Confirmed. Ofgem published the 1 October to 31 December 2026 cap on Wednesday 26 August 2026. Every figure below is a confirmed rate, not a forecast. Last checked 28 August 2026.
Ofgem confirmed the October to December 2026 price cap on Wednesday 26 August. From 1 October a typical dual-fuel household paying by direct debit is capped at £1,723 a year, £60 more than the £1,663 running now, a rise Ofgem puts at 4%. Gas caused all of it. Electricity is close to flat only because VAT came off it.
The four capped rates are 26.32p per kWh for electricity with a 54.83p daily standing charge, and 7.97p per kWh for gas with a 29.68p daily standing charge, averaged across Great Britain for direct debit customers. Below we take the £1,723 apart line by line so you can see which half of your bill moved, and by how much.
The short version
- Announced Wednesday 26 August 2026. New rates run 1 October to 31 December 2026.
- Typical dual-fuel direct debit bill: £1,723 a year, up £60 on £1,663. Ofgem headlines it as 4%.
- Gas did all the work. On the typical use figures Ofgem uses, gas costs £63.14 more over a year and electricity costs £3.36 less.
- Electricity is flat only because the government removed VAT from it for six months, to 31 March 2027. Strip the tax out and the underlying electricity unit rate rose 5.8%.
- The electricity standing charge fell and the unit rate rose, so the change turns negative above roughly 4,100 kWh a year. Low electricity users pay less, heavy users pay more.
- The cap limits unit rates and standing charges, not your total bill. Ofgem says around 35% of households, about 11 million, are on fixed tariffs and see no change until their fix ends.
The four rates, and what changed
| Capped rate, GB average, direct debit | 1 Jul to 30 Sep 2026 | 1 Oct to 31 Dec 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity unit rate | 26.11p/kWh | 26.32p/kWh | +0.21p (+0.8%) |
| Electricity standing charge | 57.19p/day | 54.83p/day | -2.36p (-4.1%) |
| Gas unit rate | 7.33p/kWh | 7.97p/kWh | +0.64p (+8.7%) |
| Gas standing charge | 29.04p/day | 29.68p/day | +0.64p (+2.2%) |
| Combined standing charge | 86.23p/day, £314.74/yr | 84.51p/day, £308.46/yr | -£6.28/yr |
| Typical annual bill | £1,663 | £1,723 | +£60 |
The catch on the electricity column: Ofgem’s July rate includes 5% VAT and its October rate includes none, so the two are not measuring the same thing. Ofgem says so itself on the rates page, warning that costs cannot be compared directly with previous periods because of the change. The gas column is a clean comparison, because gas keeps its 5% VAT.
Where the £1,723 comes from
Ofgem’s headline figure is not a bill anyone receives. It is four rates multiplied by a set of typical consumption figures, and those figures changed on 1 July 2026. Ofgem’s decision of 27 May 2026 cut the medium household from 2,700 kWh to 2,500 kWh of electricity and from 11,500 kWh to 9,500 kWh of gas. Coverage still working from the old numbers produces totals a few hundred pounds too high for exactly the same rates. Here is the whole sum:
| Component | Working | 1 Oct to 31 Dec 2026 basis |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity units | 2,500 kWh at 26.32p | £658.00 |
| Electricity standing charge | 365 days at 54.83p | £200.13 |
| Gas units | 9,500 kWh at 7.97p | £757.15 |
| Gas standing charge | 365 days at 29.68p | £108.33 |
| Total | £1,723.61 | |
| Ofgem’s published figure | £1,723 |
That matters for two reasons. It shows the headline is reproducible rather than a number to take on trust, and it gives you the lever to price your own house: swap 2,500 and 9,500 for the kWh totals on your last annual statement and the same four rates give your capped cost. A home on 4,000 kWh of electricity and 14,000 kWh of gas pays £2,477 a year at these rates, which is nothing like the headline.
