Day 16 | Proposal 15
15
Abolish Energy Standing Charges
No daily charge simply for being connected.
Current policy — Manifesto 1.1
Abolish domestic electricity and gas standing charges while allowing genuine network and administrative costs to be recovered fairly through unit pricing, with regulatory scrutiny to prevent excessive pricing, disguised standing charges and profiteering.
Published Manifesto 1.1 policy. The sections below set out the proposal as published. Questions and challenges are open questions, not settled answers.
1. Introduction
Manifesto 1.1 proposes abolishing standing charges for domestic electricity and gas.
Energy companies would instead recover genuine and legitimate network and administrative costs through the unit price of energy.
The policy does not claim that maintaining the energy system is free. Electricity and gas networks still require maintenance, billing, account management and essential administration. The reform changes how those legitimate costs are recovered while removing the fixed daily charge households currently pay regardless of how much energy they use.
2. Core principle
Fair cost recovery — not profiteering.
3. Central safeguard
Abolishing standing charges must not allow suppliers simply to recreate the charge through excessive unit prices.
Regulatory scrutiny should therefore test whether unit-price changes reflect legitimate cost recovery, distinguish genuine network and administrative costs from excessive pricing or disguised profit, prevent standing charges being recreated by another name, and judge the reform according to its effect on the total household bill.
4. What the proposal does not say
- It does not say network maintenance or administration costs disappear.
- It does not promise every household's total bill will automatically fall by the full value of today's standing charge.
- It does not allow suppliers to charge whatever unit price they choose.
- It does not treat profiteering as a legitimate network or administrative cost.
5. Implementation remains open to scrutiny
The current proposal deliberately does not specify a final regulatory formula, a permitted supplier margin, an exact cost-allocation methodology or a final transition timetable. These details should be developed transparently and tested before implementation.
6. Connected affordability programme
Proposal 15 follows Proposal 14 — Social Energy Tariff.
The two policies approach household energy affordability from different directions:
- Proposal 14: provides targeted support for households under financial pressure.
- Proposal 15: reforms how fixed domestic energy-system costs are recovered.
7. Core commitment
Core commitment
Abolish domestic electricity and gas standing charges. Allow genuine network and administrative costs to be recovered fairly through unit pricing. Use regulatory scrutiny to prevent excessive unit pricing, disguised standing charges and profiteering.
Related release
Read Day 15 — Proposal 14: Social Energy TariffQuestions for public scrutiny
Nothing in Manifesto 1.1 is presented as settled fact. These are open questions the proposal must be able to answer — they are not answered here.
- 01Which regulator should approve or scrutinise the method used to transfer legitimate standing-charge costs into unit prices?
- 02How should genuine network maintenance and administration costs be defined and evidenced?
- 03What mechanism should identify excessive unit-price increases or disguised standing charges?
- 04How should very low-energy users be protected while avoiding unfair outcomes for households with unavoidable high energy needs?
- 05Should suppliers publish transparent breakdowns showing which costs are being recovered through unit pricing?
- 06What transitional arrangements would prevent sudden price shocks?
- 07How should this reform interact with the Social Energy Tariff?
Source: Manifesto 1.1 Complete Working Master, Policy 18 — Abolish Energy Standing Charges. This release is Day 16 / Proposal 15 in the campaign sequence. Journey days and public-release proposal numbers are not always the same.
Download the Manifesto 1.1 Complete Working Master (PDF)Read. Question. Challenge. Improve.
This is a public-scrutiny working proposal. Questions, evidence, objections and alternatives are welcome.
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