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Why is my energy bill so high?

A high energy bill usually comes down to one of five things: the daily standing charge, being stuck on the default variable tariff, always-on appliances, winter heating, or a direct debit set higher than your usage. Here’s how to find which one is driving yours.

• You’re charged before you boil a single kettle. Both meters carry a fixed daily fee — the standing charge — that you pay just for being connected, whether you use anything or not. Over a year it’s quietly one of the bigger lines on the bill, and there’s nothing you can switch off to dodge it.
• You never switched, so you’re on the default. Fix expired, or never moved? Then you’re on the standard variable tariff — it just tracks Ofgem’s cap, and it’s almost never the bargain. What the price cap actually is →
• The always-on drip. The fridge. The router that never sleeps. The telly on standby, the console, that second fridge in the garage everyone forgets. None of it feels like much — but it runs 24/7, and it adds up to a real slice of the bill.
• Heating — the winter heavyweight. From October to March, gas heating dwarfs everything else in most homes. So a scary winter bill is often just… winter — worth knowing before you go hunting for a fault that isn’t there.
• Or the bill’s high but your usage isn’t. A big monthly payment isn’t the same as using a lot — sometimes the supplier has simply set the direct debit too high and is banking the difference. Are you owed money? →

A quick example of where the money goes

Say your two standing charges — one for gas, one for electricity — come to about 90p a day between them. That’s roughly £330 a year you pay before using a single unit of energy. Add winter gas heating on top and you can see why a bill climbs even when your habits haven’t changed.

What to do next

• Check the season first. A big October-to-March bill is often just winter heating, not a fault. Compare it to the same month last year if you can.
• Look at your tariff. If you’ve never switched, you’re likely on the default variable rate — rarely the cheapest. A fixed deal may cost less.
• Check your rates against the cap. If your unit rate or standing charge is above the price cap for your region, that’s money you could save by switching.
• Check the payment matches the usage. A high monthly payment isn’t the same as high usage — sometimes the direct debit is simply set too high.

Which one is it for you? You can’t tell from a typical-home average — only from your own numbers. The free bill check reads them off a photo of your bill and points to what’s driving yours, in about 30 seconds, with nothing saved. Want the whole-home view? Check your whole home →