Gas and Electric Bill Average
There are a lot of factors affecting how much gas and electricity a household uses which makes it difficult to give an average figure for a UK average gas and electricity bill.
However if you take the latest November 2018 Ofgem figures that are correlated from the Big 6 energy providers in the UK the the average bill on the standard variable tariff comes to £1,2211.
What is the Average Gas and Electric Bill in the UK?
The official Ofgem figures put the average energy bill at £101.75 a month or £1,221 over the course of a year.
As the data if from the big suppliers this official figure is likely to be higher as many of the small energy companies provide cheaper tariffs.
Average Monthly Gas and Electric Bill Variations
As mentioned previously your bill is unlikely to be the same as the official Ofgem average as there are so many factors affecting cost. So let's look at the biggest factors affecting the cost of your gas and electricity.
Some homes are electric only and use electricity for heating and hot water. The average monthly electric bill for UK households that have no gas is going to be significantly higher than homes using gas for heating and hot water.
If you are electric only you are likely to be on a dual electricity tariff that gives you lower cost energy during the night and early hours such as economy 7. Storage heaters make good use of these dual tariffs to heat water of room storage heaters during the lower cost hours.
The Size of your Home
You wouldn't expect a 1 bedroom flat to have a similar bill to a 5 bedroom detached house. One of the biggest factors affecting domestic energy consumption is the square meterage of your property.
A 50 square metre or less property on average uses about 7,000 kWh of gas per year. A larger building between 151 to 200 square metres will use 22,000 kWh a year.
The number of bedrooms is also an important factor that generally correlates with floor area, the more bedrooms a property has on average the more gas and electricity the household will use.
A property with 5 or more bedrooms will use 3 to 4 times more gas and more than twice as much electricity than a 1 bedroom property. About half of all properties in the UK are 3 bedroom dwellings, median consumption for these properties was 13,700 kWh for gas and 3,600 kWh for electricity. Take a look at the average gas and electric bill for a 3 bedroom house.
The Type of Property
A typical purpose built flat uses around half the amount of gas as a detached house and just under half the amount of electricity. An end terrace property uses slightly more gas and electric than a mid terrace house.
The Number of Adults Living in the Property
Unsurprisingly the greater the number of adults living in a property the higher the gas and electricity usage. Households with more adults however use less energy per person compared to single person dwellings. Gas used for heating water does increase with a greater number of adults but central heating costs do not increase significantly.
Did you know that if you don't want the hassle of comparing each time you switch gas and electric suppliers you can use an auto switching service instead? |
You can compare energy yourself to get an exact figure and see how much you could be saving by switching.
Gas and Electricity Usage Lookup Table
The table below shows the average gas and electricity usage (latest 2016 figures) in kWh based on the number of rooms and number of adults living at a property. As these are two of the most significant factors affecting energy consumption they give an accurate reflection of the UK average.
To use this table look down the left hand side to find the number of adults living in your property.
Move to the next column to find the number of bedrooms in the property.
The third and fourth columns show the average amount of gas and electricity in kWh typically used by that household.
You can uses this number as an estimate for your usage when giving figures on energy comparisons sites.
You can also use this figure to see if you are using more or less energy than the average UK household in the same circumstances.
Adults | Bedrooms | Electricity (kWh) | Gas (kWh) |
1 | 1 | 1800 | 6000 |
2 | 1 | 2200 | 6700 |
3 | 1 | 2500 | 7400 |
4 | 1 | 2600 | 8100 |
5+ | 1 | 2900 | 9700 |
1 | 2 | 2200 | 8900 |
2 | 2 | 2800 | 10200 |
3 | 2 | 3200 | 10800 |
4 | 2 | 3500 | 11600 |
5+ | 2 | 3600 | 12500 |
1 | 3 | 2500 | 11700 |
2 | 3 | 3400 | 12900 |
3 | 3 | 3800 | 13400 |
4 | 3 | 4200 | 14200 |
5+ | 3 | 4500 | 15400 |
1 | 4 | 3200 | 15700 |
2 | 4 | 4100 | 16900 |
3 | 4 | 4500 | 17500 |
4 | 4 | 4800 | 18300 |
5+ | 4 | 5200 | 19200 |
1 | 5 | 4200 | 21200 |
2 | 5 | 5200 | 22800 |
3 | 5 | 5600 | 23800 |
4 | 5 | 6000 | 24700 |
5+ | 5 | 6700 | 25400 |
Domestic Energy Usage as Defined by Ofgem
Gas (kWh) Low : 8,000 Medium : 12,000 High : 17,000 |
Electricity (kWh) Low : 1,900 Medium : 3,100 High : 4,600 |
Low Energy Users
A household that has low energy usage will typically have 1 or 2 adults in the property which would typically be the size of a 1 to 2 bed flat or small bungalow.
