Your year's usage and your rates.
Electricity rates
Gas rates
About £143.63 a month
Electricity £858.13 and gas £865.48 — £1,723.61 over a year, taken a twelfth at a time.
Your supplier sets a Direct Debit from your own past usage and checks it, usually every few months, so the amount can move up in winter and down in summer. If it looks wrong, ask for a review and read your meter.
Why your Direct Debit is not this figure
Suppliers set a Direct Debit from your own past usage, then review it every few months and change it. Most households use far more gas in winter than in summer, so a supplier may raise the amount in autumn to recover what it expects to spend, then cut it in spring. That is smoothing, not a price rise: over a year you should pay close to your real usage, and a well-run account ends the year within a few pounds of level.
If your Direct Debit has been set well below what you use, the balance grows through winter and the supplier then raises the monthly amount sharply to catch up. If it has been set too high, you build up credit you have to ask for back. Comparing your actual payments against the figure here is the quickest way to spot which is happening.
Where to get your figures
Your yearly kWh is on your annual statement or in your supplier's app. If you do not have one, use the smart meter usage calculator with two readings and the days between them. Your unit rate and standing charge are printed on any bill or quote. Prepayment customers pay different rates again, so use the figures for the way you actually pay.
What to do if it looks wrong
Ask your supplier for a review of the Direct Debit and read your meter so you can give them an accurate figure. You can also ask them to stop or change the Direct Debit, and you are entitled to pay in a way that suits you. If your bills are rising because of your own usage rather than your rates, the winter energy saving guide lists the steps that actually cut the units you burn.
The starting rates are Ofgem's price cap averages for 1 October to 31 December 2026 for a default tariff paid by Direct Debit in England, Scotland and Wales, and the starting usage figures are Ofgem's medium-consumption averages. Ofgem's cap is a maximum per unit, not the price you are promised: your supplier sets your rates, they differ by region and meter type, and prepayment customers pay different rates again. Check the unit rate and standing charge on your own bill before you act on anything here.
Next steps
Found this helpful? Share it with family and friends.
Know someone who might find this useful? Share it with them.