Direct Debit customers

If you pay by Direct Debit on one of our standard variable tariffs, from 1 October the cost of a typical dual fuel energy bill went down by 6.1%, or £76 a year on average.

  • Typical gas bill went down by 9.1% - including a £1 increase in the standing charge.
  • Typical electricity bill went down by 3.3% - including a £1 increase in the standing charge.

Receipt of Bill customers

If you pay by Receipt of Bill on one of our standard variable tariffs, from 1 October the cost of a typical dual fuel energy bill went down by 6.0%, or £80 a year on average.

  • Typical gas bill went down by 9.0% - including a £1 increase in the standing charge.
  • Typical electricity bill went down by 3.2% - with no change in the standing charge.

Prepayment customers

If you have a prepayment meter, from 1 October the cost of a typical dual fuel energy bill on our standard variable tariffs went down by 2.0%, or £25 a year on average.

  • Typical gas bill went down by 6.6% - including a £25 increase in the standing charge.
  • Typical electricity bill went up by 2.4% - including an £13 decrease in the standing charge.

The price cap means the price per unit of energy you pay and your daily standing charge can't go above the level set by Ofgem. It’s not a cap on your energy bill, which will rise or fall depending with how much energy you use. The cap is updated by Ofgem twice a year, depending on how the cost of supplying energy to your home changes.

The tariffs affected by the price cap were:

  • Standard Variable
  • Safeguard
  • Cap Tracker September 2020
  • Cap Tracker December 2020
  • Cap Tracker December 2020 v2

But if you were affected, you'll have received a letter around the end of August about how the 1 October 2019 price change affects you. You’ll also see your new prices on your bill or statement.

If you were on any of our other fixed tariffs when the prices changed, you won’t be affected until that tariff ends.

 
Our gas and electricity prices changed because of the price cap, which has been put in place to protect customers on default tariffs, or on tariffs with (or linked to) standard variable rates. The cap is a limit set by Ofgem on the cost of gas and electricity, which became effective from 1 April 2017 for prepayment customers and 1 January 2019 for customers paying by Direct Debit or Receipt of Bill. It’s then updated every April and October to reflect changes in industry costs - such as wholesale, network and policy costs.

Network and policy costs are making up a bigger and bigger part of your electricity bill. Here’s how a typical bill is made up:

Electricity bill costs

Chart of Electricity Bill Costs

Gas bill costs

Chart of Gas Bill Costs

These breakdowns are based on an estimate of costs at Ofgem’s annual average consumption - 3,100 kWh for standard rate electricity and 12,000 kWh for mains gas, and also market average margin returns as per Ofgem’s methodology of calculating the default tariff price cap. Learn more about what makes up your energy bill.

The price cap is a limit set by Ofgem to protect customers on default tariffs, or on tariffs with (or linked to) standard variable rates. It became effective from 17 April 2017 for prepayment customers, and from 1 January 2019 for Direct Debit and Receipt of Bill customers. It’s then updated every April and October to reflect changes in industry costs - such as wholesale, network and policy costs.
If you’re affected by the price cap, you’ll have received a letter around the end of August, telling you how the 1 October 2019 price change affects you. You’ll also see your new prices on your bill or statement.
If you pay by Direct Debit, we automatically review your account twice a year. And if you’re paying too much or too little for the energy you’re using, we’ll take this and the price change into account at your next Direct Debit review. But you don’t have to wait for your next review - just log in on or after 12 August and check you’re on track with your Direct Debit payments, and we’ll tell you if you’re paying the right amount to cover the cost of the energy you’re using, based on the new prices. Not got an online account? Activate online account
From 1 October 2019, most customers on our Standard Variable tariff saw their energy bills come down. You'll have received a letter telling you how you’re affected.
If you’re on a fixed price tariff, your prices won’t be affected.
If you have a Smart meter, your Smart Energy Display (SED) will have automatically updated with the new prices on 1 October when they became effective.

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