Martin Lewis unveils ‘date’ bills and says ‘give us a date’

After Ofgem dropped the price cap earlier this month, many households have been taking a closer look at changes to their energy bills. Unfortunately, many have noticed the confusing difference between the amount they spend on the energy they use and the ongoing rates for their utilities.

One angry fan wrote to Martin Lewis during a live Q&A on the Money-Saving Expert app, cringing at how they “often pay more for (standing charges) than electricity” and asked: “When will they does the energy companies reduce the standing charge?”

Standing charges are set by each supplier based on the price cap issued by Ofgem every three months. Households will be subject to this charge for each day of their billing cycle, regardless of how much energy they use.

Martin began by showing that he shared the same frustrations as the viewer, saying: “We have lobbied very hard to get rid of or reduce the permanent charge.” He explained that his proposal would shift some of the cost of the permanent charge onto unit rates and saw the charges as a “moral hazard” because they cost households no matter how little energy a person tries to use.

While careful not to reveal too much, the MSE founder said: “I had a meeting with the new Secretary of State for Energy the other day…I said I would talk about permanent charges.”

However, he admitted that it is not an easy problem to solve and, in response to a viewer’s question, revealed that it is unlikely to be reduced in the near future. He explained: “There are so many structural problems in reducing them; where you will move them, how you will move them.

“Hopefully we can hear something about that at the end of this year,” but stressed that was no guarantee as he passionately continued: “If I were to advise politicians on this, I would probably say to them: if you can’t tell us about permanent charges, you should at least give us a date by which you will tell us what is happening with permanent charges.”