Gas and Electric Bill Calculator 2026
This gas and electric bill calculator estimates your combined dual-fuel energy bill from your household size, using the Ofgem Q3 2026 price cap — 26.11p/kWh electricity and 7.33p/kWh gas, plus standing charges. Use the gas and electric bill calculator below; the typical capped bill is £1,862 a year.
How dual-fuel energy bills work
A dual-fuel bill is simply your electricity and gas added together, each with its own unit rate and daily standing charge. Electricity is the smaller share; gas dominates because of heating. The Ofgem cap sets the maximum rates, so your total still rises with how much you use.
Typical capped bill: £1,862/yr (direct debit), £2,005 (standard credit), £1,812 (prepayment).
Dual-fuel energy bills in the UK in 2026
Most UK homes run on dual fuel — gas for heating and hot water, electricity for lighting and appliances — bought from a single supplier on one account. Under the Ofgem price cap for Q3 2026 (1 July to 30 September 2026), the typical dual-fuel household paying by direct debit pays about £1,862 a year, or roughly £155 a month. This gas and electric bill calculator uses those official rates, so the figure you see reflects the cap that actually applies to your combined bill today.
That headline is built from four numbers: electricity at 26.11p per kWh plus a 57.19p daily standing charge, and gas at 7.33p per kWh plus a 29.04p daily standing charge. It assumes typical use of 2,700 kWh of electricity and 11,500kWh of gas a year — Ofgem’s benchmark for a medium home. The cap rose about 13% versus the previous (April–June) cap of £1,641, a reminder that dual-fuel rates can move a long way from one quarter to the next. The cap is set by Ofgem every three months.
The price cap limits the rates a supplier can charge, not your total bill — a bigger or colder home simply uses more kWh and pays more. Energy is only one of five household bills, so to see it alongside water, council tax and broadband use the household bills calculator, or break the two fuels apart with the electricity bill calculator and the gas bill calculator. If you are struggling to pay, the government’s energy bills support guidance lists the schemes available.
How a combined gas and electric bill is built
A dual-fuel bill is simpler than it looks: it is the sum of two energy bills that happen to arrive together. Each fuel has a unit rate (pence per kWh you use) and a fixed standing charge (pence per day just for being connected). Add the four parts and you have your annual cost.
bill = (elec kWh × 26.11p) + (365 × 57.19p) + (gas kWh × 7.33p) + (365 × 29.04p)
Worked example — the typical £1,863 home
Take Ofgem’s benchmark medium home: 2,700 kWh of electricity and 11,500 kWh of gas a year.
- Electricity units: 2,700 × 26.11p = about £705.
- Electricity standing charge: 365 × 57.19p = about £209.
- Gas units: 11,500 × 7.33p = about £843.
- Gas standing charge: 365 × 29.04p = about £106.
That gives about £914 of electricity plus £949 of gas, which adds up to roughly £1,863 a year — about £155 a month. All capped rates already include VAT at 5%. To sanity-check just the pence-per-kWh maths on your gas meter, the gas rate calculator converts a reading straight into a cost. Taking meter readings at least 28 days apart keeps bills accurate rather than estimated.
Typical annual dual-fuel bill by household size
The table below shows typical annual electricity and gas use in kWh for each property type, with the estimated combined bill at the Q3 2026 cap (26.11p elec and 7.33p gas, plus the two standing charges). These are Ofgem-style benchmark usage figures — your own consumption depends on insulation, thermostat settings and how many people are home in the day — but they are a good starting point before you refine the estimate with your own kWh in the calculator above.
| Property | Occupants | Electricity (kWh/yr) | Gas (kWh/yr) | Combined bill | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-bed flat | 1 | 1,800 | 7,500 | £1,334 | £111 |
| 2-bed flat | 2 | 2,100 | 9,000 | £1,523 | £127 |
| 2-bed house | 2 | 2,400 | 10,000 | £1,674 | £140 |
| 3-bed house | 3 | 2,700 | 11,500 | £1,863 | £155 |
| 4-bed house | 4 | 3,200 | 14,000 | £2,176 | £181 |
| 5+ bed house | 5+ | 4,100 | 17,000 | £2,631 | £219 |
Source: Ofgem price cap, Q3 2026 (current TDCV basis)
Notice how much of every bill is fixed regardless of size: the two standing charges alone come to about £315 a year for all of them. That is why a small, low-use flat still pays several hundred pounds a year before it burns a single unit of energy. If you generate your own power, the solar panel savings calculator shows how much of the electricity half of this bill you could offset.
