Plaid Cymru MS Llyr Gruffydd asks "what discussions has the Welsh government had with the UK government and Ofgem regarding electricity standing charges for households in north Wales?"
Eluned Morgan replies, "standing charges should be fair, transparent and they shouldn't disproportionately impact low-income households. I'm aware that people in north Wales face some of the highest standing charges in the country. This is unfair, particularly as they live close to large affordable renewable energy sources."
She adds that the matter has been raised consistently with both the UK government and Ofgem and she says she welcomes Ofgem’s plans to introduce a pilot to lower standing charges.
Ofgem has engaged with major energy suppliers to test reducing standing charges by at least £150 annually for 150,000 customers.
Llyr Gruffydd says "historically they told us, ‘well, because you're rural and because you're at the end of the line it costs more’, but what that ignores, of course, is that Wales is a net exporter of electricity for the rest of the UK. Wales powers other parts of the UK, but it appears that we are paying an unfair price for that."
Figures by price comparison sites show that the rates paid in north Wales remain the highest in the country - around eight pence more expensive per day than northern Scotland which is the second most expensive area for electricity bills.
威尔士党议员Llyr Gruffydd问道：“威尔士政府与英国政府及英国政府及英国政府（Ofgem）就北威尔士家庭的电费进行了哪些讨论？”
埃卢内德·摩根回答说：“常设指控应当公平、透明，且不应对低收入家庭造成不成比例的影响。我知道北威尔士的人面临全国最高级别的指控之一。这很不公平，尤其是他们住得很近大型且负担得起的可再生能源。”
她补充说，此事一直在英国政府和Ofgem处持续提出，并表示欢迎Ofgem计划引入较低费用的试点项目。
Ofgem已与主要能源供应商合作，测试每年至少降低150英镑的固定费用，覆盖15万客户。
Llyr Gruffydd说：“历史上他们告诉我们，'因为你是农村，而且处于终点，成本更高'，但这当然忽略了威尔士是英国其他地区的净电力出口国。
威尔士为英国其他地区提供权力，但看起来我们为此付出了不公平的代价。”
价格比较网站的数据显示，北威尔士的电费仍是全国最高的——比北苏格兰高约8便士，北苏格兰是电费第二高的地区。
