A Shocking Bill: Britain’s Electricity Prices Compared
The UK's electricity prices are amongst the highest in the world.
Thing are likely to get worse in the new year. Households face yet another winter price rise, with costs possibly rising by another 30%.
Whilst the government is talking about how to reduce the burden for British consumers, anything they do is tiny by comparison with the huge gulf in the price we are charged and the price most Europeans or Americans are charged.
US Electricity Prices are 58% Cheaper Than Those In The UK
Spanish electricity prices are 21% cheaper than ours.
French electricity prices are 27% cheaper than ours.
US electricity prices are 58% cheaper than ours
Note: US prices vary by state and this is an average for the whole of the USA
Only Belgium, Germany & Ireland have more expensive prices than those faced by UK consumers.
NOTE: PLEASE SEE THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR SOURCES AND MY METHODOLOGY. THE NUMBERS HAVE BEEN CALCULATED FROM NUMEROUS SOURCES TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY
WATTS THE REASON THE UK IS SO EXPENSIVE?
Think of electricity suppliers shopping for enough power to keep everyone’s lights on. They buy the cheaper electricity first.
But if wind, solar and nuclear cannot supply enough, they also need electricity from gas-fired power stations.
In the main short-term electricity auctions, the price needed to get that last bit of power sets the price for everyone selling in that auction. So even if most of the electricity comes from cheaper sources, needing some expensive gas power can lift the price of the whole batch.
Britain needs gas to fill that gap frequently, so gas has a big influence on our electricity prices.
Countries that can meet demand without gas more often have more opportunities for cheaper electricity to set the price. America also benefits from cheaper gas. It is not just how much gas we use that matters—it is how often we need it to finish the job. This helps explain Britain’s high prices, although grid costs, taxes and other charges also affect our bills.
CHANGING THE CHARGE
Households face a fresh energy-price shock in January. E.ON Next currently forecasts that the price cap could rise from £1,723 to £2,215 a year for a typical household using gas and electricity—an increase of about 29%.
That is a forecast, with the supplier assigning it its lowest confidence rating, rather than a confirmed increase.
Ofgem will announce the January–March cap by 25 November. These headline amounts represent annualised bills at typical consumption, not electricity-only charges or a maximum household bill. E.ON Next, Ofgem
The government is offering immediate help alongside longer-term reforms. Its October Budget extended the temporary 0% VAT rate on domestic electricity in Great Britain until July 2027, and announced a £100 payment from January for households in council-tax bands A–D in England, with funding for devolved governments to provide support.
It is also consulting on contracts that would give some renewable generators an agreed electricity price, reducing their exposure to gas-driven wholesale prices.
The intention is to make bills less vulnerable to gas shocks, but these proposals do not yet establish how much households will save or when.
Source: Core prices were taken from HEPI - HEPI stands for Household Energy Price Index. It is a monthly comparison of household electricity and gas prices across 33 European capital cities, including London. It is compiled by VaasaETT, an energy consultancy, for the Austrian energy regulator, E-Control, and the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority, MEKH
I also used data from US Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Euros and dollars were converted to the equivalent value in Sterling.
Details of all sources and exchange rate calculations are included in the table below.
NOTE: These are complex calculations using multiple sources and I have done my best to be as accurate as possible, Having taken the electricity prices, I turned the UK price into an Index of 100 and based all other prices as a divergent ranking from that - to give a percentagaeof a higher or lower cost. But readers should make their own judgement about the reliability of the table based on the sources included below.
For more commentary follow me on Twitter/X and BlueSkySocial @adamshawbiz
Please remember everything on this site is journalist commentary and is not financial advice or guidance in anyway. I have taken every care to be as accurate as possible but you should always check things independently before acting on any financial or other decision.
If you want to contact me - send an email via here
