We’ve heard A LOT about the idea of a £2,500 cap on energy bills recently. But despite all the headlines, this figure is pretty misleading as it applies to the ‘average household’. Well, what on earth does that mean? How many rooms? How many people live there? Does it factor in anyone working from home or does it assume the property is empty for large chunks of the day Monday–Friday?

Rather than this average annual figure, which doesn’t really shed much light for anyone, we think it would be much more helpful if the capped unit rates were shared. These are averages as rates vary a little around the country but until March 2023 (now that the ‘mini budget’ has been basically scrapped) the most you’ll pay per kWh for gas is around 10p and 34p for electricity. (This is on top of your standing charges which have increased by about 1p to 28p and 46p per day respectively.)

I’ve checked and in 2019 I was paying 17p for electricity and 4.7p for gas. (This was on a renewable tariff so by no means the cheapest available on the market.) So even with this price cap in place, energy costs are double what they were three years ago and who knows where they’ll end up in April when/if the price cap is lifted.

Time for some energy-saving tips we think. Our favourite is only boiling the water you actually need when you next stick the kettle on.