How to cut your energy bill

Ofgem sets a cap every quarter on the maximum unit rate and standing charge a supplier can charge on a standard variable tariff. It is widely misunderstood as a cap on your bill. It is not — a household using more than the assumed typical amount pays more than the widely quoted 'typical annual bill' figure, which is an illustration based on assumed consumption.

Standing charges are the part people find hardest to accept: a fixed daily amount payable whether you use any energy or not, covering network costs, meter maintenance and the cost of supplier failures. They have risen substantially and hit low-usage households hardest. Ofgem has consulted repeatedly on reform, including low or zero standing charge tariff options.

Fixed tariffs returned after the 2022 crisis, and some now sit below the cap. Whether a fix is worth it depends on where the cap is heading, which nobody knows with certainty — a fix is insurance against increases, paid for by giving up the benefit of decreases.

Compare only on Ofgem-accredited comparison sites, and compare the estimated annual cost using your actual usage in kilowatt hours from a recent bill, not the advertised headline.

This is the single most common source of a wrong bill. Without an actual meter reading, suppliers estimate, and estimates are frequently wrong in both directions — producing either a shock catch-up bill or a credit balance of your money sitting in the supplier's account.

Submit readings monthly on the same date, or get a smart meter, which sends them automatically. Smart meters are free to install and you can set them to send half-hourly, daily or monthly data.

Check your account balance. If you pay by direct debit and have built up a large credit balance, you can request it back — suppliers must return credit on request under Ofgem rules, and cannot simply hold it against future usage indefinitely.

If a bill covers a period more than 12 months old and was not previously billed, the back-billing rules mean a supplier generally cannot charge you for it. This applies to domestic customers and to microbusinesses, and it is one of the most useful and least-known consumer protections in the sector.

Turn down the flow temperature on a combi boiler. This is the highest-value free change most households can make. Combi boilers are often set to heat water to 70–80 °C when 60 °C or lower for the radiator circuit makes the boiler condense properly and run far more efficiently. It does not make the house colder — it takes slightly longer to get there. The Energy Saving Trust and the Money Saving Boiler Challenge both estimate savings in the region of six to eight per cent of a gas bill.

Lower the thermostat by one degree. Consistently estimated to save around ten per cent of heating costs. Heating rooms you do not use, or an empty house all day, costs more than most people assume.

Draughtproofing — letterboxes, keyholes, floorboards, unused chimneys, gaps around windows — is cheap, DIY-able and one of the better returns per pound spent.

Insulation is the big structural one. Loft insulation to the recommended depth and cavity wall insulation both pay back over a period of years and are the measures grant schemes target.

What barely matters: standby power on modern appliances, which is now regulated to very low levels; and switching off a phone charger, which uses a negligible amount. These persist as advice because they are easy, not because they are effective.

The Warm Home Discount is an annual rebate applied to the electricity bill of eligible low-income households. In England and Wales it is largely applied automatically based on data matching between the government and suppliers; in Scotland the core group is automatic but the broader group requires an application to the supplier and is first-come, first-served.

ECO4 is a supplier-funded scheme providing insulation and heating improvements to low-income and vulnerable households. Eligibility runs on benefits receipt and property energy rating, and there is also a local authority flexible eligibility route for households that do not receive qualifying benefits. Councils publish their own criteria, and this route is substantially under-used.

The Priority Services Register is free and available from every supplier and network operator. It provides advance notice of planned outages, priority reconnection, alternative heating and cooking in a prolonged outage, and accessible bills. Eligibility covers pensionable age, disability, long-term illness, families with young children and temporary circumstances such as recovery from hospital.

Winter Fuel Payment eligibility changed significantly in 2024 and is now linked to receipt of Pension Credit or other qualifying benefits in England and Wales, with different arrangements in Scotland — check the current rules rather than relying on past experience.

If you cannot pay, tell your supplier before the due date. Suppliers must offer payment plans you can afford, and cannot disconnect a customer who is engaging with a hardship arrangement. Several also run hardship funds that write off arrears.