What is a standing charge?
The standing charge is the fixed daily fee on your business energy bill that you pay before you use a single unit. It is easy to overlook and one of the quietest ways a business overpays.
The fixed part of your bill
Every business energy bill has two parts. The unit rate is what you pay for each kilowatt hour you use. The standing charge is a fixed amount you pay every day just to be connected, whether you trade that day or not. It covers the cost of the network, the meter and keeping you supplied. Because it is charged per day and not per unit, a business with modest usage can find the standing charge is a surprisingly large slice of the total.
Standing charges vary a lot by supplier, meter type and location, and they climb sharply if you slip onto out of contract rates. That is why two businesses using the same energy can pay very different bills.
As a rough guide for 2026, business electricity standing charges often sit around 45p to 95p a day and gas around 27p to 95p a day, while out of contract standing charges can be several pounds a day. Figures are illustrative only and vary by supplier, meter and location.
Why it matters
You pay it every day
Weekends, holidays and quiet days included. It never stops, so a high standing charge adds up fast.
Worse across sites
Every meter carries its own standing charge, so multi site businesses pay it many times over.
It spikes out of contract
Let a deal lapse and both your unit rate and your standing charge can jump.
How OptiFlow Watch helps
We read the whole bill
Otis Watch checks the standing charge as well as the unit rate, because a low headline rate with a high daily charge is not the deal it looks like.
We compare like for like
We weigh the full cost across standing charges and unit rates to find the deal that is genuinely cheaper for how you use energy.
We stop the out of contract jump
We track your renewal so you never drift onto the high standing charges that come with default rates.
Guaranteed saving
For a flat £49.99 a month, we guarantee a saving against your real bills or it is not worth your while.
More from OptiFlow Watch
See what your standing charges should be
OptiFlow Watch reads your bills, checks every charge and guarantees a saving, for £49.99 a month.