Two numbers run your electricity bill, and only one of them moves
A unit rate you can change by switching, and a daily standing charge you mostly cannot. Everything else on this page — fixed, tracked, half-hourly, Economy 7 — is a different way of pricing the same electricity. Start here, then decide whether a specialist product is worth the complication.
Typical unit rate
26.3p
Per kWh on a capped standard variable
Typical standing charge
54.8p
A day, whether you use anything
Standing charge over a year
£200
Before a single unit is used
Cheapest window available
8.6p
On a specialist EV product
Rates are the Ofgem price cap for 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2026, GB average, direct debit, including VAT. The cheapest window available is Octopus Go's cheapest half hour on 17 September 2026, which the cap does not set.
The cap
What the cap allows for electricity where you live
The cap is set region by region, because it costs more to run the network in some places than others. A typical year of electricity on a capped tariff runs from £822 in London to £944 in N Wales and Mersey.
| Region | Unit rate | Standing charge | Typical year |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 26.6p per kWh | 42.9p a day | £822 |
| East Midlands | 25.4p per kWh | 51.5p a day | £822 |
| North West | 26.5p per kWh | 45.7p a day | £829 |
| Southern | 26.5p per kWh | 47.8p a day | £836 |
| Midlands | 25.6p per kWh | 57.2p a day | £849 |
| Eastern | 26.6p per kWh | 51.8p a day | £855 |
| Northern Scotland | 26.3p per kWh | 55.1p a day | £860 |
| Northern | 25.5p per kWh | 61.6p a day | £861 |
| South East | 26.9p per kWh | 52.3p a day | £863 |
| Yorkshire | 25.6p per kWh | 61.7p a day | £865 |
| South Wales | 26.6p per kWh | 55.4p a day | £866 |
| Southern Western | 26.6p per kWh | 55.6p a day | £867 |
| Southern Scotland | 26.1p per kWh | 61.4p a day | £877 |
| N Wales and Mersey | 27.9p per kWh | 67.7p a day | £944 |
| GB average | 26.3p per kWh | 54.8p a day | £858 |
Ofgem price cap, 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2026, direct debit, including VAT. A typical year is Ofgem's benchmark of 2,500 kWh. The regions are the electricity network's, which is why they don't match council boundaries.
The shapes
Four ways to price the same electricity
A capped variable rate is the default and the benchmark. The rest trade certainty for a lower average, and the right answer depends on how much attention you are willing to pay and how much of your consumption you can move.
Flexible Octopus
Octopus Energy
26.1p
per kWh, day rate
- Cheap window
- None
- Peak
- Same all day
A capped variable rate: it follows the Ofgem cap each quarter. The benchmark every other product here is judged against.
Requires: Nothing · Exit fee: None
The Standard Variable Tariff
British Gas
26p
per kWh, day rate
- Cheap window
- None
- Peak
- Same all day
The default you land on when a fixed deal ends. Same capped unit rate as the rest, a little more on the standing charge.
Requires: Nothing · Exit fee: None
Next Flex
E.ON Next
26p
per kWh, day rate
- Cheap window
- None
- Peak
- Same all day
Variable and capped. Worth noting only because switching between capped variable tariffs saves almost nothing.
Requires: Nothing · Exit fee: None
Fixed, 12 months
Most suppliers
27p
per kWh, day rate
- Cheap window
- None
- Peak
- Same all day
A penny or two above the cap, in exchange for knowing the number for a year. You are buying certainty, not a discount.
Requires: Nothing · Exit fee: Usually £50 per fuel
Octopus Tracker
Octopus Energy
22p average
per kWh, day rate
- Cheap window
- None
- Peak
- Repriced daily
One rate a day, set by the wholesale price with a ceiling. Cheaper than the cap most of the time and nothing to schedule.
Requires: Smart meter · Exit fee: None
Agile Octopus
Octopus Energy
28.8p average
per kWh, day rate
- Cheap window
- Half-hourly, published a day ahead
- Peak
- Up to 64.9p
Thirty-minute pricing, occasionally negative. The average follows the wholesale market, so it only beats a capped rate for a household that moves its use out of the evening peak, and it is the only one here that needs watching.
