmed that fixed daily standing charges will be removed from household gas bills, a change that would benefit millions of households. The announcement was made ahead of the Chancellor's Budget, with the measure expected to be set out in the speech. Reports on the plan said the removal would save British families an average of £45 a year.
Standing charges are fixed daily fees applied separately to gas and electricity bills. They are charged every day regardless of how much energy a household uses, which means they add a set cost to each bill before any energy is consumed. Because the charge is the same whatever a household's usage, it falls most heavily on those who use the least energy.
The reported plan describes the charges as a fixed daily fee added to bills, and coverage of the announcement characterised them as unfair. Chancellor John Healey was named in reports as the minister who would announce the removal of standing charges from gas bills in the Budget. Coverage of the Budget also noted that the measure would apply from next year, with the Treasury confirming plans for the change as part of the Chancellor's Autumn Budget.
The policy is presented as part of a wider Budget package, and live coverage of the Chancellor's speech followed the announcement, with updates tracking the statement as Londoners awaited the speech. Households will see the effect on their bills once the change takes effect next year, and the scale of the saving, an average of £45 a year per family, is the figure the Treasury and reporting on the plan have put forward so far.
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