Enter your unit rate, standing charge and yearly usage to see your annual cost and how it stacks up against the Ofgem October 2026 price cap.
A medium household uses about 2,500 kWh of electricity or 9,500 kWh of gas a year. Check your last bill for your figure.
Ofgem sets the maximum unit rate suppliers can charge on standard variable tariffs. From 1 October 2026 those rates are:
| Fuel | Unit rate | Standing charge |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity | 26.32p per kWh | 54.83p per day |
| Gas | 7.97p per kWh | 29.68p per day |
One change worth knowing this quarter: the government has taken VAT off all domestic electricity between 1 October 2026 and 31 March 2027, so there's no VAT on your electricity. Gas still carries 5% VAT. That's why electricity held roughly flat while gas went up around 8%.
These are the numbers the calculator compares your figures against. If your unit rate is higher and you're on a standard variable tariff, that's worth querying with your supplier, because they shouldn't charge above the cap. If you're on a fixed deal, your rate is locked in and can sit above or below the cap.
Your energy bill lists the unit rate in pence per kWh for both electricity and gas, plus the daily standing charge. If you'd rather work it out from a bill, take the energy charge (before standing charges and VAT) and divide it by the kWh used over the period. The standing charge is separate: it's a flat daily fee you pay even if you use nothing, currently adding £200 a year for electricity and £108 a year for gas at the capped rates.
A medium household using 2,500 kWh of electricity at the capped 26.32p rate pays £658 for the energy, plus £200 in standing charges, so about £858 a year. Add gas at 9,500 kWh and 7.97p, which is £757, plus £108 standing, giving roughly £865. Together that's around £1,723 a year, which lines up with Ofgem's headline figure. Your own number will differ once you plug in your real usage.
The price cap only applies to standard variable tariffs, the default you land on when a fixed deal ends. On a fixed tariff you agreed a rate for the term, so you might be paying more or less than today's cap. When suppliers expect the cap to rise, fixed deals get priced higher. When they expect it to fall, you can sometimes fix below the current cap. Right now the cheapest 12-month fixes sit around 22 to 23p per kWh for electricity, a little under the cap.
You can't change the capped unit rate, but you control the usage. Every kWh you don't use saves 26.32p on electricity or 7.97p on gas. Turning the thermostat down 1 degree cuts gas use by roughly 8 to 10%. Shifting big appliances to an off-peak tariff, if you have one, can more than halve their running cost. Our appliance running cost calculator shows which devices cost the most, and if your bill is in gas units rather than kWh, the gas units to kWh converter sorts that out first.
From October 2026, electricity is 26.32p per kWh and gas is 7.97p per kWh on a standard variable tariff, with daily standing charges of 54.83p and 29.68p. There's no VAT on electricity this period; gas still has 5%.
If you're on a standard variable tariff and your unit rate is above the cap, query it with your supplier. On a fixed deal, a higher rate is normal because you locked it in.
That headline is a medium user's estimate, not a cap on your total. Use more energy than the medium household and your bill is higher even though the unit rate is capped.
Rates from the Ofgem October 2026 price cap. Meter reading help from Citizens Advice.