Environment Committee responds to Ofgem energy consultation

The London Assembly Environment Committee has written to Ofgem in response to its ‘call for input’ into standing charges for energy.

Energy, particularly the affordability of energy, is an issue that has long been of interest to the Environment Committee.

In May 2017 the Committee published a report following an investigation into fuel poverty across the capital, which identified one in nine households across London were officially living in fuel poverty with many more struggling with high bills.

It recently examined community energy, which involved a Committee meeting in May 2023 and a site visit to the Leaside Trust in June 2023, and a wider investigation into energy in 2022/23, in which we considered the impact of prices on Londoners.

Following these investigations, the Committee has written to Ofgem to draw attention to two key issues:

• The need for social tariffs to address the impact of increased standing charges on low-income households; and
• The impacts of standing charges on customers who also generate their own renewable energy, including community energy projects.