Standing charges on a typical dual-fuel bill now run to £330 a year, more than the cost of a full tank of heating oil. That fixed fee, before a single kilowatt-hour is used, is the silent tax Andy Burnham wants to dismantle. The Greater Manchester mayor’s pitch to “bring Britain hope” rests, first, on cutting energy bills. For the 28 million households in England and Wales, that is not a slogan, it is a monthly bank statement.
As reported by Politico, Burnham’s plan involves shifting green levies from electricity bills to general taxation and capping standing charges. The detail matters more than the headline. Ofgem data from April 2025 shows standing charges rose 45% in five years, driven by network upgrades and social programmes. A typical 3-bed semi in the North West pays £0.60 a day standing charge, £219 a year, before touching the thermostat. That is the number Burnham needs to move.
Who pays, who doesn’t
The catch is that standing charges fund essential infrastructure: maintaining the grid, connecting new homes, and paying for the Warm Home Discount. Remove them from bills and the Treasury must find £2.3bn a year, or network companies raise per-kWh rates. The Resolution Foundation warned last month that shifting costs to general taxation benefits high-income households, who use more energy, more than low-income ones. Burnham’s team counters that a cap on standing charges, say £0.40 a day, would save every household £73 a year. That is not life-changing, but for the 4.5 million households in fuel poverty, it is a week’s shopping.
What it costs a typical 3-bed semi
For homeowners, the real lever is not political, it is physical. The average 3-bed semi in the UK uses 12,000 kWh of gas and 2,900 kWh of electricity a year. At current price caps (April 2025: 24.5p/kWh electricity, 6.0p/kWh gas), the annual bill is about £1,800, including standing charges. Insulating a loft to 270mm costs £300–£600 and saves £180–£250 a year. An air-source heat pump, after the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant, costs £2,500–£5,500 and cuts CO₂ by 70%. EPC ratings jump from D to C with cavity-wall insulation (£2,000–£4,000) and double glazing. The Energy Saving Trust says a home moving from EPC band D to B saves £400 a year on heating.
Yet the gap between promise and delivery is wide. The Great British Insulation Scheme, launched in 2023, had installed measures in only 12,000 homes by February 2025, a fraction of the 300,000 target. Burnham’s regional energy plan, Greater Manchester’s Local Area Energy Plan, aims to retrofit 200,000 homes by 2030. That is 40,000 a year. To date, the city-region has done 4,500.
What you can do now
While politicians argue over levies, the physics of heat loss is fixed. A home with no loft insulation loses 25% of its heat through the roof. Single glazing loses another 20%. The cheapest fix, draught-proofing windows and doors, costs £100–£200 and pays back in one winter. The government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) provides free insulation for low-income households. For everyone else, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme runs until March 2027, and VAT on energy-saving materials is zero-rated until 2027. The window to act is open, but not forever.
Burnham’s hope is that lower standing charges make heat pumps and solar panels cheaper to run. He is right: a heat pump uses electricity, and if the standing charge drops, the running cost gap with gas narrows. But without insulation, a heat pump on a draughty semi will cost more to run than a gas boiler on a well-insulated one. The sequence matters: fabric first, then heating, then generation.
Households on standard variable tariffs can check their eligibility for ECO4 through the gov.uk website from 4 November. Insulation installers in Greater Manchester are taking bookings for March 2026 already. The political timetable is longer. The household one is not.
Frequently Asked Questions
If standing charges were capped at £0.40 per day, a typical household would save about £73 a year. That figure assumes current average standing charges of £0.60 per day for electricity and £0.27 for gas, though regional variations apply.
Any shift from bills to taxation would likely require higher income tax or National Insurance rates. The Treasury has not modelled a specific figure, but the Resolution Foundation estimates a 1p increase in basic rate income tax would raise £5.5bn, enough to cover the £2.3bn green levy cost, with headroom.