Dual-fuel bill by payment method
How you pay changes the price. The Ofgem cap sets a different typical annual dual-fuel bill for each payment method, because some are cheaper for suppliers to administer. The table below shows the Q3 2026 figures for a typical home.
| Payment method | Typical annual bill | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Direct debit (monthly) | £1,862 | Cheapest capped rate — the headline £1,862 figure |
| Standard credit (on receipt) | £2,005 | Pay when the bill arrives; costs more to collect |
| Prepayment meter | £1,812 | Now the cheapest, just below direct debit, after Ofgem levelled up the old penalty |
Source: Ofgem price cap, Q3 2026 (typical dual-fuel household)
The gap between standard credit (£2,005) and direct debit (£1,862) is about £143 a year, so moving to monthly direct debit is one of the simplest ways to cut a dual-fuel bill. Prepayment now sits just below direct debit at £1,812 after Ofgem removed the old prepayment penalty. For impartial help understanding your options and your rights, see Citizens Advice.
Is dual fuel cheaper than buying gas and electricity separately?
Dual fuel simply means buying both gas and electricity from one supplier on a single account, rather than using two different suppliers. The main benefit today is convenience: one bill, one direct debit, one login and one customer-service line to deal with. Managing a single account also makes it easier to keep track of what you owe and to submit both meter readings at once.
The days of large dual-fuel discounts are largely gone — under the price cap, suppliers have limited room to undercut the capped rates, so bundling both fuels rarely produces a big explicit saving. That said, some suppliers still reserve their most competitive fixed deals for dual-fuel customers, and a single combined standing-charge arrangement can occasionally work out marginally cheaper. The bigger saving almost always comes from paying by direct debit and choosing a competitive tariff, not from bundling itself. The golden rule is to compare the total annual cost of a dual-fuel deal against two separate single-fuel tariffs before you assume the bundle wins.
If you are weighing up leaving gas altogether — for example switching to an all-electric or heat-pump home — you can model the electricity-only picture with the electricity bill calculator and compare it against your current combined bill.
Fixed vs standard variable dual-fuel tariffs
Once you know your rates, the next decision is whether to stay on a standard variable tariff or fix. A standard variable tarifftracks the Ofgem price cap: both fuels’ unit rates and standing charges change each quarter as the cap moves, so you always pay the current capped rate with no commitment and no exit fees. When the cap falls, your dual-fuel bill falls automatically.
A fixed tariff locks both the gas and electricity unit rates and standing charges for a set term — usually 12 months — in exchange for giving up that flexibility. Fixing gives you budget certainty across both fuels and protects you if wholesale prices climb, but you may pay a small premium up front and you will not benefit if the cap later drops. As a rule of thumb, if a dual-fuel fix is priced at or below the current cap and you value predictable bills, it is often worth taking; if you would rather keep the freedom to switch, the capped variable tariff is a safe default. Whichever you pick, the way you pay still matters — direct debit attracts the cheapest capped rate, and support like the £150 Warm Home Discount applies either way. The Energy Saving Trust publishes independent advice on reducing what both fuels cost you.
When the energy price cap changes
Ofgem reviews and sets the price cap every three months. The current Q3 2026 cap runs from 1 July to 30 September 2026. The next cap — Q4 2026, covering October to December — is due to be announced by 26 August 2026 and takes effect on 1 October 2026. Independent forecaster Cornwall Insight expects it to stay broadly flat versus the July cap, at around £1,849 a year for a typical dual-fuel home, though Middle East wholesale volatility remains a risk and the exact rates are only confirmed on the announcement date.
Because the cap changes quarterly, a standard variable dual-fuel bill can rise or fall four times a year without you doing anything. If you are on a fix, your rates stay put until the fix ends — which can be an advantage when the cap rises and a drawback when it falls. Keep an eye on the announcement dates so you can decide whether to fix or ride the cap. Energy sits alongside your other fixed household costs, so it is worth reviewing it next to your council tax calculator figure when you budget for the year. Full details of the current and upcoming caps are published by Ofgem.
Gas and electric bill calculator: frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about typical dual-fuel bills, how the combined figure is built, standing charges, payment methods and the energy price cap in 2026.