| Reading time: 4 mins With more and more companies like Bulb popping up across the board, it makes sense that we’re now more conscious than ever about our electricity costs. Nowadays, it’s much easier for us to find a good deal ourselves, just by taking the time to look yourself online and browse through all of the different energy suppliers available.
However, the tricky part is that most people don’t exactly know what they should be looking for. What is a good electricity price, and how much should you be willing to spend on your electricity each year? These are just a few of the things we’re going to look at.
Electricity Prices UK
The Electricity Cost of your household varies depending on which region you live in and which electricity supplier that you’re with. However, on average the costs of electricity is 14p per kWh of energy, and houses use approximately 3600kWh a year. This gives us an average cost of £504, with an additional standing charge of around £75 to be added as well.
Of course, this will vary greatly depending on where you live in the UK, and how much energy you’re going to use. To work out an average of what you might be looking at, a good brand to use is Octopus Energy. They aren’t the very cheapest brand out there, but they tend to be cheaper than the big six.
If we use a normal residential address on the edge of London, then they charge 20.19p standing fee per day. This works out at just under ÂŁ74 per year for the standing fee, which you have to pay anyway with that tariffs that the majority of energy suppliers use.
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Then, we can work out the electricity costs as well. The average house uses around 10 kWh of power per day, and Octopus charge 14.91p per kWH. So, we can easily work out that they charge ÂŁ1.50 per day for your electricity, or ÂŁ547.50 per year on your annual electricity bill.
Adding this figure to the standing charge gives us £621.50, which is very close to the average electricity bill in the United Kingdom. This will change though, and in large part that’s down to the wholesale average unit cost, which we can’t do much about. But what we can do is look for different energy suppliers that may be able to offer us better deal than our current one.
Who is the cheapest electricity supplier?
If you’re looking for the cheapest electricity supplier in the UK, then your best bet is going to be opting to sign up to a service like Look After My Bills. They can help to decrease your electricity costs by finding you the best electricity supplier in your area – it will vary depending on which area in the UK you are located.
The good thing about companies like this is that there are no obligations. If they can’t find you a better electricity deal than your current supplier, then you can just stick with them instead. So, it’s really a win-win situation.
If you’re looking for the very lowest rates, then brands like Igloo Energy and Robin Hood Energy are known for having some of the lowest electricity rates in the UK. They can be as low as 12p per kWh of power – again, this is location dependent. But nowadays, these companies are cheaper than the big 6 competitors.
Here’s the average costs that the big six charge for a three bed house located on the edge of London. As you can see, they’re all very similar to each other, and the likelihood is that if you’re in a different area, the cheapest energy supplier for you might change.
| Supplier | Daily Electricity Standing Charge (pence) | Electricity Charge per kWh (pence) | Daily Gas Standing Charge (pence) | Gas Charge per kWh (pence) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scottish Power | 23.07 | 17.51 | 27.34 | 3.63 |
| EDF | 23.07 | 16.45 | 21.90 | 2.44 |
| British Gas | 25.00 | 16.20 | 25.2 | 3.21 |
| SSE | 23.07 | 17.28 | 27.35 | 3.56 |
| N Power | 21.23 | 15.37 | 23.34 | 2.60 |
| E-on | 22.92 | 18.1 | 26.51 | 3.60 |
Of course, this will be completely different if you’re looking for business electricity and gas – a business energy supplier could end up charging you more depending on your company and what it does. But for residential customers, these are going to be your costs.
Average Daily Standing Charge
The daily standing charge is just a small fee that you’ll get charged per month in order to get your electricity and gas supplied. The average price in the UK as of 2020 is around 20-22p depending on which provider you opt for. This works out at around £75-85 per year.
Although the daily standing fee does matter, it’s much less important than the fee you pay per kWh of power – it can pale in significance in comparison to the cost you’re paying per kilowatt, as generally the standing fee is quite low.
Common Questions about Electricity Prices
What are kWh?
Some people tend to get confused about the measurement kWh, and what it exactly means. This is literally just the price that you get charged by your provider per kilowatt of energy that you use. So, it’s the cost of energy you use in your home if you run a 1000 watt appliance for one hour. It’s commonly mistaken for kilowatts PER hour, which isn’t correct and causes a lot of confusion.
How many kWh do I use?
The amount of kWh you use will depend on what appliances you’re using in your house. In terms of consumer electronics, the TV is the biggest use of electricity in most peoples houses. If you’re getting charged 20p per hWh used, and your TV has an energy consumption of 100w, then watching 10 hours of TV is going to cost you 20 pence. Simple!
How much does a kWh cost in the UK?
The price of a kWh of electricity is going to vary drastically depending on which electricity supplier you choose. The lowest you can find in the UK will typically be around 12p per kWh, with the majority of companies offering 15p per kWh. Bear in mind that this is for electricity. The costs are much lower with gas prices, and they’re typically around 4p per kWh.
What is the daily standing charge when talking about electricity?
Essentially, the daily standing charge is just an additional, fixed price that your electricity supplier will charge you in order to supply you with electricity. They generally go towards paying for things like meter readings, and just getting the electricity to your house.
Should I opt for a no standing charge package?
You can find electricity tariffs that don’t actually charge you a daily fees. However, these tariffs tend to be much more expensive than your standard offers from larger electricity companies. They only make sense for those who have a holiday home that they’ll only use a few times a year, as you won’t have to pay a daily fee when you’re not occupying the property.
Conclusion
In conclusion, these are just some average prices that electricity supplier in the UK are charging their customers. Costs will vary, and which supplier is best for you will always depend on a few different things, including your location and your level of electricity consumption. Thankfully nowadays, there’s enough information available online that we can all find a good electricity deal at a reasonable price.
