ENERGY companies are to increase the standing charges of millions of customers next month, campaigners warned today.

The charges, fixed daily rates on top of consumption, are rising from £303 to £334 per year — 147 per cent higher than in 2021 — and will partially offset Ofgem’s energy “price cap” introduced by the regulator on April 1.

The standing charge for gas will increase by 13 per cent and electricity by 6 per cent — both well over current inflation, which stands at 3.4 per cent.

And while the energy price cap is expected to reduce average household energy bills by £238 to £1,690 a year, customers will still be left paying double the amount they were charged in 2021, fuel poverty campaigners warn.

End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “As standing charges go up, households have to cut back on their energy use just to keep their bills the same.

“This means households continue to struggle to keep themselves warm, keep the lights on and put food on the table.”

Fiona Waters of Warm This Winter campaign said: “The issue with standing charges is that you have to pay them whether you’ve used any energy or not and it continues to rise even now, when the overall price cap has reduced. 

"There’s also a huge question mark over what it covers and how much profit is being made by these network firms.

“When there is already so much energy debt and people are still paying much more on their bills than they did three years ago, it's clear we need to fix our broken energy system.

“This can be done by expanding home-grown renewable energy and a mass programme of insulation to bring down energy bills for good.”