The Price Cap Guarantee for October 2022 has been set at £2500. So, what does this mean for you?

You wouldn’t be blamed for thinking you can use as much gas and electricity as you want, and it won’t cost more than £2500.

For some reason, the information about this figure has been very vague.

This is what the figure is based on:

You may have heard that it’s based on average energy usage. Well, that is correct. But what is average energy usage in KWH’s?

Simply put, average energy usage per household in the UK is: Gas 12000KWH’s. Electricity 2900 KWH’s. It’s as simple as that. This is what the price cap is based on. If you used exactly that amount of gas and electricity, you would pay £2500.

Your price per KWH for gas and electricity

By now, your energy supplier should have notified you the price you will be paying per KWH for both your gas and electricity commencing from 1st October 2022.

The average prices are as follows:

Gas, pence per KWH, 10.30 pence

Gas, Daily Standing Charge, 28.49 pence

Electricity, pence per KWH, 34 pence

Electricity, Daily Standing Charge, 46,36 pence

It affects us all on a massive scale

This is my own personal home usage. I use just over 19000 KWH’s Gas, and just over 2300 KWH’s Electricity.

This chart doesn’t make allowance for the £400 we are having credited to our energy accounts.

I am paying more than 3 times the amount for gas, and more than double for electricity than I was paying last year. Okay, I was on an online discounted tariff last year. Unfortunately, these cheaper tariffs are no longer around.

What am I doing about it?

• Lighting your home consumes a lot of power. I went all LED bulbs some time ago. LED bulbs use a fraction of the energy that other types of bulbs use.
• Only using the main oven when it can be filled to capacity.
• Turned the heating down a couple of degrees. Jumpers on.
• Air Fryer. I don’t have one yet, but this is on the cards. I would only use this to heat small items of food I would normally put in the oven.

Gas

• Gas is still cheaper than electricity. I will continue to use my gas for food I normally cook on the hob.
• My hot water is set at 60°C. This is an ideal temperature as it keeps bacteria at bay.

Kettle

I only boil enough water to make a cup of coffee for me, and a cup of tea for my good lady. I don’t boil a full kettle and fill a flask with it, that would be pointless.

For example: (Numbers rounded for the sake of this explanation.) Put enough water in your kettle to make one cup of tea, the cost would be 1 pence. Put enough water in your kettle to have 1 cup of tea and fill your flask for a further 4 cups of tea from the flask throughout the day, the cost for this would be 5 pence.

Your Energy Saving Tips

Keep the conversation going. Let us know about your energy saving tips in the comments below.