What's standing charge? What does price per unit mean and how does the Price Cap affect me?
Your supplier sets both a standing charge and a unit rate for your electricity and gas.
The standing charge is a fixed daily charge that is designed to cover a variety of fixed costs in the energy system. Under the January 2024 Energy Price Cap, this is around 53.4p per day for electricity and 29.6p per day for gas.
For each unit of energy you use you pay the unit rate. Under the January 2024 Energy Price Cap you'll pay around 28.6p/kWh per unit of electricity and 7.4p/kWh per unit of gas.
The average UK home uses 2,700 units of electricity a year and 11,500 units of gas. The electricity spend for this home is £195 on standing charge, plus £772 for the 2700 units, giving a grand total of £967. The gas cost would be £108 on standing charge, plus £851 on the 11,500 units of gas for a total of £959 on gas.