The price cap

Direct Debit customers

If you pay by Direct Debit on one of our standard variable tariffs, from 1 April the cost of a typical dual fuel energy bill went down by 1.4%, or £17 a year on average.

• Typical gas bill went down by 3.5% - including a £2 increase in the standing charge.
• Typical electricity bill went up by 0.3% - including a £3 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 April the cost of a typical dual fuel energy bill went down by 1.4%, or £18 a year on average.

• Typical gas bill went down by 3.4% - including a £2 increase in the standing charge.
• Typical electricity bill went up by 0.3% - including a £3 increase in the standing charge.

Prepayment customers

If you have a prepayment meter, from 1 April the cost of a typical dual fuel energy bill on our standard variable tariffs went down by 1.4%, or £17 a year on average.

• Typical gas bill went down by 3.4% - including a £2 increase in the standing charge.
• Typical electricity bill went up by 0.3% - including an £3 increase 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're affected, you'll have received a letter around the end of February about how the 1 April 2020 price change affects you. You’ll also see your new prices on your bill or statement.

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

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

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.