The Standing Charge Calculator
Standing charges are what you pay just to be connected, before you use a single unit of gas or electricity. Pick your region and see what it costs you a year.
What is a standing charge and why does it exist?
A standing charge is a fixed daily fee on every energy bill. It pays for the wires, pipes and infrastructure that connect your home to the network, the industry's operating costs, and policy costs that have been spread across all households. You pay it every single day, whether you are home or not, whether you use energy or not. It is the reason an empty house still runs up an energy bill. If that bothers you, a small number of suppliers offer tariffs with no standing charge at all: our no standing charge energy guide covers how they work and who they actually suit.
Under the current price cap, a typical dual fuel household paying by Direct Debit pays around 85p a day in standing charges, roughly £308 a year, before a single unit of energy is used. Over a decade, that is more than £3,000 for the privilege of being connected.
Why your region changes the number
Great Britain is divided into 14 distribution regions, and Ofgem sets a separate cap for each one because the cost of moving energy around differs by area. The differences are not small. Under the cap running from 1 October to 31 December 2026, a dual fuel household in London pays around £267 a year in standing charges, while the same household in North Wales and Mersey pays around £357 a year, a £90 gap for exactly the same thing: being connected.
You cannot change your region, but you can make sure the rest of your tariff is working for you. Comparing deals takes minutes on our energy comparison page.
Questions people ask
A standing charge is a fixed daily fee on your energy bill that you pay regardless of how much energy you use, even on days you use none at all. It covers the cost of maintaining the wires and pipes that connect your home, plus other industry costs. It is charged in pence per day and is separate from the unit rate you pay for each kilowatt hour you actually use.
Great Britain is split into 14 energy distribution regions, and the cost of transporting energy and maintaining the network differs between them. Ofgem sets a separate price cap for each region, so the same supplier charges different standing charges depending on where you live. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive regions is worth roughly £90 a year for a dual fuel household under the current cap.
A small number of suppliers offer tariffs with low or zero standing charges, but they recover the cost through higher unit rates. That trade-off suits very low users, such as a second home or a rarely occupied flat, and usually costs more for a typical household. For most people, the practical route is comparing whole tariffs rather than chasing the standing charge alone.
Yes. Ofgem's price cap limits both the unit rates and the standing charges that suppliers can charge on standard variable tariffs, set separately for each region and payment method. The figures in this calculator are the Direct Debit capped rates for the current cap period. Fixed tariffs are not capped, and their standing charges can be higher or lower.
Paying too much on the rest of your bill too?
The standing charge is fixed, but the rest of your tariff is not. See what switching could save you.
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