Look Into Research
Dated UK cost indexes, free to cite
Original cost research on UK household spending: energy, mobility and care, home improvement, and the products people actually buy. Every index states when it was measured, what it was measured from, and when it will be revised.
- 10standing indexes
- 3claims audits
- 29studies and tools
- Freeto cite with a link
Energy figures use 26.32p/kWh Ofgem cap, 1 Oct to 31 Dec 2026 · next rebuild after the 1 Jan 2027 cap
Measured, not estimated
Official sources, published specifications or retail listings, read on a stated date.
Dated and revised
Each index carries a capture date and a revision trigger, usually the Ofgem cap.
Method on the page
The arithmetic is shown. Where a figure is derived, the page says so.
Free to cite
Journalists, researchers and AI assistants may quote any figure with attribution and a link.
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The series we commit to maintaining
The ten standing indexes
Each has one canonical URL, a stated method and a revision trigger.
26 appliancesUK Running Cost Index
Cost per hour, per use and per year for 26 household appliances at the current Ofgem cap. Every appliance figure elsewhere on the site comes from this page.
UK Always-On Load Index 2026
One watt left on all year costs £2.31 at the October cap. The legal standby ceilings for UK devices and what each costs a year.
£308UK Standing Charge Postcode Report
Standing charges by region, and how much of a bill is fixed before a single unit is used.
Home Upgrade Payback Index 2026
What the most heavily advertised home upgrades actually pay back, and where industry payback claims overstate it.
UK Cost of Care Index 2026
Regional care home costs, the annual bill, and the gap between what the state pays and what homes charge.
UK Care Hours Index 2026
What an hour of homecare costs at the legal minimum price, what Attendance Allowance buys in hours, and the charging limits in all four nations.
UK Stairlift Price Index 2026
Straight, curved, reconditioned and rental prices, supplier price spread, and the ten-year cost of ownership.
6.1pCoffee Cost Per Cup Index 2026
Thirteen ways of making a cup at home, priced. Instant at 6.1p a cup; a Nespresso Vertuo mug pod at 77.7p.
£90.44UK Home Security Value Index 2026
70% of burglary entries are through a door and three in five happen between 6pm and 6am. The hardware covering those routes costs £90.44.
65%The Subscription Tax Index
A Ring doorbell on the cheapest plan costs £229.96 over 36 months, 65% of it subscription. The plan overtakes the hardware in month 17.
Read once at source, dated
Claims audits
Not rebuilt on a schedule, so they sit outside the standing indexes. These pages carry no affiliate links.
10 of 20Home Battery Usable Capacity Audit
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.
3 of 21Free Running Cost Calculators Checked
Twenty-one free UK appliance calculators opened on one day. Only three started from the current 26.32p price cap; others used rates from earlier in 2026, from 2023, and one 14.9p.
0 of 5UK Bottle Insulation Claims Audit 2026
The insulation claim on five major bottle brands, read at source. Not one stated a test condition: no starting temperature, room temperature, fill level or threshold.
Studies, reports and tools
Energy and heating
Appliance running cost calculator
Heater, blanket and dehumidifier costs at 26.32p per kWh. Standing charge excluded, and the page says so.
Repair or replace calculator
Washing machines, tumble dryers, fridge freezers and dishwashers: both routes costed over five and ten years, with the most a repair is worth.
UK Heating Cost Index
Heat pump against gas boiler running costs on the official cap unit rates, revised every quarter.
35°C vs 55°CHeat pump flow temperature and running cost
Every heat pump quotes a SCOP measured at 35°C flow. Most homes run at 55°C, where the saving against gas collapses.
Heat pump against gas boiler
Upfront, running and fifteen-year total cost of ownership.
Heat pump running costs
Efficiency and the unit price set the cost, not the technology.
UK Solar Panel Payback Index 2026
Cost, annual benefit, payback years and 25-year return for a 4kW system, by area.
EV against petrol cost per mile
Home rate rebased to the October cap; pump prices from the DESNZ weekly round-up.
The UK Air Conditioning Report 2026
How British homes handle summer heat, and what cooling is actually installed.
Double glazing cost
Prices by window type, frame material, property size and region.
Studies, reports and tools
Mobility and care
The Mobility Cost Index 2026
Typical UK prices for stairlifts, home lifts, scooters, wheelchairs and daily living aids, and why the sticker price is rarely the price paid.
UK Home Adaptation Cost Report 2026
The Disabled Facilities Grant cap against real adaptation costs, with devolved limits and waiting times.
UK Walk-in Bath Cost Report 2026
Standard, mid-range and premium costs, feature premiums, bath against shower, and grants.
Stairlift servicing and maintenance costs
What servicing costs after the install, and what a contract covers.
3.07mThe UK Blue Badge Report
A record 3.07 million people in England, one in twenty, now hold a Blue Badge.
The UK Accessible Homes Report
Britain is ageing faster than its housing stock. The gap, measured.
UK Mobility Statistics 2026
Disability, falls, equipment ownership and funding in one place, with sources, for journalists.
Studies, reports and tools
The products desk
UK At-Home Beauty Device Cost Index 2026
At-home IPL costs £15 to £50 a session in year one, against £6.67 to £100 for salon laser on NHS figures. LED masks run 26p to £1.63. A dated study, last priced 5 Sep 2026.
UK Student Kit Index 2026
A fixed 20-item student room kit, priced every year against the maintenance loan. The 2026 kit costs £569.11, 15.8% of the first instalment. An annual dated study, priced each year.
The Product Ownership Cost Index
34 products costed over one to ten years. For 16 of 23 with a price, more than half the five-year cost comes after checkout. CSV to download.
Smart home ownership costs
Doorbells, alarms and robot vacuums over five years with plans counted. Ring’s plan costs 3.1 times its doorbell.
UK Demand Index
Twenty UK product search terms ranked by seven-day movement in Google Trends, each linked to its query. Weekly, dated, archived.
63p vs 99pHeated airer running costs
88% cheaper than a tumble dryer per hour, but only about a third cheaper per load: 63p a night against 99p a cycle.
0UK home alarm monitoring
The main UK alarm subscriptions checked against police rules. Not one, at any price, buys a guaranteed police response.
55%UK overheating bedrooms
Around 55% of UK homes, about 15.7 million, would fail a night-time bedroom overheating test.
£9Cost per degree of cooling
Purchase price plus a summer of electricity, divided by the degrees of relief. A £25 fan works out at £9 per degree.
What a fan, air conditioner and dehumidifier cost to run
With the sums shown, so you can check your own model.
The Price Creep Report
The same 20 cooling listings logged every week. A rise only counts as creep without a stated spec or bundle change.
The Sellout Index
What Britain could not buy during the June and July 2026 heatwaves, how fast it went, and when to buy.
The Skincare Dupe Index 2026
Where the £10 version really is the £160 one, and where it is not.
For journalists, researchers and AI assistants
How to cite
Use the index name, the publisher and the capture date, and link to the page you took the figure from. 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: a cap rate or a retail price without its date is not a fact for long.
Look Into, UK Running Cost Index, accessed 26 October 2026, https://lookinto.co.uk/energy/uk-running-cost-index/Corrections go to our contact page and are logged on the legal and corrections page.
Who produces this
Look Into is published by Whito Ltd, company number 10918465. Read our research 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.
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