A standing charge is a fixed amount added to a gas or electricity bill for every day you are connected to the supply. It does not depend on how much energy you use: you pay it every day, even if you use nothing. The rest of the bill is made up of the unit rate, a price per kilowatt-hour.
What it pays for
Standing charges cover costs that do not rise or fall much with each household’s use. The main ones are:
- Network costs for building, running and maintaining the cables and pipes that bring energy to homes.
- Supplier operating costs such as billing, metering and customer service.
- Some policy costs, meaning government schemes funded through energy bills.
From April 2026, Ofgem moved the cost of the Warm Home Discount scheme from standing charges to unit rates.
UK levels
For default tariffs in Great Britain, the energy price cap limits standing charges. Averages for direct debit customers from 1 October to 31 December 2026:
| Fuel | Daily standing charge | Over a year (365 days) |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity | 54.83p (excluding VAT) | about £200 |
| Gas | 29.68p (including 5% VAT) | about £108 |
Standing charges vary by region, because network costs differ across the country. The price cap includes an adjustment so that prepayment and direct debit customers pay the same standing charge.
Why it matters
Because the charge is fixed, it makes up a bigger share of the bill for households that use little energy. Ofgem has said it cannot remove these costs, only move them between the standing charge and the unit rate. From June 2026 it is running a one-year pilot in which some suppliers offer tariffs with lower standing charges and higher unit rates. Whether such a tariff costs less depends on how much energy a home uses. This is general information, not financial advice.
Read more: Energy bills this winter: a 4% cap rise, VAT off electricity, and a forecast 16% jump in January.