Requires: Smart meter in half-hourly mode · Exit fee: None
Economy 7
Most suppliers
30p day
per kWh, day rate
- Cheap window
- 00:30–07:30, 14p
- Peak
- 30p
Designed for storage heaters in 1978 and still priced that way. Worse than a modern EV tariff at everything except being universally available.
Requires: Two-rate or smart meter · Exit fee: None
Octopus Energy's rates are its published prices on 17 September 2026: direct debit, including VAT, averaged over the fourteen regions. Averages and highs are over the four weeks before.
Illustrative. Every other supplier's rates are placeholders until we have a source for them.
Export
What you get paid to send electricity back
Every large supplier must offer a Smart Export Guarantee tariff. The obligation says they have to offer something above zero; it does not say it has to be good, and the spread below is the result. You do not have to take the offer from the supplier who bills you.
Outgoing Octopus
Octopus Energy
12p
per kWh exported
Flat rate, paid on everything exported. The simple option, and the one most people should start from.
Requires: Smart meter in half-hourly mode · Exit fee: None
Agile Outgoing Octopus
Octopus Energy
14.7p average
per kWh exported
Tracks the wholesale price half-hourly. Beats the flat rate if you can hold export back to the evening peak with a battery.
Requires: Smart meter, import tariff with the same supplier · Exit fee: None
Next Export Exclusive
E.ON Next
12p
per kWh exported
Among the better flat rates, but tied to taking your import from them too.
Requires: Import tariff with the same supplier · Exit fee: None
Smart Export
Good Energy
11p
per kWh exported
Open to customers of any supplier, which is unusual and useful.
Requires: MCS certificate, smart meter · Exit fee: None
Export & Earn Flex
British Gas
9p
per kWh exported
Middling rate, wide availability. Worth having rather than worth chasing.
Requires: Smart meter · Exit fee: None
Export Variable Value
EDF
7p
per kWh exported
Variable, and revised without much notice. Check what it is now, not what it was when you signed.
Requires: Smart meter · Exit fee: None
SmartGen+
Scottish Power
6p
per kWh exported
Near the bottom of the table, and tied to taking your import from them. The pages that price it show what the gap to the top is worth on a typical array.
Requires: Import tariff with the same supplier · Exit fee: None
SEG Tariff
OVO Energy
4p
per kWh exported
A rate that exists to meet the obligation. If this is your export tariff, changing it is the highest-return hour you will spend.
Requires: Smart meter · Exit fee: None
Octopus Energy's rates are its published prices on 17 September 2026: direct debit, including VAT, averaged over the fourteen regions. Averages and highs are over the four weeks before.
Illustrative. Every other supplier's rates are placeholders until we have a source for them.
What the spread is worth
£236 a year, for an afternoon of admin
A 4kW array in the UK generates roughly 3,400kWh a year and exports about two thirds of it. That is the same amount of electricity whichever tariff you are on — only the price changes.
- Annual generation, 4kW array
- 3,400 kWh
- Exported, without a battery
- 2,210 kWh
- On the best rate here
- £325 a year
- On the worst
- £88 a year
Annual export income by tariff
Same array, same roof, same year. Only the rate differs.
- Agile Outgoing OctopusOctopus Energy£325
- Outgoing OctopusOctopus Energy£265
- Next Export ExclusiveE.ON Next£265
- Smart ExportGood Energy£243
- Export & Earn FlexBritish Gas£199
- Export Variable ValueEDF£155
- SmartGen+Scottish Power£133
- SEG TariffOVO Energy£88
Assumes 65% of generation is exported, which is typical without storage. A battery cuts exported volume and raises what you save on import instead.
The export rates page takes this further: income by array size, how a tracking rate differs from a flat one, and how to move the export side of your account on its own.
EV
Overnight rates, and what they cost you in the day
Five to seven cheap hours, paid for with a day rate above the standard variable. Whether that trade works depends entirely on how much of your consumption you can move into the window.
