Earth Notes: General Bibliography (shepheard2026standing)

• [shepheard2026standing] Marcus Shepheard The case for abolishing the gas standing charge (accessed 2026-10-28), 2026-10-21, PDF (www) (BibTeX).
  abstract

  Electricity is too expensive, both in absolute terms and relative to the price of gas (the price ratio). Reducing the electricity-to-gas price ratio is the single most important change the UK government can make to help households switch from gas boilers to more efficient electric heating technologies. This is because it shapes real-world decisions for households and businesses: whether it's cheaper to run a heat pump than a gas boiler, or how attractive electrification looks across different sectors. There are many ways the UK government could intervene to improve the price ratio, and most previous efforts have focused on moving costs off electricity bills, either onto public taxation or gas bills. But changing the allocation of costs within the energy system involves tradeoffs. The question we have been asking is: are there any changes that improve the price ratio and keep bills low, especially now, in an era when energy costs remain painfully high for many households? One option that stands out as unusually promising in this landscape of tradeoffs is to abolish the gas standing charge.
  note

  [[**CS1] [**UF] Quote: "Our proposal would only abolish the gas standing charge. This would represent a strong, positive move in the direction of public opinion. While we recognise that some of the issues arising from the gas standing charge also apply to electricity, we would caution against making this a symmetrical change, and taking other steps to make electricity bills cheaper."]