Ofgem Energy Price Cap Rises to £1,723 From October 2026

The Ofgem energy price cap sets the maximum unit rates and standing charges that suppliers can charge households on default tariffs in Great Britain. It does not freeze every bill at one number. A household that uses more energy than the typical profile pays more, and a household that uses less pays less.

From 1 October to 31 December 2026, Ofgem says the cap for a typical dual-fuel household paying by Direct Debit is £1,723 a year. That is £60, or about £5 a month, above the £1,663 level that applied from 1 July to 30 September 2026. Ofgem describes the move as a rise of about 4%.

Around 22 million households on default tariffs are covered by the cap. Ofgem estimates that about 35% of households, roughly 11 million, are on fixed tariffs and will not see their unit rates change when the October cap takes effect. The government’s removal of VAT from domestic electricity still applies through their supplier even for those fixed deals.

Wholesale gas costs are the main driver of the October increase. Ofgem links higher international gas prices to the conflict in the Middle East. Most of the rise shows up in gas. Gas bills under the typical profile rise by around 8%, while households that do not use gas see a much smaller increase of less than 1%, helped by the VAT change on electricity.

The VAT removal from domestic electricity is already built into the October figures. Ofgem says that without that change the typical Direct Debit bill would have been around £45 higher. Electricity standing charges and unit rates under the cap are published separately from gas, and standing charges still vary by region and payment method across England, Scotland and Wales.

Payment method still matters. Ofgem publishes different capped rates for Direct Debit, prepayment, and standard credit. In its October announcement, Ofgem noted that some fixed deals were available at £100 or more below the October capped typical bill, and that prepayment customers face the lowest capped rates among the payment types it compared for that quarter.

Typical Domestic Consumption Values, the usage profile behind the headline £1,723 figure, were updated by Ofgem in July 2026 to reflect lower average household use of electricity and gas. Under the older 2023 usage assumption, Ofgem said the October typical figure would have presented as £1,935 rather than £1,723. The unit rates themselves are what suppliers must observe for default tariffs. The annual number is only a way of presenting those rates at a standard level of use.

Prices remain well below the peak of the 2022 energy crisis, when the government temporarily capped typical bills at £2,500. Ofgem says the October 2026 level is about 52% below that crisis-era support level. How any one household’s bill moves still depends on meter type, region, tariff choice, and how much gas and electricity that home uses through the autumn and winter months ahead.

For people comparing options ahead of 1 October 2026, the published figures to keep in view are the £1,723 typical Direct Debit dual-fuel cap, the £1,663 level it replaces, and the fact that fixed-tariff customers sit outside the unit-rate change even though electricity VAT relief still applies. Those numbers come from Ofgem’s October 2026 price cap update.