25% of people pay an extra £655+ for energy. Could this be you?
The Energy Price Cap for 1 October through 31 December 2024 is £1,717 per year. But some households will pay £655+ more per year than the £1,717 headline figure. Why? This headline figure reflects the cost of energy for the typical household with median energy usage—not the total cost for everyone.
In fact, nearly every household will pay more or less than this figure, depending on their usage. Why? The energy cap is actually a cap on the variable, per kWh charges (and daily standing charges), not a cap on the total amount owed, so total energy bills are highly variable depending on a home's actual energy usage.
And energy usage really does vary a lot from one home to the next. Typical domestic consumption values from Ofgem indicate that the 25th percentile of home usage is 8,000 gas + 1,800 electricity while the 75th percentile is 17,000 gas + 4,300 electricity—more than 2X as much!
What does 'percentile' mean here? For example, the 75th percentile of electricity usage at 4,300 kWh per year means that 75% of homes use less than 4,300 kWh of electricity per year. And the remaining 25% of homes use more than 4,300 kWh per year.
The NimbleFins team applied the variable Energy Price Cap (24.5p/kWh for electricity and 6.24p/kWh for gas) to the Ofgem usage figures and calculated energy bills for households with usage at the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles.
Households energy bills at the low end of usage (25th percentile) are around £1,278 per year (£615 for gas and £664 for electricity); bills at the high end of usage (75th percentile) are around £2,452 per year (£1,176 for gas and £1,276 for electricity).
| Typical Household Energy Costs (1 October 2024 EPC) | kWh used | Per Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas | Low (25th percentile) | 8,000 | £615 |
| Medium (50th percentile) | 12,000 | £864 | |
| High (75th percentile) | 17,000 | £1,176 | |
| Electricity | Low (25th percentile) | 1,800 | £664 |
| Medium (50th percentile) | 2,900 | £933 | |
| High (75th percentile) | 4,300 | £1,276 | |
| Total | Low (25th percentile) | 8,000 gas + 1,800 electricity | £1,278 |
| Medium (50th percentile) | 12,000 gas + 2,900 electricity | £1,797 | |
| High (75th percentile) | 17,000 gas + 4,300 electricity | £2,452 | |
Given the headline price cap is £1,717 and that households at the 75% percentile of usage will spend around £2,452 per year, these high-usage households will spend an extra £655 per year on energy (£2,452 - £1,717 = £655).
These figures show how important it is to track and reduce energy usage in the home as a way to save money on energy bills.