Personal finance guru Martin Lewis has spoken out about the 'moral hazard' of increasing standing charges on energy bills from next month, which he likened to a modern-day 'poll tax' on ordinary people.
Speaking on his The Martin Lewis Podcast, the financial guru said: "I have long campaigned about the moral hazard of this poll tax of paying well over £300 a year just for having the facility of having gas and electricity, which means lower users get relatively less gain from cutting their use.
Some households containing people with disabilities or certain health conditions can have a disproportionately high energy consumption as they require extra heating during the day, or the use of equipment that draws a lot of electricity. Higher standing charges help to spread some of this cost across the network, but Martin Lewis believes there are alternatives.
"My general point is that we need joined-up government, where the government says, OK if you were to bring down the standing charge, we will provide another mechanism for helping vulnerable high users. My concern is that if Ofgem looks just in isolation without what the government can do because it is out of Ofgem's power, then it won't bring the standing charge down."