The Founder of Octopus Energy, Greg Jackson, has voiced concerns over the current state of energy standing charges and called for regulatory changes to address the issue.
This comes in response to Ofgem’s recent request for input on how standing charges are applied to energy bills and potential alternatives.
Mr Jackson argues that standing charges have become excessively high, adversely affecting individuals with lower incomes and creating obstacles to saving money through reduced energy consumption.
Greg Jackson said: “Standing charges have become way too high and we need regulatory change so we can slash them. They disproportionately affect people on low incomes and make it hard to save money by reducing energy use.
“It’s not right that a meter can rack up hundreds of pounds a year even when the customer is hardly using any energy. Indeed, people on prepay sometimes have to top up when they’ve used nothing.
“Until we get regulatory change, Octopus will still continue to do what we can to keep standing charges as low as possible for all customers. We’ve already absorbed tens of millions of pounds on behalf of our customers by keeping them below the price cap and have given tens of thousands of customers standing charge holidays.”
