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John Healey to end standing charges on gas bills for 23m homes

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Cite

Kollewe, J. (2026, October 28). John Healey to end standing charges on gas bills for 23m homes. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/oct/28/john-healey-to-end-standing-charges-on-gas-bills-ofgem-budget

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-10-28 · by Julia Kollewe

Quick Summary

Chancellor John Healey plans to eliminate standing charges on gas bills for 23 million homes, aiming to end what he calls an "unfair and outdated" practice. The move is expected to save the average household £45 annually. Ahead of his budget statement in Parliament, Healey instructed Ofgem to implement this change as soon as possible next year. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh supported the initiative, stating her commitment to protecting consumers from high bills.
Written by AI on 2026-10-28, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On October 25, 2026, British Chancellor John Healey announced plans for a new budget aimed at boosting local growth and reducing welfare costs under Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government. The budget includes £285 million in immediate funding to support "good growth" in England until a new system takes effect in 2028, allowing some income tax revenue to be directly managed by local areas. Healey also pledged over £1 billion for social and affordable housing across the country, surpassing the £40 billion mark for the government's 10-year homes programme.

Despite these initiatives, criticism emerged as Healey faced challenges in clarifying his plans for reducing welfare spending and addressing high inflation. On November 1, 2026, concerns were raised that over 830,000 low-income households would miss out on the £100 council tax reduction scheme designed to alleviate energy costs, benefiting only those in bands A to D.

Written for “Labour Budget Promises And U-turns” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 151 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Labour Budget Promises And U-turns
Politics · 152 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 13% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Evening Standard
Hedges 5 of 34 claims Outlet record 64/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 4 of 25 claims Outlet record 64/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 1 of 5 claims Outlet record 64/100
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 6 of 46 claims Outlet record 69/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 6 of 21 claims Outlet record 64/100
Evening Standard
Hedges 6 of 21 claims Outlet record 64/100
Daily Mail
Hedges 4 of 16 claims Outlet record 69/100
“The articles describe different parts of John Healey's budget statement and measures: one about ending standing charges on gas bills, the other about a tax raid on banks.”
Evening Standard
Hedges 2 of 18 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The articles describe two distinct initiatives related to energy policy but do not refer to the same specific event or occurrence.”
Evening Standard
Hedges 8 of 37 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The articles describe different aspects of John Healey's energy policy announcements, not the same specific event or incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
15
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
13%
2 of 15 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
152
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-28 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 2996 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Julia Kollewe
12 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 City experts welcomed news that the chancellor will overturn a decision by his predecessor, Rachel Reeves, to cut the allowance from £20,000 to £12,000 a year from April to get more money flowing into UK company stocks.
🔮 John Healey is abolishing standing charges on gas bills for 23m homes in a move he says will end an “unfair and outdated” practice and save two-thirds of households an average of £45 a year.
🔮 Before he became prime minister, he said he would nationalise Thames.
🔮 Its outage could be linked to issues with Google’s cloud services.
🔮 Johnson, of Misterton in Nottinghamshire, submitted false claims to Axa Insurance between May 2021 and January 2022, relating to alleged burglaries at properties in Shetland and Goole, East Yorkshire.
🔮 The boss of Britain’s biggest insurer has warned that homes being built now could become uninsurable in the future because they are sited in flood-risk areas.
🔮 It pointed to Belgium, where heat pump uptake remains low, although the government announced tax changes for 2026 that will cut electricity costs by 3% and raise gas costs by 3%.
🔮 The deal will be funded from AO’s existing cash resources.
🔮 Closing the clinical trials gap alone could generate €53bn and create 82,000 jobs in Europe, the nine pharma companies argued in the letter.
🔮 Elliot, a housing activist and member of Scotland’s tenants’ and community union Living Rent, added: “Because so many international students were away back home, they couldn’t do that in person.
Also by Julia Kollewe
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 12 articles by Julia Kollewe →

Topics

British Commons Great Britain Ofgem Treasury

Subjects

Ofgem ORG · 2× Treasury ORG · 2× Andy Burnham PERSON · 1× British NORP · 1× Commons ORG · 1× Great Britain GPE · 1× Greg Jackson PERSON · 1× Healey PERSON · 1× John Healey PERSON · 1× Miatta Fahnbulleh PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Greg Jackson, the founder and chief executive of Octopus Energy Group, welcomed the move, saying: “This represents real joined-up thinking to make a fairer, more efficient energy system, delivering what customers want – lower standing charges and further improving the ratio of electricity to gas prices. “Most customers would see a cut in their gas bills, which is crucial, but would also enjoy even higher savings if they can move to heat pumps when it suits them.” This follows the government’s VAT cut on electricity bills that came into effect at the beginning of this month.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-28
🔮 John Healey is abolishing standing charges on gas bills for 23m homes in a move he says will end an “unfair and outdated” practice and save two-thirds of households an average of £45 a year.
2026-10-28 · The Guardian
John Healey to end standing charges on gas bills for 23m homes · assertive framing

Claims (15 extracted, 2 hedged)

John Healey is abolishing standing charges on gas bills for 23m homes in a move he says will end an “unfair and outdated” practice and save two-thirds of households an average of £45 a year. asserted
he → abolish → 45
Ahead of his first budget statement in the Commons later on Wednesday, the chancellor said he would ask Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, to remove these charges – which are £108 a year for the typical household – next year or as soon as possible after. asserted
which → say → household
A standing charge is a fixed daily fee added on top of a household gas bill, regardless of usage. asserted
charge → fix → usage
A household could use no gas at all but still must pay the standing charge. uncertain
household → use → charge
The Treasury said the move could save 60% of account-holding households an average of £45 off their annual bill. uncertain
move → say → bill
Andy Burnham said: “Abolishing gas standing charges is about basic fairness and giving people more control over their bills. asserted
Abolishing → say → bills
I am determined to reform our broken energy market, so it better serves the public interest. asserted
it → reform → interest
The prime minister has talked of reforming a “broken” energy market to serve households better, and said a week ago that he was asking the Treasury to look into the issue. asserted
he → talk → issue
Healey said: “Gas standing charges are unfair and outdated so I am scrapping them to give millions of households a bit of breathing space. asserted
I → say → space
“My budget will draw a line in the sand on an energy policy that has failed British billpayers for years, letting extra costs on bills pile high and leaving households even more exposed to global shocks.” asserted
costs → draw → shocks
The energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, added that she would “keep doing everything I can to protect people from unaffordable bills”. asserted
I → add → bills
Greg Jackson, the founder and chief executive of Octopus Energy Group, welcomed the move, saying: “This represents real joined-up thinking to make a fairer, more efficient energy system, delivering what customers want – lower standing charges and further improving the ratio of electricity to gas prices. “Most customers would see a cut in their gas bills, which is crucial, but would also enjoy even higher savings if they can move to heat pumps when it suits them.” This follows the government’s VAT cut on electricity bills that came into effect at the beginning of this month. asserted
that → welcome → month
It means the energy price cap, set by Ofgem, from October was £45 a year less than it would have been. asserted
it → mean → October
About a third of households on fixed tariffs are not affected by the price cap, meaning their electricity prices will have fallen when the VAT cut took effect. asserted
cut → fix → effect
More controversially, the government approved the Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea but also announced a new energy wealth fund to support investment in cheap, clean power. asserted
government → approve → power
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