Cost of living

UK households paid 29.7p per unit of electricity and 7.0p per unit of gas in 2025, including taxes

Average price households pay per unit (kWh) of electricity and of gas, including taxes, in the UK, the middle of 28 European countries, Germany and France, 2008 to 2025. Pence, not adjusted for inflation.

Latest figures

Findings

• Only three of 27 EU countries had dearer household electricity than the UK in 2025
• 15 of 23 EU countries with a gas price had dearer household gas than the UK in 2025

Notes

• A unit is a kilowatt hour (kWh): running a 1,000-watt heater for an hour. Prices include taxes, VAT and the costs of government energy schemes, and are averages over the year.
• Prices are for homes using a typical amount: 2,500 to 5,000 kWh of electricity and 5,556 to 55,556 kWh of gas a year. A typical UK home falls in both bands.
• The middle of Europe is the median: half of the countries paid more and half less. It counts the 27 EU countries and the UK for electricity, and 24 of these countries for gas: there is no gas price for Cyprus, Finland, Malta and Poland in 2025.
• Eurostat collects the prices from each country; DESNZ converts them to pence at the exchange rate of the time, so a change in the value of the pound moves every other country's price in pounds.

Sources

• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, International domestic energy prices (QEP 5.6.2 and 5.10.2), from Eurostat

More on cost of living

• The average home cost 6.7 years of a typical full-time worker's pay in 2025
• After inflation, household electricity prices were 35% higher and gas prices 12% higher than in 2015, in August 2026
• After inflation, beer in pubs and bars cost 17% more in August 2026 than in January 1987
• Gas and electricity for a typical household cost £1,658 a year in August 2026
• Petrol cost 175.3p a litre and diesel 200.0p at UK filling stations in the week of 12 October 2026
• A pint of lager cost an average of £5.15 in the UK in the 12 months to August 2026