A petition calling on the government to scrap daily standing charges on energy bills has been raised in Parliament this week on the back of a jump in such costs in recent years.
Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) MP Martyn Day introduced the petition earlier this week with daily standing charges having become a topic of controversy as bills have climbed.
“At a time of soaring energy costs and a cost of living crisis, there is no doubt that high standing charges are a major burden for many,” Day said.
Such charges hit low energy users in particular, he added, given they prevent the “ability to reduce [...] bills by reducing energy consumption”.
Daily standing charges do not relate to consumption but are instead included in consumer bills to cover the likes of networking and the costs of supplier failures.
Given they are fixed depending on where customers live, typically costing 53p for electricity and 30p for gas per day respectively, such charges have repeatedly been criticised for reducing the effectiveness of cutting down on energy usage to save on bills.
Some 20,000 people responded to an Ofgem review of the charges which ended last week, according to the regulator, suggesting mass frustration over the costs.
Standing charges themselves have doubled over the past two years, as energy prices have also soared above historic levels following the pandemic and war in Ukraine.
Ofgem has proposed to hike standing charges further come April to allow suppliers to recoup debt after the amount owed to energy firms climbed to nearly £3 billion towards the end of last year.
According to Day, abolishing standing charges would “alleviate the financial pressure upon households in the cost of living crisis and [...] encourage responsible energy use for the good of our planet”.