Intelligent Octopus Go 12M Fixed
Octopus Energy
8.4p
off-peak, per kWh
- Cheap window
- 23:30–05:30, plus scheduled top-ups
- Peak
- 38.1p
The supplier schedules the charge and the cheap rate applies to the whole house while it runs. Longest effective window of any product here.
Requires: Compatible car or charger, smart meter · Exit fee: None
Next Drive
E.ON Next
7p
off-peak, per kWh
- Cheap window
- 00:00–07:00
- Peak
- 27p
Seven-hour window, which suits a large battery charged from low. Day rate is among the highest in this table.
Requires: Smart meter, EV registered · Exit fee: None
Charge Anytime
OVO Energy
8p
off-peak, per kWh
- Cheap window
- Any time the car is charging
- Peak
- Standard rate
An add-on rather than a tariff: the cheap rate applies to the car's consumption only, whenever it charges. Nothing else in the house benefits.
Requires: Compatible car or charger, OVO import tariff · Exit fee: None
GoElectric Overnight
EDF
8p
off-peak, per kWh
- Cheap window
- 00:00–05:00
- Peak
- 28p
The only exit fee in this table, which matters because EV tariffs are repriced often.
Requires: Smart meter · Exit fee: £75 per fuel
Octopus Go
Octopus Energy
8.6p
off-peak, per kWh
- Cheap window
- 00:30–05:30
- Peak
- 30.6p
No car compatibility requirement, so the fallback when the intelligent version will not take your vehicle.
Requires: Smart meter · Exit fee: None
Electric Driver
British Gas
9p
off-peak, per kWh
- Cheap window
- 00:00–05:00
- Peak
- 27p
Five hours is tight for anything over 60kWh if you arrive home nearly empty.
Requires: Smart meter, EV registered · Exit fee: None
Octopus Energy's rates are its published prices on 17 September 2026: direct debit, including VAT, averaged over the fourteen regions. Averages and highs are over the four weeks before.
Illustrative. Every other supplier's rates are placeholders until we have a source for them.
Heat pump
Cheap windows shaped around heating, not sleeping
A heat pump runs when the house is cold, which is not the same hours as a car charges. These products spread the cheap rate through the day and charge heavily through the evening peak, which rewards a system that can pre-heat and punishes one that cannot.
Cosy Octopus
Octopus Energy
12.9p
off-peak, per kWh
- Cheap window
- 04:00–07:00, 13:00–16:00, 22:00–24:00
- Peak
- 39.6p at 16:00–19:00
Three windows a day, shaped around pre-heating the house before the evening peak. Needs a weather compensation curve and a thermal store or decent fabric to work.
Requires: Heat pump, smart meter · Exit fee: None
Heat Pump Plus
OVO Energy
15p
off-peak, per kWh
- Cheap window
- Applies to heat pump consumption only
- Peak
- Standard rate
A discounted rate on the heat pump's own consumption, so nothing to schedule. Fewer compatible models than the marketing suggests.
Requires: Compatible heat pump, OVO import tariff · Exit fee: None
Next Pump
E.ON Next
16p
off-peak, per kWh
- Cheap window
- 00:00–07:00
- Peak
- 29p
An overnight window borrowed from the EV products. Fine for hot water, less useful for space heating on a cold afternoon.
Requires: Heat pump, smart meter · Exit fee: None
Agile Octopus
Octopus Energy
28.8p average
off-peak, per kWh
- Cheap window
- Half-hourly, published a day ahead
- Peak
- Up to 64.9p
Not a heat pump product, but the best fit for a system with controls that can follow a price signal. Needs attention.
Requires: Smart meter in half-hourly mode · Exit fee: None
Octopus Energy's rates are its published prices on 17 September 2026: direct debit, including VAT, averaged over the fourteen regions. Averages and highs are over the four weeks before.
Illustrative. Every other supplier's rates are placeholders until we have a source for them.
How to judge one
What actually changes your bill
Switching between capped variable tariffs is close to pointless: they are all pinned to the same cap. The decisions that move real money are about shape and standing charge, not about supplier.