Gas did all of it
Split the £60 by fuel and the story stops being an energy story. On the same typical use figures, the gas half of the bill goes from £802.35 to £865.48, a rise of £63.14 or 7.9%, which is the 8% Ofgem quotes. The electricity half goes from £861.49 to £858.13, a fall of £3.36. Net movement £59.77, which is Ofgem’s £60.
| Half of the bill | Jul to Sep 2026 | Oct to Dec 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity, 2,500 kWh | £861.49 | £858.13 | -£3.36 |
| Gas, 9,500 kWh | £802.35 | £865.48 | +£63.14 |
| Both | £1,663.84 | £1,723.61 | +£59.77 |
If you heat with gas, this quarter costs you money and no amount of switching lights off will touch it, because the rise is in the fuel you burn for heat. Our UK Heating Cost Index prices a unit of heat from each system at the new rates, and the running cost index does the same for every appliance in the house.
The electricity crossover is about 4,100 kWh
Electricity moved in two directions at once. The unit rate rose 0.21p and the standing charge fell 2.36p a day, which is worth £8.61 back over a year no matter how little you use. Those cancel out at 4,102 kWh a year. Below that your electricity costs fall this quarter. Above it they rise, and the more you use the more they rise.
| Electricity use a year | Jul to Sep basis | Oct to Dec basis | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,800 kWh, flat or small home | £678.72 | £673.89 | -£4.83 |
| 2,500 kWh, Ofgem typical | £861.49 | £858.13 | -£3.36 |
| 3,400 kWh, Economy 7 typical | £1,096.48 | £1,095.01 | -£1.47 |
| 4,102 kWh, break-even | £1,279.77 | £1,279.78 | +£0.01 |
| 8,000 kWh, electrically heated | £2,297.54 | £2,305.73 | +£8.19 |
This is why Ofgem describes homes without gas as seeing an increase of under 1% while the sum above shows a typical 2,500 kWh home paying slightly less. Homes with no gas connection are usually heated by electricity and use far more than the 2,500 kWh medium figure, which puts them the other side of the crossover. Both statements are true of different houses, which is the point of working it out for your own.
What the VAT cut does, and what happens on 1 April 2027
The government removed VAT from domestic electricity, dropping it from 5% to zero for the six months from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. It applies to the whole electricity bill, standing charge included. Gas keeps its 5%. Ofgem says that without the intervention the typical bill would have been around £45 higher. On the consumption figures above the relief is worth £42.91, being 5% of an £858.13 electricity bill.
Take the tax out of both quarters and the underlying picture is different from the headline. July’s 26.11p includes VAT, so the pre-tax rate was 24.87p. October’s 26.32p includes none. The wholesale-and-network cost of a unit of electricity therefore rose 5.8% this quarter, and the reason your bill does not show it is a tax cut with an expiry date on it.
The catch, and it is the biggest one on this page: the relief ends on 31 March 2027. If the pre-tax rates did not move at all between now and then, VAT coming back at 5% would put the electricity unit rate at 27.64p and add about £43 to a typical annual bill from 1 April 2027, before any January or April cap change is counted. Treat this winter’s electricity rate as a temporary level rather than a new normal.
Will your standing charge change?
The GB average combined standing charge falls from 86.23p a day to 84.51p, which is £308.46 a year before either home has used a single unit, down £6.28. Most of that is the electricity side, and part of it is the VAT removal rather than a cut in the underlying charge.
What your postcode does to that number is a separate question. Standing charges vary by distribution region, and at the July rates our UK Standing Charge Postcode Report found London paying the least at 74.30p a day combined and Merseyside and North Wales the most at 100.18p, a gap of about £95 a year. Ofgem had not published the October regional tables at the time of writing on 28 August 2026. We will rebase the regional report as soon as they appear rather than estimate them.
Who the cap affects
The cap applies to standard variable and default tariffs, which is where you end up if you have never switched or a fixed deal ended without you picking a new one. Ofgem puts around 35% of households, about 11 million, on fixed tariffs instead, and their rates are locked until the fix ends. Prepayment and standard credit customers are capped as well, at slightly different levels from direct debit.
What to do before 1 October
Check what a fix would cost against the confirmed rates rather than against a forecast, because the forecast stage is over. A fix that prices electricity above 26.32p or gas above 7.97p is worse than doing nothing unless it runs long enough to cover the January and April cap periods. The catch: exit fees. Most fixes charge to leave, so a fix is a bet that rates rise, and if wholesale gas falls in the spring you are committed at this winter’s level.
