Gas standing charge ‘sensible’ but ‘comes with risks’, say expertspublished at 09:28 GMT
09:28 GMT
Image source, Getty Images
The scrapping of standing charges for household gas bills, announced by the chancellor earlier, is “a sensible idea”, but won’t benefit everyone, according to Richard Neudegg, director at comparison firm Uswitch.
Neudegg tells the Press Association that it can feel “illogical” for households with low gas use to be paying the same standing charge year-long, especially in summer when usage can be much lower.
“Households that use less gas, such as those living in smaller homes, should benefit when this comes in,” he says, but says these costs will move to the price of each unit of gas, leaving heavy gas users worse off.
While Citizens Advice chief executive Claire Moriarty, says the move “could be positive” but that “it does come with some risks”, especially for those living in poorly insulated homes who may have higher gas usage.
Moriarty tells Radio 4’s Today programme that the “devil is in the detail” and this policy “needs to be accompanied by targeted support that takes account of people’s circumstances”.
On the cost of the policy, Institute for Fiscal Studies (IF) director Helen Miller notes that “there is a real challenge” for the government to “decide who to help and who’s going to pick up the tab”.
Simon France, of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, says the government has “serious questions to answer” on who will lose out financially, adding that “support for them must be in place before this change happens”.