Засгийн газар эрчим хүчний зах зээлийн шударга бус тогтолцоог өөрчлөх хүрээнд 23 сая өрхөд хамаарах хийн суурь хураамжийг ирэх жилээс цуцлахаа мэдэгдэв.
Сангийн сайд Жон Хили лхагва гарагт болох төсвийн танилцуулгынхаа өмнө Британийн эрчим хүчний зохицуулах байгууллага Ofgem-д хандан, хэрэглээнээс үл хамааран авдаг уг хураамжийг зогсоох чиглэл өгсөн байна. Энэхүү өөрчлөлт нь нийт өрхийн 60 хувьд жилд дунджаар 45 фунт стерлингийн хэмнэлт авчрах төлөвтэй байна. Одоогийн тогтолцоогоор хэрэглэгчид хий огт ашиглаагүй ч суурь хураамж төлдөг нь ядуу өрхүүдэд илүү дарамт болж байгааг албаныхан онцолжээ.
Энэхүү шинэчлэл нь улсын төсөвт нэмэлт зардал учруулахгүй бөгөөд суурь хураамжийн зардлыг нэгж үнэд шилжүүлэх замаар зохицуулах юм. Ингэснээр их хэмжээний хий хэрэглэдэг айл өрхүүд илүү төлөх магадлалтай ч бага орлоготой, хийг хэмнэлттэй ашигладаг өрхүүдэд санхүүгийн ачааллыг бууруулах ач холбогдолтой гэж үзэж байна. Ерөнхий сайд уг шийдвэр нь эрчим хүчний зах зээлийг илүү шударга болгох, иргэдийн амьжиргааны өртгийг бууруулах зорилготой болохыг мэдэгдлээ.
Nesta судалгааны байгууллага болон “End Fuel Poverty Coalition” зэрэг байгууллагууд суурь хураамжийг цуцлах нь ядуу өрхүүдийн ачааллыг бууруулж, урьдчилгаа төлбөртэй тоолууртай хэрэглэгчдийн өрийн дарамтыг багасгана гэж үзэн дэмжиж байна. Гэвч Ногоон намын зүгээс энэхүү алхам нь амьжиргааны өртгийн хямралыг шийдвэрлэхэд хангалтгүй, илүү томоохон арга хэмжээ авах шаардлагатай гэж шүүмжилжээ. Засгийн газар энэ оны аравдугаар сараас эхлэн цахилгааны төлбөрийн НӨАТ-ыг зургаан сарын хугацаатай түр зогсоосон бөгөөд төсвийн хүрээнд зорилтот бүлгийн өрхүүдэд 1 тэрбум гаруй фунт стерлингийн тусламж үзүүлэхээр төлөвлөж байна.
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John Healey is abolishing standing charges on gas bills for 23m homes in a move he says will save two-thirds of households an average of £45 a year.
Before his first budget statement in the Commons later on Wednesday, the chancellor said he would ask Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, to end the “unfair and outdated” practice next year or as soon as possible after.
A standing charge is a fixed daily fee added on top of a household gas bill, regardless of usage. A connected household could consume no gas at all but still must pay it.
Poorer households use less gas, so the standing charge represents a bigger proportion of their bill. Under the change, the cost will be moved on to unit rates, so those using a lot of gas will most likely pay more overall.
The Treasury said the change, which will not cost it anything at all, could save 60% of account-holding households an average of £45 off their annual bill.
Andy Burnham said: “Abolishing gas standing charges is about basic fairness and giving people more control over their bills. I am determined to reform our broken energy market, so it better serves the public interest.” The prime minister had told the Commons a week ago that he was asking the Treasury to look into the issue.
Healey said: “Gas standing charges are unfair and outdated so I am scrapping them to give millions of households a bit of breathing space.
“My budget will draw a line in the sand on an energy policy that has failed British billpayers for years, letting extra costs on bills pile high and leaving households even more exposed to global shocks.”
Recent research conducted for Ofgem has shown that a majority of people (61%) view standing charges as unfair, while about a quarter think the same about unit rates.
Abolishing the gas standing charge “efficiently transfers costs from poorer households to wealthier ones”, the research charity Nesta said in a recent analysis. It said there are a small but significant number of households that have a gas boiler for heating but use electricity for cooking and hot water.
These households only use gas over the winter but have to pay the standing charge year-round. Many also have prepayment meters.
The prime minister and chancellor have made helping families with the cost of living a core focus of their first budget, and Healey is expected to use the budget to announce a targeted package for means-tested households spending more than £1bn to add about £100 to the annual £150 arm homes discount rebate.
This follows the government’s six-month suspension of VAT on electricity bills that came into effect at the beginning of October.
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It means the energy price cap, set by Ofgem, from October was £45 a year less than it would have been. About a third of households on fixed tariffs are not affected by the price cap, meaning their electricity prices will have fallen when the VAT cut took effect.
More controversially, the government approved the Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea but also announced a new energy wealth fund to support investment in cheap, clean power.
Andrew Sissons, a director in sustainable future at Nesta, welcomed the decision to end the standing charge: “This measure will provide relief to the poorest households who ration their gas use but it will also mean that switching to electric heating such as heat pumps is a better deal for some households that use more gas.”
Simon Francis, the coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “Removing the gas standing charge will bring real relief to many low-income households who use very little energy, and for prepayment customers it could stop debt building up in the summer months.
“It’s also welcome that the chancellor acknowledges that wider measures are needed to bring down bills and we will wait to see if he matches these words with more action in the budget later. Moving levies off electricity bills and into general taxation, as reported, would also be a positive step.”
However, the Green party said the measure was “more tinkering from a government that is failing to take the bold action needed to end the cost of living crisis”.
