Martin Lewis says 'we need to get rid of it' as he gives verdict on energy bill standing charges

Martin Lewis has delivered his verdict on standing charges, stating "we need to get rid of it".

The money-saving expert addressed the issue during this week's episode of ITV's Martin Lewis Money Show Live where he discussed the unfairness of standing charges. A standing charge is a fixed amount of cash that is paid every day on energy bills and can include both gas and electricity.

Current standing charges are fixed at an average of 53.35p per day for electricity and 29.60p per day for gas. It will remain this rate until March, 2024.

Try MEN Premium now with our amazing New Year offer... just click here to give it a go

Martin said: "Right now, most homes are paying more than ever before, even more than last winter's horrendous prices because even though rates have come down, there's no £66/£67 energy support." During an interview with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Martin remarked: that "the biggest, most complained about topic" is standing charges.

He added: "People hate the standing charge, it's a poll tax on energy. We need to get rid of it." Mr Hunt replied: "We want to do lots of things to help people with their energy bills, we gave about £1,500 support over last winter to help we paid about half of people's energy bills so we always want to do things to help people.

"The standing charge is one mechanism we will keep that under review...we have made progress in one very important are which is we are abolishing the premium that people on prepayment meters pay and that is linked to the standing charges issue. I believed a year ago that it was wrong that people on the lowest incomes who have prepayment meters end up paying a higher rate per unit than everyone else and we have removed that premium."

Martin added that he