Energy Bills Went Up on 1 October — Here Is What You Can Actually Claim

The energy price cap went up on 1 October 2026. For a typical household paying by direct debit it rose about 4% — roughly £60 a year — to £1,723, up from £1,663.

If you are on a prepayment meter the cap is around £1,678. On standard credit — paying on receipt of a bill — it is around £1,861, which is the most expensive way to pay.

The thing almost everyone gets wrong about the price cap is what it actually caps. It does not cap your bill. It caps the unit rate you pay for each kilowatt hour and the daily standing charge. If you use more than a typical household, you will pay more than £1,723. There is no ceiling on your total bill.

What you are paying per day before you use anything

Standing charges for this quarter average 54.8p a day for electricity and 29.7p a day for gas — about 84.5p a day, or roughly £308 a year, before you switch a single light on.

This is why turning everything off does not take your bill to zero, and why it hits low-usage households hardest as a share of what they pay.

One piece of good news: there is no VAT on electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027.

What you can claim this winter

Warm Home Discount — £150 off your electricity bill. For 2026/27 the qualifying date was 23 August 2026. Eligibility was widened by removing the old "high cost to heat" test, so around six million households in England and Wales now qualify. Most people get it automatically if they are on a qualifying benefit — you do not usually need to apply. It appears as a credit on your electricity account, normally between October and March.

Winter Fuel Payment. Paid automatically if you were born before the qualifying date and were receiving a qualifying benefit. It is clawed back through HMRC where income is over £35,000, so higher earners effectively do not keep it.

Cold Weather Payment. £25 for each seven-day period where the average temperature in your area is recorded as or forecast to be zero degrees or below. Paid automatically to people on certain benefits — check your postcode on GOV.UK during a cold snap.

The Priority Services Register. Free, and badly under-used. If you are over pension age, disabled, have a long-term health condition, are pregnant or have young children, you can join through your supplier. It gets you advance warning of power cuts, priority reconnection, meter readings if you cannot manage them, and bills in a format you can use.

If you cannot pay

Contact your supplier before you miss a payment, not after. Our energy bills checker can tell you where you stand. They are required to work with you and can offer a payment plan based on what you can actually afford, a review of your payments, or a payment break in some circumstances.

You cannot simply be cut off. Disconnection is a last resort and there are strict rules. Suppliers must not disconnect a household with children under six between October and March, and there are further protections for households with older or disabled occupants.

If arrears have built up alongside other debts, several suppliers run hardship grants that can clear part or all of arrears, and you do not always have to be their customer to apply. Ask your supplier directly, and check the British Gas Energy Trust, which considers applications from non-customers.

The back-billing rule — a lot of money hides here

If your supplier has not billed you properly and it was their fault, they cannot bill you for energy used more than 12 months ago.

This matters. If a "catch-up" bill lands covering two or three years of unbilled usage because of a faulty meter, an estimate that was never corrected, or an account error, most of it may be unenforceable. A written complaint works better than a phone call here. Say the words "back-billing rule" to your supplier and ask them to explain, in writing, why they believe it does not apply.

Prepayment meters

If you are on prepayment and cannot top up, ask about emergency credit and friendly credit. Suppliers must also offer additional support credit to customers in vulnerable circumstances.

Rules on forced installation of prepayment meters are far stricter than they were. Suppliers must carry out checks, and there are households where it is not permitted at all. If your supplier is threatening to install one or to switch your smart meter to prepayment mode, get advice before it happens.

If your supplier will not help

Complain to the supplier first and get it in writing. If they do not resolve it within eight weeks, or they send you a deadlock letter before then, you can take it to the Energy Ombudsman. It is free, independent, and can order the supplier to put things right and to pay compensation.

What happens next

The cap changes every three months. The rate for January to March 2027 is announced on 25 November 2026. It is worth knowing that date if you are budgeting.

Free help is available from Citizens Advice on 0800 144 8848, and the Citizens Advice consumer helpline handles energy complaints. If debt is the wider problem, StepChange on 0800 138 1111 and National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 are both free.