Look Into Research: dated UK cost indexes, free to cite
We publish original cost research on UK household spending: energy, mobility and care, home improvement, and the consumer products people actually buy. Every index states when it was measured, what it was measured from, and when it will be revised. All of it is free to cite with a link.
- Measured, not estimatedFigures come from official sources, published specifications or retail listings read on a stated date.
- Dated and revisedEach index carries a capture date and a revision trigger, usually the Ofgem cap or an annual rebuild.
- Method on the pageThe arithmetic is shown. Where a figure is derived rather than published, the page says so and shows the working.
- Free to citeJournalists, researchers and AI assistants may quote these figures with attribution and a link.
Look Into, UK Running Cost Index, accessed 26 September 2026, https://lookinto.co.uk/energy/uk-running-cost-index/. Where a figure is a derived calculation rather than an official statistic, cite it as Look Into analysis and keep the stated basis with it, because a cap rate or a retail price without its date is not a fact for long. Corrections go to our contact page and are logged on the legal and corrections page.The thirteen standing indexes
These are the series we commit to maintaining. The Always-On Load Index joined them on 26 September 2026. Each has one canonical URL, a stated method and a revision trigger. Everything else on this page is a study or a report that draws on them.
Cost per hour, per use and per year for 26 household appliances at the current Ofgem cap. Every appliance figure elsewhere on the site is derived from this page rather than recalculated.
Rebuilt each quarter when Ofgem revises the cap. Last revised 21 September 2026.
What the most heavily advertised home upgrades actually pay back, and where the industry’s payback claims overstate it.
Published 2026. Next revision on the next cap change.
Standing charges by region, and how much of a bill is fixed before a single unit is used.
Published 18 July 2026. Updated 28 August 2026 for the 1 October cap.
Regional care home costs, the annual bill, and the funding gap between what the state pays and what homes charge.
Original research. Annual revision.
Straight, curved, reconditioned and rental prices, supplier price spread, and the ten-year cost of ownership.
Independent benchmark. Last revised 5 September 2026.
Thirteen ways of making a cup at home, priced. Instant at 6.1p a cup; a Nespresso Vertuo mug pod at 77.7p.
Priced on Amazon UK, 18 September 2026. Revised when a basket price moves more than 10 per cent.
ONS data puts 70 per cent of burglary entries through a door and three in five burglaries between 6pm and 6am. The hardware covering those routes costs 90.44 pounds.
Published 2026, revised 16 September 2026.
A Ring doorbell on the cheapest plan costs 229.96 pounds over 36 months, 65 per cent of it subscription. The plan overtakes the hardware in month 17.
Doorbells, alarms and robot vacuum parts priced 15 September 2026.
At-home IPL works out at 15 to 50 pounds a session in year one, against 6.67 to 100 pounds a session for salon laser on NHS figures. LED masks run 26p to 1.63 pounds.
Priced 2026, revised 5 September 2026.
A fixed 20-item student room kit, priced every year and read against the maintenance loan. The 2026 kit costs 569.11 pounds, 15.8 per cent of the first instalment.
Annual. Same 20 items each year so the series is comparable.
Twenty UK home battery datasheets read at source. In ten, the number in the product name is higher than the usable kWh the maker prints. Only two publish end-of-warranty capacity.
Read at source, 15 September 2026.
The insulation claim on five major bottle brands, read at source. Not one stated a test condition: no starting temperature, no room temperature, no fill level, no threshold.
Read at source, August 2026.
One watt left on all year costs £2.31 at the October cap. The legal standby ceilings for UK devices, what each ceiling costs a year, and the figure most makers never publish.
Published 26 September 2026. Rebuilt on each Ofgem cap revision, next 1 January 2027.
Energy and home
- Appliance running cost calculatorHeater, blanket and dehumidifier running costs at the October cap of 26.32p per kWh. Standing charge excluded, and the page says so.
