Guides to UK energy bills and tariffs
Plain explanations of the things a UK energy bill assumes you already know — unit rates, standing charges, the price cap, half-hourly data and time-of-use tariffs.
How to read your electricity bill
What every line on a UK electricity bill means — unit rate, standing charge, VAT, estimated versus actual readings — and how to check it is right.
Read the guide →Standing charges explained
What the daily standing charge on a UK energy bill pays for, why it varies by region, and when a low standing charge tariff is actually cheaper.
Read the guide →The energy price cap, explained
What Ofgem's price cap actually limits, why the headline figure is not a maximum bill, and how it interacts with fixed and smart tariffs.
Read the guide →Find your electricity region
UK electricity prices differ by region. Here is how to find yours from the first two digits of your MPAN, with the full list of distributor IDs.
Read the guide →Economy 7 explained
How Economy 7 day and night rates work, when the cheap seven hours actually run, how to check yours, and what to switch to instead.
Read the guide →When is electricity cheapest?
When UK electricity is cheapest, why the 16:00-19:00 peak exists, and how much you can actually save by moving the washing machine.
Read the guide →What your appliances actually cost to run
Typical kWh per use for ovens, kettles, showers, tumble dryers and heat pumps, and how to turn that into pence at your own unit rate.
Read the guide →Average UK energy usage
Typical annual gas and electricity consumption for low, medium and high usage households, and how to work out whether yours is unusual.
Read the guide →Smart meters and half-hourly data
What half-hourly readings are, how to turn them on, why they lag by a day or two, and what SMETS1 and SMETS2 mean for your data.
Read the guide →Using the Octopus Energy API
How to pull Octopus tariff prices and your own consumption from the public REST API — endpoints, authentication, region codes and the traps.
Read the guide →How to cut your energy bill
The changes that measurably reduce a UK energy bill, ranked by what they are worth, and the ones that are not worth the effort.
Read the guide →