The standing charge is the part you can't avoid
At 54.8p a day it is about £200 a year before you use anything, and the spread between suppliers is worth £10 to £15 of that. It is also why a low-consumption household sees so little benefit from switching.
The cap is a cap on rates, not on bills
Ofgem caps the unit rate and standing charge a supplier may charge on a variable tariff, recalculated quarterly. It does not cap what you spend, and it does not apply to fixed deals at all.
Fixed is insurance, not a discount
A fixed rate above the current cap is only cheaper if the cap rises past it before the year is out. Treat the premium as the price of knowing the number, and check the exit fee before you need it.
Shape beats supplier
Moving from a flat rate to the right time-of-use product is worth several hundred pounds a year to a household with a car, a battery or a heat pump. Moving between flat rates is worth a rounding error.
Traps
What catches people out on electricity tariffs
None of these are hidden. They are all in the tariff information label, which is a document almost nobody reads before switching.
Where this page's answers come from
- Ofgem — default tariff cap level, and the Smart Export Guarantee tariff table
- Supplier published tariff information labels
- Elexon — half-hourly settlement status
- Ofgem — regional distribution charges
Last checked against these sources on 17 September 2026.
Export and import are separable
You can take your export tariff from one supplier and your import from another. Suppliers rarely mention this, and it is often worth more than switching either one alone.
Compatibility lists are shorter than they look
Intelligent and heat-pump-linked tariffs work through a specific list of cars, chargers and heat pump models. Check yours is on it before you switch, not after.
Comparison sites rank on your past usage
Which is exactly wrong if you are about to fit a heat pump, a battery or a charger. Compare on the consumption you expect next year, not the consumption the site inherited from this one.
Half-hourly settlement has to be on
A smart meter is not enough. It has to be reading half-hourly and the supplier has to have it in that mode, or any time-of-use rate cannot be applied to you.
Economy 7 day rates are high
The cheap night rate is paid for with a day rate several pence above the single rate. On a house that no longer has storage heaters, it is usually costing money rather than saving it.
A tracked rate has a ceiling, not a floor
Wholesale-linked products are cheaper than the cap most of the time, which is not the same as always. Look at what the ceiling is before assuming the average is what you will pay.
Questions
Common questions about electricity tariffs
Can I get an export tariff from a different supplier to my import?
Yes, for most products. A handful require you to take your import from them too, and those are flagged in the export table. Switching the export side alone is allowed and takes a few weeks.
Will an EV tariff work if I don't have an EV?
Some suppliers will put you on one regardless, and a home battery can use the cheap window as effectively as a car. Others check a vehicle is registered to the address. It is worth asking rather than assuming.
Are heat pump tariffs actually cheaper?
Only if the system can shift when it runs. A heat pump on a fixed schedule with no weather compensation will sit in the expensive evening window every day, and the tariff makes things worse rather than better.
Is it worth switching electricity supplier at all?
Between capped variable tariffs, barely: they are all held to the same Ofgem cap and the difference is mostly standing charge. Switching to a different shape of tariff — tracked, half-hourly, or a specialist EV or heat pump product — is where the money is.
Do I need a smart meter?
Not for a standard or fixed tariff. For anything priced by time of day, yes, and it has to be reading half-hourly. That is the single most common reason a switch to a smart tariff stalls.
What is the difference between tracked and half-hourly?
A tracker sets one rate a day from the wholesale price, so there is nothing to schedule. A half-hourly tariff sets 48 rates a day, published the afternoon before, which pays more but only if something in the house acts on them.
Should I fix before fitting a heat pump?
Think about it the other way round: fit first, then choose the tariff for the consumption you will actually have. A fixed flat rate signed before the installation is the thing most likely to make the running costs disappointing.
Why is my standing charge higher than my neighbour's?
Standing charges vary by region as well as by supplier, because they recover network costs that differ across the fourteen distribution areas. It is the one line on the bill that switching barely touches.
Work out which tariff suits your home
Start with your postcode. We'll use what is known about the property and what you have already installed.