What is a standing charge on your energy bill?
A standing charge is a fixed daily fee you pay for gas and electricity before you have used a single unit. It covers the cost of keeping you connected to the grid, maintaining the network of pipes and wires, and funding some government schemes. Standing charges turn up on every bill, whether you have been at home all month or away the whole time.
You pay one standing charge for electricity and, if you have mains gas, a second one for gas. They are set in pence per day, and under the energy price cap they sit at a level the regulator, Ofgem, reviews every three months. The other half of your bill is the unit rate, which is what you pay for each kilowatt hour of energy you actually use.
What does a standing charge actually pay for?
The daily fee bundles together several costs that are not directly linked to how much energy you burn. The main ones are maintaining and upgrading the cables and pipes that bring energy to your door, keeping the system balanced, and covering the cost when a supplier goes bust and its customers are moved elsewhere.
Because these costs are fixed rather than tied to usage, they sit in the standing charge rather than the unit rate. That is the heart of the debate, and it is why the fee feels unfair to people who use very little.
Do you still pay a standing charge if you use no energy?
Yes. On a standard tariff, the standing charge applies every day, even if you use nothing at all, which is exactly why it frustrates so many people. A flat that sits empty for a month, or a low-use home where someone is careful with every appliance, still racks up the daily fee for both fuels.
That is the single biggest thing to understand before you go shopping for a new deal. The standing charge is the cost you cannot avoid through good habits alone, so the only way to change it is to change your tariff.
Why standing charges became such a flashpoint
Standing charges have climbed over the past few years, and a lot of households feel they are paying a sizeable chunk before they have done anything to control their usage. That stings most for people who use very little energy, such as those in smaller homes, single occupancy households, or anyone who is away often.
The frustration is real and well documented. Ofgem has had tens of thousands of responses to its consultations on standing charges, and the campaigner Martin Lewis has argued for years that the fixed fee unfairly penalises lower users and people on tight budgets. The counter argument is that the costs inside the standing charge still have to be paid by someone, so cutting it usually means adding to the unit rate instead.
What is changing for standing charges in 2026?
Two things shifted this year. First, from 1 April 2026 standing charges fell by around £39 a year on average, because the cost of funding the Warm Home Discount was moved onto unit rates rather than the daily fee. That is a rebalancing rather than a clean saving, so what you pay overall still depends on how much energy you use.
Second, Ofgem has launched a one year pilot of lower standing charge tariffs. These are being offered first to eligible customers of suppliers including EDF, E.ON, Octopus and British Gas, with Ofgem encouraging others to take part. A promised target for every supplier to offer a low or no standing charge option by January 2026 was missed, so for now this is a trial that reaches some customers rather than a rule that covers everyone.
You can read the regulator’s own explanation of the plan on Ofgem’s lower standing charge tariffs page, which is the best place to check the latest position as more suppliers join.
Are no standing charge tariffs worth it?
It depends almost entirely on how much energy you use. A no standing charge tariff scraps the daily fee, which looks great on the surface, but it almost always comes with a higher unit rate to make up the difference. As a rule, the lower the standing charge, the more you tend to pay for each unit you actually use.
A low or no standing charge tariff can suit a low use home, such as a small flat, a holiday or second property, or somewhere that sits empty for long stretches. For a busy family home that gets through a lot of gas and electricity, the higher unit rate can quietly outweigh the saving on the daily fee. There is no fixed limit on how high a supplier can set the unit rate to balance a zero standing charge, so “no standing charge” is not the same thing as “cheaper”.
The only reliable way to judge it is to compare the total estimated annual cost for your own usage, not just the headline standing charge.
How to keep your standing charges and unit rates in check
Start by finding your current rates. Your latest bill or online account shows your standing charge in pence per day and your unit rate in pence per kilowatt hour for both fuels. Knowing those two numbers is most of the battle.
Then work from your real usage, not an estimate. An accurate meter reading stops your supplier guessing your bills and gives you a true picture of how much you use, which is what decides whether a lower standing charge tariff helps or hurts. If you have a smart meter, it is worth knowing how to read it so you can track your usage day to day.
If you decide a different tariff suits you better, switching is usually straightforward, and you do not always need to ring your old supplier first. Our guide on whether you need to contact your energy supplier when you switch walks through what actually happens.
The bottom line on standing charges
Standing charges are not going away, but you now have a little more choice about how much of your bill sits in the fixed daily fee versus the unit rate. A low or no standing charge tariff can be a smart move for a low use home and a poor one for a heavy user, so the right answer is genuinely personal.
Before you change anything, compare the full estimated annual cost for your usage, keep an eye on Ofgem’s pilot as more suppliers join, and remember that the cheapest looking standing charge does not always add up to the cheapest bill.