There may be no-one at home during the day or the heating and electrical appliances are used minimally throughout the day.
Only 1 or 2 loads of washing may happen during the course of a week.
Current Cheap Energy Deal for Medium Energy Users
Medium energy usage households tend to be 3 bedroom semi-detached or terrace with 2 to 4 adults living at home.
The property will usually not be occupied continuously but there will be people in the house at some points during the day and usually at night.
Not all of the meals will be prepared at home and there will be several washing loads carried out throughout the week.
High Energy Users
A high energy user household would typically be a 4 or 5 bedroomed detached house with 4 or 5 adults living in the property. You are more likely to have someone at home during the day and in the evening.
High gas and electricity usage homes tend to do at least one load of washing or more a day. All the meals will usually be prepared in the house more often than not which means regularly using an electric or gas hob and oven.
Average Monthly Gas and Electric Bill
The short answer is £101.751 monthly which is the average variable tariff as of November 2018. The long answer is asking what's the average monthly gas and electric bill is like asking what's the average height of a person. The fact is that looking at the average is not going to reflect your circumstances.
You have to take into consideration that households vary greatly. Some homes are very well insulated whilst others have no insulation at all. Some households are frugal whilst others like to have the heating on full blast all winter and never switch anything off.
A small one bedroom home with one adult is going to have a much lower bill than a 5 bed detached house with more than 5 adults living in it.
The average monthly gas and electric bill for a 3 bed house is around the £85 to £115 mark.
The average gas and electric bill for a 1 bed flat is in the region of £55 to £75 a month.
The average gas and electric bill for a 2 bed flat is about £60 to £80 a month.
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How Much is the UK Average Gas Bill?
The average household in the UK uses 12,000 kWh of gas for heating and hot water according to Ofgem. At the time of writing (as prices change) this would translate to £33 a month if you were on the cheapest tariff (Outfox the Market at the time of writing) or as much as £65 a month with the most expensive supplier (at time of writing Ebico).
In the UK the average gas bill per month varies from £33 to £65 depending on the tariff you are on.
As you can see from the figures what the average person pays for the cost of gas can vary greatly an if with the wrong supplier can be paying twice as much as needed. So switching supplier could save you money on monthly gas bills or mean you could have the heating on for longer in the winter.
You can get a better estimate of what the average gas usage is for your type of household by using our gas and electric usage calculator.
Average electricity bill in the UK
The average electricity bill in the UK is £705 a year or £58.75 a month. These are Ofgems official 2019 figures.
Based on the average household using 3,100 kWh of electricity a year you should expect to be paying between £39.97 (Together Energy - Green Together Fixed April21 v2) and £55.99 (ScottishPower - Help Beat Cancer Fix and Save April 2022 Online v2) a month. This is based on a snapshot taken from EnergyHelpline on 23rd March 2020.
Obviously every household in the UK is a different size, has a varying number of occupants who each have different energy usage habits and different electrical appliances. So when we look at the average we use Ofgem's official medium user kWh usage figures combined with the average price.
Average Economy 7 electricity bill in the UK
For those on Economy 7 Ofgems 2019 calculations suggest the average annual electric bill should be £972 or £81 a month.
The above Ofgem figures are for electric only households with electric heating.
For Economy 7 households that also have gas heating you can expect to pay between £35.36 (Together Energy - Green Together Fixed April21 v2) and £50.38 (ScottishPower - Help Beat Cancer Fix and Save April 2022 Online v2) a month. These figures are based on a snapshot taken from EnergyHelpline on 23rd March 2020 and presume a 50/50 split between daytime rate electricity usage and nighttime as suggested by Ofgem for calculations.
If you are on Economy 7 you should be making use of the cheaper night tariff as your day tariff will be much more expensive. It is possible to get a 20/80 split if you are using an electric immersion heater to heat your water at night and have electric storage heaters.
For those on Economy 7 only and have no gas supply you can expect to be paying between £61.43 (Together Energy - Green Together Fixed April21 v2) and £86.94 (ScottishPower - Help Beat Cancer Fix and Save April 2022 Online v2) per month with a an annual energy usage of 6,000 kWh with usage split 50/50 on day and night tariff.
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References
‣ https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/infographic-bills-prices-and-profits1