New recurring charge added to energy bills this month for people paying by certain methods

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Millions of households can look forward to lower energy bills from this month as the new Ofgem price cap kicks in. The 12.3 per cent drop should see those on the standard tariff with average usage saving around £12 for every £100 of gas or electricity they use.The average household on a standard variable tariff (SVT) is expected to spend £127 on energy in April, compared with £205 in March, due to a combination of cheaper rates and lower usage as the weather warms up.

However, Ofgem has also allowed for a temporary additional payment of £28 a year, or £2.33 a month, to make sure suppliers have enough funds to support customers who are struggling.This will be added to the bills of customers who pay by Direct Debit or standard credit and is to be partly offset by the end of an allowance worth £11 per year that covered debt costs related to the Covid pandemic.The energy regulator said that prepayment meter customers will not have to pay the extra charge, as many do not build up the same level of debt as credit customers because they top up as they go.Ofgem also confirmed plans to set a permanent solution to prepayment customers paying higher standing charges, which was removed by the Government’s temporary Energy Price Guarantee.The regulator said the solution must be funded by bill-payers rather than taxpayers, to maintain fairness, meaning prepayment customers will save around £49 per year while Direct Debit customers will pay £10 more each year.Campaigners warned that while the costs that households pay for every unit of energy they use will decrease ‘slightly’, they were still almost double what they were in 2021.Meanwhile, standing charges - the fixed daily amount households pay to have energy supplied to their