Higher energy bills for 7 million even as price cap falls Business

Baroness Ros Altmann, the former pensions minister, said: “Standing charges are really unfair on the poorest and single households.

“The regulator Ofgem has allowed energy firms to increase standing charges to help pay for the cost of failed energy suppliers. This seems to me even more unfair. However much a poor household tries to cook less, bathe less or turn down their heating, they can’t escape the standing charge”

Peter Smith at National Energy Action said: “Despite increased criticism of the impact these fixed charges have, particularly on low-usage households, Ofgem has overseen a rapid increase in standing charges since the price cap was introduced four years ago.”

It comes as Ofgem prepares to announce the new energy price cap, covering October to December, on Friday.

Jonathan Marshall, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Ofgem is set to announce that the typical household energy bill will fall this winter, but more than one-in-three households across England will be shocked to discover that their energy bills could actually be higher this winter than last winter.”

He added: “Loads of new costs have been bumped on to standing charges, the biggest of which, by far, is the cost of all those suppliers going bust.

“That means standing charges have gone up which is probably not the fairest way of apportioning those costs.”