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How to read your energy bill

Your gas and electricity bills explained.

So much information is packed into an energy bill that it can be confusing, but understanding the charges is key to keeping an eye on your usage, making it easier to save. Not happy with your supplier? See if you can switch and save today using our comparison tool – just enter your postcode below.

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Learning how to read your energy bill is an important first step towards:

  • Identifying if you’re on the right tariff for your needs
  • Making sure you aren’t being overcharged
  • Helping to reduce your carbon footprint

The main components of your bill

Account summary

This information includes your address, name, plan, and any numbers necessary for the supplier to identify you and your account (e.g. customer number). You might need to cite this information to your supplier if you speak with them on the phone.

Your payment

This is likely the largest and clearest section of your bill, showing how much you owe your supplier, how to pay the sum, and when to pay it by.

Detailed usage

A breakdown of the different components of your usage and how much they cost. This might be actual or estimated, depending on whether you provide meter readings to your supplier or not, and will be provided in kilowatt-hours (kWh) as well as pounds and pence.

Your personal projection

An estimation of the cost of your energy over the next year. This is the part of the bill that will help you see if you would benefit from switching to a different tariff, and some suppliers will let you know if you could be saving money.

Comparison tables with households in your area

This data is often average usage data retrieved from Ofgem the UK energy regulator.

Usage comparison

Graphs or stats comparing your usage to the same period last year, or to other houses in the area.

About your tariff

Detailed information on your plan, including the name, end date, exit fee and payment method. This section will be useful if you’re ever running a comparison to see if you should switch suppliers, or if you’ve been put on a supplier’s standard tariff automatically and want to change.

Other useful information

This section mights include FAQs, contact details for further enquiries or information about complaints procedure.

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