Standing Charges Explained: Why You Pay Even When Using No Energy

Standing charges annoy people more than almost anything else on an energy bill. You go away for a fortnight, use zero gas and electricity, and still come back to a charge. It feels wrong. But the fees exist for a reason, even if the amounts feel excessive.

What They’re Paying For

Your standing charge covers the cost of keeping you connected to the energy grid. That includes maintaining and reading your meter (and funding the smart meter rollout), maintaining the pipes and wires that deliver energy to your area, distribution costs (which vary by region, because getting energy to rural Cornwall costs more than getting it to central Birmingham), a share of government policy costs like the Warm Home Discount, and your supplier’s operating costs for things like billing and customer service.

None of this is directly related to how much energy you use, which is why it’s a fixed daily charge rather than a per-unit one.

What You’re Actually Paying

Under the Q1 2026 price cap, electricity standing charges are about 54.75p a day (roughly £200 a year) and gas is about 35.10p a day (roughly £128 a year). That’s around £328 a year before you’ve used a single unit of energy. And these rates change each quarter when the price cap is updated.

Why They’ve Gone Up So Much

Standing charges have roughly doubled since 2021, which understandably winds people up. Several things drove the increase. When energy companies went bust in 2021 and 2022, the cost of moving their customers to new suppliers got absorbed into everyone’s standing charges. The grid is being upgraded to handle more renewable energy and electric vehicles, and those costs are passed through. The smart meter rollout isn’t free either. And Ofgem rebalanced how network costs are split between regions, which pushed some areas’ charges up.

Can You Get a Zero Standing Charge Tariff?

They exist, but they’re rarely a good deal. Zero standing charge tariffs compensate with higher unit rates. For most households, the maths works out worse. To take a rough example: a standard tariff with a £200 standing charge and a 27.69p unit rate costs less for a typical household than a zero standing charge tariff at 38p per unit. The only people who might benefit are very low users - someone with a second home they barely visit, say, or a property that’s empty most of the year.

Empty Properties

If you own a property that’s sitting empty - maybe you’re a landlord between tenants, or you’ve inherited a place - you’re still paying standing charges every day. Your options are to just keep paying (simplest for short periods), disconnect the supply entirely (saves money but costs to reconnect and takes time), or switch to a prepayment meter. For anything under a year, the hassle and reconnection costs of disconnecting usually aren’t worth it.

Prepayment Meter Quirk

If you’re on a prepayment meter, standing charges get deducted from your credit every day, even when you’re not using any energy. This catches people out - you go on holiday, come back, and find your credit’s been eaten away by standing charges whilst you were gone. If it goes far enough, you can actually end up in debt on your meter without having used anything.

The Fairness Debate

There’s a genuine argument about whether standing charges are fair. The case for them is that fixed costs should be recovered through fixed charges, and that everyone benefits from being connected to the grid whether they use a lot of energy or not. The case against is that high standing charges hit low-income households hardest, and that people who use less energy should pay less overall.

Some campaigners want standing charges scrapped entirely, with those costs rolled into unit rates instead. That would benefit light users and cost heavy users more. It’s a live political issue, but no changes are on the table right now.

What You Can Do

You can’t opt out of standing charges, but you can make sure you’re not overpaying. When comparing tariffs, always look at total costs including standing charges, not just unit rates. Check whether a zero standing charge tariff might work for your specific usage level (probably not, but worth checking). If you’re eligible for the Warm Home Discount, that’s £150 off your bill. And make sure you’re not paying standing charges on a property that’s been disconnected - it does happen.