Electricity
The cheapest regional price at the moment for electricity is 9.55 p/kWh.* The map below shows the regional maximum prices you should be paying for electricity.* If you’re paying more than this then we could save you a substantial amount of money. Please note: Pricing information for Northern Ireland is not included as its operation on a separate transmission and distribution network prevents direct comparison to mainland UK prices using a single network. *All pricing correct as at 1st December 2015. Based on taking a one year contract, with a consumption of 43,247 kWh and an above average credit score. To calculate this we’ve taken a profile 3 electricity meter which uses most of its energy in the day with some early morning and early evening usage but little during the night so that we can remove any other variables and focus on the impact of the regions. North Wales customers are covered by the pricing indicators for North West England.Gas
The cheapest price at the moment across England, Scotland and Wales for gas is 2.58 p/kWh.* The map below shows the regional maximum prices you should be paying for gas.* If you’re paying more than this then we could save you a substantial amount of money.
Region | Electricity | Region | Gas | ||
Most Expensive | 1 | North Wales | 11.73 | London | 3.20 |
2 | North Scotland | 11.46 | West Midlands | 3.19 | |
3 | South Wales | 11.13 | North West England | 3.19 | |
4 | North West England | 11.05 | South West England | 3.16 | |
5 | South West England | 11.04 | North East England | 3.15 | |
6 | North East England | 11.01 | South Wales | 3.15 | |
Mid Range | 7 | Yorkshire | 10.64 | North Wales | 3.15 |
8 | West Midlands | 10.38 | Southern England | 3.14 | |
9 | Southern England | 10.17 | Yorkshire | 3.14 | |
10 | South Scotland | 10.15 | South East England | 3.11 | |
11 | East Midlands | 10.14 | Eastern England | 3.07 | |
12 | South East England | 10.05 | South Scotland | 3.07 | |
13 | London | 9.93 | North Scotland | 3.07 | |
Cheapest | 14 | Eastern England | 9.93 | East Midlands | 3.05 |
Why do prices differ by region?
Wholesale costs are the single largest element of your gas and electricity price but did you know that that cost is driven by your suppliers’ commercial deals for the energy they supply rather than anything unique to your region?
Why then do prices differ by region if the ‘cost’ of the energy is the same. The answer is because of the distribution of the energy from its source (the power plant or gas production facility) to its destination. In essence the further it has to travel the more it will cost.
Also some regions suffer more losses (energy escaping from the wires and pipes) than others as older equipment fares less well than new. Unfortunately if you are based in a region with poor losses then again your price will be proportionately higher.
Finally some regions are subsidised such as Northern Scotland by others (England, Wales and South Scotland) which adds to bills further south whilst keeping costs down in the north of Scotland, this is because of the additional cost of transporting energy into the wilds, highlands and islands of remote Scotland.
Another major impact on the cost of your energy is when you use it, that is why business energy deals are bespoke to each business (unlike in the domestic market when behaviour is both uniform and predictable). Because of this bespoke nature it is difficult to compare regions like for like unless you have a standard set of assumptions driving the comparison.
That is therefore what we have done. Taking a standard customer assumption across the regions of the UK we can create a genuine regional price comparison and tell you the absolute maximum price you should be paying.