Britain now pays £315 a year before it switches anything on
Standing charges are the part of the energy bill nobody shops around for, and where you live decides what you pay. Our July 2026 analysis maps the gap postcode by postcode.
- £315 the average yearly standing charge, gas and electricity combined
- Published 18 July 2026, free to cite with attribution
- Analysis by Jacob Whitmore
Payback Index
The upgrades with the worst payback are the ones being advertised hardest
The best-value improvement in Britain costs under £800, and nobody is knocking on your door about it.
Heatwave
Five portable air conditioners worth buying, from £200
They sell out the moment a hot spell lands. What to know before you order, including the quiet one you can run beside the bed.
Hot sleepers
A cooling topper will not cool your room. Here is what it actually does
Cool-touch fabric feels cold the second you lie down. Gel foam stays cooler longer but adds cushioning, not airflow.
The Look Into indexes
Dated UK cost research. Every index says when its figures were captured and how
Student kit
£569.11 to kit out a first-year room
A fixed 20-item basket, priced on 30 August 2026. That is 15.8% of the first maintenance loan instalment.
Home security
£90.44 covers the routes burglars actually use
Priced 30 August 2026 against ONS entry-method data. The cheapest alarm kit we found was £149.99.
Beauty devices
195x between the dearest and cheapest session
IPL devices and LED masks costed per session across year one, priced 30 August 2026.
Claims audit
5 of 5 brands publish hours with no test conditions
Claims read at source on 30 August 2026. This page carries no affiliate links, because it recommends no product.
Running costs
£308.46 a year before you switch anything on
Standing charges at the cap confirmed for October 2026, then every appliance priced per hour, per use and per year.
Heating
£106 a year between a heat pump and a boiler
About £940 a year to heat a typical home with an air-source heat pump against about £1,046 with a gas boiler, under the October cap.
Coffee
40x between the café and your kitchen
What a flat white costs made at home against bought out, broken down to the bean. Updated 23 July 2026.
Report
4.3% of English homes now have air conditioning
About 1.06 million households, roughly double the 2017 share. Published 18 July 2026.
Free quotes and honest cost guides
For the purchases that run into thousands of pounds. Real UK prices, and a written guide before anyone phones you.
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Best video doorbell with no subscription UK 2026Kitchen & AppliancesWhat Britain is asking us
The searches growing fastest across Look Into’s pages, measured in our own Search Console rather than estimated.
2Reusable water bottlesEveryone is buying on an hours claim. We checked whether those claims mean anything.▲ 306%
3LED face masksThe device is only half the price. We costed the whole first year, per session.▲ 267%
4Office coffee machinesBefore you buy the machine, the index shows what each cup will actually cost.▲ 257%
5Combi boilersWhat a boiler costs to run under the October cap, against the heat pump alternative.▲ 191%
6Air source heat pumpsRising all summer. The running cost gap is now about £106 a year in the heat pump’s favour.▲ 147%
7Home alarm systemsClimbing into the darker months. The cheaper hardware covers the routes burglars use.▲ 144%
8Red light therapy masksThe biggest single search on the site, and still growing.▲ 56%
Growth is the change in Google impressions for each search across the 28 days to 27 August 2026 against the 28 days before it, for searches with at least 40 impressions in the current period and at least 10 in the previous one. Source: Look Into’s Google Search Console, read on 30 August 2026.
We run our own numbers
Original UK research, free to read, with the method published in full.
£1,298
UK Cost of Care Index
A self-funded residential care place now averages £1,298 a week, or £67,496 a year. Regional fee data set against the official means-test thresholds. Published 26 June 2026.
55%
UK overheating bedrooms report
About 15.7 million UK homes would fail a night-time bedroom overheating test, on modelling commissioned by the Climate Change Committee.
£800
Home Upgrade Payback Index 2026
The best-value upgrade in the index costs under £800, and it is not the one being advertised hardest. Last checked 29 August 2026.
How to check any of this
Three things you can confirm without taking our word for it. Every index also carries the date its figures were captured, and the method that produced them.
10918465
The company behind the site
Look Into is published by Whito Ltd, registered at 20-22 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU. The director and the full filing history are public at Companies House.
£0
Some pages earn us nothing
The bottle insulation audit carries no affiliate links at all, because it recommends no product. We would rather publish the finding than sell against it.
Never
Nobody pays for a recommendation
We earn commission on some links. No brand has paid to appear here, to rank higher, or to have a review changed.
What updates next, and when
Published in advance, so you can hold us to it.
1 Oct
The October price cap takes effect
Ofgem confirmed £1,723 on 26 August 2026. Every energy cost page was rebased on those rates two days later, and the wording moves to present tense on 1 October.
Quarterly
The cost indexes are rebuilt on each new cap
The running cost index and the heating cost index are recalculated every time Ofgem revises the cap, rather than left to drift out of date.
Aug 2027
The Student Kit Index is priced again
The same 20-item basket, a year on. That is when the index starts carrying year-on-year figures that exist nowhere else.
Four steps, every single guide
The questions people ask us most
The short version, the same as we’d give a friend who texts us before buying something.
Who is Look Into?
Look Into is an independent UK consumer publisher covering trending products, cost research and free quote comparison. We assess products across home, garden, kitchen, tech, health, beauty and outdoors, and publish original UK cost research on energy, care, mobility and home improvement.
How does Look Into make money?
We earn an Amazon affiliate commission when a reader buys through our links, at no extra cost to them, and a fee when a reader requests a quote from a vetted installer. No brand can pay for a recommendation, a ranking or a review score. Our full disclosure is on the How We Make Money page.
How does Look Into test products?
We test hands-on where a product is something we can buy and use, and we say so on the page when we have not. Where we have not tested, we weigh manufacturer specifications, measured running costs and a wide read of verified UK owner reviews, discounting incentivised ratings. We check current UK retail prices, and every guide carries the date it was last updated.
How often does Look Into update its guides?
Every figure on the site is dated and carries the year it applies to. We review key figures at least once a year, and sooner when the underlying rate changes, for example an Ofgem price cap change or the April benefit upratings. Product guides are re-checked against live UK prices and availability on a seasonal schedule.