If you’re trying to work out the average electricity bill in the UK, then you’re in the place. Though your bill will vary depending on a variety of different factors, there is an average that we can use across the board to determine how much you should be paying.
Whether you think your current electricity supplier is charging too much or not, it’s important to know what other offers are out there. So, let’s look at the average electricity bills across the UK.
Average Energy Bill UK
If we take an average across the entire UK, then the average works out at around £600 per year, or £50 per month. However, bear in mind that this is across all different types of households, and it will depend where you’re living. A one bedroom flat is going to have a dramatically different electricity bill than a 4 bedroom house.
As mentioned, your costs are going to vary dramatically based on what kind of house or flat you live in. So, let’s look at the average based on what the current big 6 are charging in the UK.
| 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 |
Without applying this data to other data, then these figures can be fairly obsolete. Sure, it can give us the difference in prices between the top six energy companies, but it doesn’t give us the average costs for our households.
However, we can easily work out the average bill for each type of household based on these averages, and the average energy consumption each year by each type of household.
Average Energy Bill for Each Type of Household
| Supplier | Electricity Usage Per Year (kWh) | Gas Usage Per Year (kWh) | Overall Cost w/ Standing Charges |
|---|---|---|---|
| One Bed Flat | 1800 | 6000 | £669.26 |
| Two Bed Flat | 2000 | 8000 | £769.80 |
| Two Bed House | 2100 | 10000 | £850.01 |
| Three Bed House | 3000 | 12000 | £1064.70 |
| Four Bed House | 3200 | 13000 | £1130.02 |
Overall, there isn’t a significant increase in costs between the averages of a one bed flat and a two bed flat, or a three bed house and a four bed house. However, this guide is intended to be used to analyse your own bills, and see whether you could save money by switching to a cheaper supplier.
This is an average taken across the big six energy suppliers, which tend to be more expensive than some cheaper options out there. You can consider using a price comparison service like Look After My Bills, which helps you to find the very cheapest and best offer for you in your area.
Remember that these are also just the standard energy prices that are used as well, and in some cases, you might be able to find a cheaper rate. For example, if you aren;t around during the daytime, then you could opt for a Economy 7 rate instead, which has higher prices charged throughout the daytime, and is much cheaper at night.
What can have an effect on my energy bill?
In general, your energy bill will be specific to your house, and your postcode. You might find a completely different quote for someone just down the road from you if they have a different style of house. Or, your bills my be different than your Aunt that lives in Newcastle, even if you both have the same identical three bed house (that’s assuming you don’t live in Newcastle too, obviously.
This is because there are different factors which can affect your gas and electricity bills. They include;
The most important thing out of all of these factors is just the amount of energy that you’re going to use on a regular basis. Although you might not think it, this can vary dramatically from household to household depending on their way of living.
For example, the lighting generally makes up more than 10% of your overall energy bills, and the usage of your home lights will vary depending on how often you’re home, and your work schedule.It will also vary based on it’s occupants too, as this will increase the costs based on usage e.g. more washing machine usage, the fridge filled up which increased refrigeration costs etc.
Conclusion
All in all, it’s very difficult to estimate your own electricity bill without knowing the right numbers. The main thing that you need to work out and find is how much you’re being charged per kWh of energy that you use, for both electricity and gas. You should be able to find this pretty easily with your yearly bills.
Then, you can work out if what you’re getting is better than the average, and whether it’s worth you looking at switching to a cheaper energy supplier. Nowadays, we have much more power as individuals than we used to have, so it only makes sense that we use the internet to find ourselves the best deal possible.