The other lever is using fewer of the expensive units, and after this change the expensive unit is gas. Swapping a two hour oven bake for eight hours of a slow cooker costs about 42p in electricity against roughly £1.05 for the oven, and our slow cooker guide has picks from £15. The home energy grants guide covers what is still available this year, and the solar savings calculator works payback at the rates you are actually paying.
What happens after December
The January to March 2027 cap is announced in late November 2026, and the wholesale window that sets it is open now. The April 2027 cap is the one to watch, because it is the first period after the electricity VAT relief expires on 31 March, so an unchanged pre-tax rate would still show up as a rise on the bill. We will update this page when the January level is confirmed rather than when it is forecast.
Questions people ask
How much is the energy price cap from October 2026?
£1,723 a year for a typical dual-fuel household paying by direct debit, up £60 on the £1,663 cap that runs to 30 September. The capped rates are 26.32p per kWh and 54.83p a day for electricity, and 7.97p per kWh and 29.68p a day for gas, averaged across Great Britain. They apply from 1 October to 31 December 2026.
Is £1,723 the most I would pay?
No. The cap limits unit rates and standing charges, not the total bill. £1,723 describes a household using 2,500 kWh of electricity and 9,500 kWh of gas on direct debit. Use more and you pay more. Put your own annual kWh figures through the four rates above to get the number that applies to you.
Why has my electricity barely changed when the cap went up?
Because the rise is in gas. Gas unit rates went up 8.7% while the electricity unit rate went up 0.8% and the electricity standing charge fell 4.1%. On typical use that is £63.14 more for gas and £3.36 less for electricity. Electricity looks flat because the government took 5% VAT off it for six months, which masks a 5.8% rise in the pre-tax rate.
What happens when the electricity VAT cut ends?
The relief runs to 31 March 2027. If pre-tax rates were unchanged, VAT returning at 5% would take the electricity unit rate from 26.32p to 27.64p and add about £43 a year to a typical bill from 1 April 2027, on top of whatever the April cap does. That is arithmetic on today’s rates rather than a forecast.
Should I fix my energy tariff now?
Compare any offer against the confirmed October rates of 26.32p and 7.97p rather than against a forecast. A fix priced below them saves money for as long as the cap stays above them. The catch is the exit fee, which is what you would pay to leave if wholesale prices fall in the spring, so check it before signing.
Why is my standing charge different from someone else’s?
Standing charges vary by distribution region, because the cost of running the local network is passed to the households in it. At the July rates the gap between the cheapest and dearest GB regions was about £95 a year. Ofgem publishes the October regional tables separately, and we will rebase our regional report when it does.
The cap change lands a few weeks before the November sales. If you are weighing a bigger purchase against a higher winter bill, our Black Friday 2026 page records what the usual sale products cost before the discounts start, and our Prime Big Deal Days 2026 page tracks October’s sale.
How we worked this out
The four rates, the £1,723 and the £1,663 are Ofgem’s published figures, read on 28 August 2026. The consumption basis is Ofgem’s 2026 typical domestic consumption values, 2,500 kWh of electricity and 9,500 kWh of gas, in force since 1 July 2026. Every other number on this page is our own arithmetic on those inputs, shown in full so you can check it: fuel splits, the 4,102 kWh crossover, the pre-tax rates and the 1 April 2027 figure. Nothing here is measured. We do not meter households, and where a figure is Ofgem’s we say so in the sentence that uses it.
Sources
- Ofgem, Energy price cap unit rates and standing charges
- Ofgem, Energy price cap will rise 4% in October 2026 (26 August 2026)
- Ofgem, Summary of changes to the energy price cap, 1 October to 31 December 2026 (PDF, 26 August 2026)
- Ofgem, Review of typical domestic consumption values: decision (PDF, 27 May 2026)
- GOV.UK, New PM cuts tax on household electricity bills (21 July 2026)
- Cornwall Insight, Predictions and insights into the Default Tariff Cap
Figures checked on 28 August 2026 against Ofgem’s published rates. Cap rates change quarterly and this page is rebased each time Ofgem publishes.
If you receive the Winter Fuel Payment, we have converted it into heating at these rates. See what the Winter Fuel Payment buys in kWh, including the £153.81 that standing charges take before any energy is used.