Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of standing charges on retirees in Devon.

We know that too much of the burden of the bill is placed on standing charges. We are committed to lowering the cost of standing charges and have worked constructively with the regulator, Ofgem, on this issue. Ofgem has carried out detailed distributional analysis as part of its wider work on standing charges.

In February, Ofgem launched a consultation ‘Introducing a zero standing charge energy price cap variant’ - https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consultation/introducing-zero-standing-charge-energy-price-cap-variant. Under these proposals, consumers would have the option of tariffs with a zero standing charge within the price cap.

The consultation closed on 20 March and we stand ready to continue work with Ofgem on this matter.