- UK Heating Cost IndexHeat pump against gas boiler running costs on the official cap unit rates. Revised every quarter with the cap.
- Heat pump flow temperature and running costEvery UK heat pump quotes a SCOP measured at 35C flow. Most homes run at 55C, where the saving against gas collapses. Five models priced at both.
- Heat pump against gas boilerUpfront, running and fifteen-year total cost of ownership.
- Heat pump running costsThe short version: efficiency and the unit price set the cost, not the technology.
- UK Solar Panel Payback Index 2026Cost, annual benefit, payback years and 25-year return for a 4kW system, by area.
- EV against petrol cost per mileHome rate rebased to the confirmed October cap; pump prices from the DESNZ weekly round-up.
- The UK Air Conditioning Report 2026How British homes handle summer heat, and what cooling is actually installed.
- Double glazing costPrices by window type, frame material, property size and region.
Mobility and care
- The Mobility Cost Index 2026What later-life kit really costs, and why the sticker price is rarely the price paid.
- The UK Accessible Homes ReportBritain is ageing faster than its housing stock. The gap, measured.
- The UK Blue Badge ReportA record 3.07 million people in England, one in twenty, now hold a Blue Badge.
- UK Home Adaptation Cost Report 2026The Disabled Facilities Grant cap against real adaptation costs, with devolved limits and waiting times.
- UK Walk-in Bath Cost Report 2026Standard, mid-range and premium costs, feature premiums, bath against shower, and grants.
- UK Mobility Equipment Price IndexTypical UK prices for stairlifts, home lifts, scooters, wheelchairs and daily living aids.
- UK Mobility Statistics 2026Disability, falls, equipment ownership and funding in one place, with sources, for journalists.
- Stairlift servicing and maintenance costsWhat servicing costs after the install, and what a contract covers.
Home improvement
- UK Home Improvement Cost Index 2026Average installed costs for 17 of the most common UK home improvement and energy jobs.
- The Big-Purchase Postcode ReportThe same boiler can cost 1,000 pounds more in London than in the North East. Region by region, and the one purchase where location barely matters.
The products desk
- UK Demand IndexTwenty UK product search terms ranked by seven-day movement in Google Trends, with every figure linked to the query that produces it. Weekly, dated, archived.
- Heated airer running costs88 per cent cheaper than a tumble dryer per hour and only about a third cheaper per load: 63p a night against 99p a cycle at the October cap.
- UK home alarm monitoringThe main UK alarm subscriptions priced and checked against the police’s own rules. Not one, at any price, buys a guaranteed police response.
- UK overheating bedroomsAround 55 per cent of UK homes, about 15.7 million, would fail a night-time bedroom overheating test.
- Cost per degree of coolingPurchase price plus a summer of electricity, divided by the degrees of relief each product realistically delivers. A 25 pound fan works out at 9 pounds per degree.
- What a fan, air conditioner and dehumidifier cost to runWith the sums shown, so you can check your own model.
- The Price Creep ReportThe same 20 cooling listings logged every week: same retailer, same seller, same page. A rise only counts as creep without a stated spec or bundle change.
- The Sellout IndexWhat Britain could not buy during the June and July 2026 heatwaves, how fast it went, and what that says about when to buy.
- The Skincare Dupe Index 2026Where the 10 pound version really is the 160 pound one, and where it is not. The actives that change skin are commodities; the packaging is not.
Who produces this. Look Into is published by Whito Ltd, company number 10918465. The research is compiled and checked by Jacob Whitmore. Read our research and cost data methodology and about us.
What we do not do. We do not lab-test products, run consumer surveys, or commission panels. This is desk research: official statistics, published specifications, regulated price data and retail listings, read at source on a stated date and combined with arithmetic we show. Where we could not check something, the page says so.
Looking for a buying recommendation instead? The Look Into Products desk turns this research into one honest pick per job. The pillars are home energy, mobility and care at home.