What Is the Average Electricity Bill for a Large Family Household in the UK?

The average electricity bill for a large family household in the UK is around £1100 - £1300, depending on the number of bedrooms in the home.

This amount only reflects electricity and does not include any costs associated with gas use, which may be part of a complete energy bill.

Learn more about how an electricity bill is calculated based on the energy used and other factors, like network costs, taxes, and seasonal or regional variations that can impact your monthly totals.

An electricity bill in the UK typically uses a few criteria to calculate your total owed.

The tariff or unit rate is the cost agreed upon between you and the energy supplier for each kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity you use. This rate may be fixed in place or variable and subject to change. So, the more energy you use, the higher your total costs will be.

Then, there’s also what’s known as a standing charge, which is a fixed daily cost you’ll pay on top of the unit price for the electricity you use. A standing charge includes pipe and cable maintenance, metering, and network connection.

Other factors affecting your monthly electricity bill are where you live and your payment method. Certain areas of the UK will pay more for their power due to the higher cost of delivering electricity to your home. Certain rural areas may be more costly, which will likely be passed on to the consumer.

How you choose to pay may also make your bill higher or lower. For example, customers with a direct monthly debit set up from their account may pay less overall than those using pay-on-receipt methods.

A kilowatt-hour is a unit that measures the amount of electricity used per hour. One kilowatt is a thousand watts of energy, and your wattage is determined by how much power your appliances, devices, lighting, and air/heating systems use and how long they’re used. Even equipment plugged in but on standby uses power, contributing to your home’s total kWh usage.

Your energy used is hands down the most critical factor in calculating your electricity bill. However, more goes into your bill than just the electricity you used that month. Wholesale costs make up the most significant part of the bill after your electricity use, but network costs are the second-biggest contributor, followed by operating costs, policy costs, VAT, and EBIT.

As we explored previously, your energy use is factored in as the tariff or unit rate. That unit rate gets multiplied by how many kWh of electricity you used to get your total costs for energy use. But this is only one piece of the electricity bill puzzle.

Network costs refer to the money used to maintain the regional network companies that support, run, and upgrade the energy networks (electricity wires, transformers, etc.) that we use. The energy provider does not own these systems, so they pass these funds onto the network management company that ensures the electricity gets to your home.

Wholesale costs refer to the prices your electricity provider pays to the wholesale market to purchase the electricity for you to use. The global commodity markets determine the wholesale price they pay, which can be impacted by international demand, severe weather, natural disasters, and even warfare or political conflict.

As electricity costs fluctuate, these wholesale costs may be passed on to consumers. It’s the primary reason that electricity prices go up or down.

Operating costs cover the day-to-day expenses of managing an account, such as metering and billing services. New technologies or systems, such as automatic billing or mobile apps, may be implemented to minimise the strain of these costs and make the management process more accessible and more affordable for everyone.

The UK is always looking to improve energy efficiency, find new ways to reduce carbon emissions and utilise renewable energy sources. A small cost may be added to energy customers’ bills to help fund smart energy policies, support vulnerable customers, and work toward clean energy goals.

VAT is a tax set by the UK government. It’s a standard 5% across all home energy bills, including electricity and gas. This percentage is far lower than the standard 20% VAT on other household goods and services, like water or rubbish removal.

EBIT stands for Earnings Before Interest and Taxes and covers the electricity company's profit after all other costs are distributed.

The total owed on your monthly electric bill is likely to change throughout the year because different seasons require different energy levels. For example, winters require more electricity for heating and light since it’s so cold and the sun sets much earlier. Bills are often much lower in the summer because fewer lights are used, and most heating systems remain turned off.

Just as seasons can impact electricity bill totals, different regions may also see cost variations for several reasons. Some of the regional factors to consider include:

If you’re struggling with your electricity bills and looking for ways to reduce the cost, there are several things you can do.

One option is to invest in a home power storage system, using your own equipment to generate energy rather than relying on your electricity provider. A battery storage system like the EcoFlow PowerOcean Single-Phase or EcoFlow PowerOcean Three-Phase models can store solar energy that you can use 24/7, even during power outages, so you can always keep your essentials running.

With 6000 whole life cycles and 5kWh per battery expandable up to 45kWh depending onthe size you need, these options can help you build your own net-zero home, minimising or eliminating your electricity bills.

Another way to reduce energy costs is to supplement the energy source for the biggest electricity feeders in your home, such as heating. The EcoFlow PowerHeat is an air-to-water heat pump that uses solar-powered electricity to bring ambient air heat energy into the house.

You can use solar power to supplement this significant home system, tie it into the utility grid to leverage a feed-in tariff, or integrate it with the EcoFlow PowerOcean systems to drastically lower energy costs.

The average monthly electricity bill for a large family sharing a home in the UK is between £1100 and £1300. This total is calculated by combining energy use and standing charges, plus costs for network, wholesale, operating, and policy, as well as government-required VAT and EBIT, the provider's profit.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by high energy costs, consider investing in an alternative home energy system, like the EcoFlow PowerOcean Single-Phase, which integrates seamlessly into the home to store solar energy that you can use whether or not the grid is up.