Bill peak is not standing-charge peak
According to 24 stored Ofgem quarters, January – March 2023 is typical-bill #1 of 24 at £4,279 (standing rank #16), a different quarter from October – December 2024, standing #1 of 24 at 92.65p/day (typical-bill rank #15 at £1,717). The current cap is £1,936; electricity standing charges are about 138% above 2019.
Release comparison
What changed in the October – December 2026 cap
Each figure compares the latest published Ofgem price cap release with July – September 2026; it is a record of the source values, not a recommendation.
- Typical annual dual-fuel bill £1,862 £1,936 +£74
- Electricity unit rate 26.11p 26.32p +0.21p
- Gas unit rate 7.33p 7.97p +0.64p
- Electricity standing charge 57.19p 54.83p -2.36p
Published . Read the Ofgem price cap release.
Ofgem price cap, every quarter since 2019
Typical dual-fuel direct-debit bill (£/year). Now £1,936, October – December 2026.
Ofgem cap rose from £1,137 in January – March 2019 to a £4,279 peak in January – March 2023, and is £1,936 for October – December 2026.
Daily standing charges since 2019 (pence/day)
Electricity vs gas standing charge. Now 54.83p elec / 29.68p gas per day.
Regional bill gap, October – December 2026
All 14 GB regions. Merseyside & North Wales is £145 above East Midlands for identical usage.
Price-cap evolution
The default tariff cap launched in January 2019 at £1,137 for a typical dual-fuel household. The 2022 wholesale gas crisis drove it to a record £4,279 in January – March 2023 - the government's Energy Price Guarantee shielded households from the full impact that winter, but the underlying cap reached crisis levels. Since then it has retreated as wholesale gas stabilised, standing at £1,936 for October – December 2026.
The standing-charge climb
The clearest structural shift is the daily standing charge. The electricity standing charge alone has risen about 138% since 2019, to 54.83p/day. Because standing charges are fixed and paid regardless of usage, they fall hardest on low-usage households, the focus of Ofgem's standing-charge reform consultation. See the full standing-charge trajectory.
The regional gap
Where you live still changes the bill by £145 a year on the same usage - East Midlands is cheapest, Merseyside & North Wales dearest, because the cap reflects each region's distribution-network charges. Compare them in the region rankings or estimate your own with the calculator.
Sources
- Ofgem default tariff cap - October – December 2026 and prior quarterly decisions.
- See our methodology for the full source list.
Every figure on PlainEnergyBills is rendered directly from Ofgem source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Trend series and release-over-release deltas are computed from stored Ofgem cap_period rows only. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of October – December 2026.