Policy paper

Energy Price Guarantee

Updated 1 January 2024

Update: 1 January 2024

We have published details of who will continue to receive the Energy Price Guarantee discount as of 1 January 2024, and how the discount will be delivered.

Households without a pre-payment meter in Great Britain

From 1 July 2023, households without a pre-payment meter no longer receive an Energy Price Guarantee discount on their gas and electricity bills.

This is because the Ofgem price cap is lower than the Energy Price Guarantee level, meaning households will pay rates capped by the price cap.

For the period of January to March 2024, the Ofgem price cap is set at £1,928 for a typical household per year.

Households with a pre-payment meter in Great Britain

As announced in the government’s Spring Budget, the Energy Price Guarantee is being used to align costs for comparable prepayment meter (PPM) and direct debit customers, ensuring that PPM users no longer pay a premium for their energy.

Between June and September, the PPM premium was removed by providing PPM customers a unit rate discount, saving around £21 per year.

From 1 October 2023 onwards there is a change in how the discount is delivered. Instead of being delivered via a discount to unit rates, it is delivered via a discount to the standing charges. This ensures low usage customers are fully supported by the Energy Price Guarantee. A typical PPM customer will save around £40 per year. This saving will continue into the price cap period 1 January – 31 March 2024.

Ofgem are currently consulting on levelling the cost of standing charges on pre-payment meters from April 2024. This consultation will close on 2 January 2024.

Some tariffs have no standing charge. Instead, these tariffs will have a higher cost to an initial number of units to compensate for the standing charge cost. If you’re on a tariff with no standing charge, you’ll get the equivalent discount applied to the initial units. This has been calculated to ensure you get a fair level of discount.

Further information on PPM discounts

From 1 January to 31 March 2024, the Energy Price Guarantee PPM discount is applied to standing charges. The standing charge discount is applied to both electricity and gas tariffs:

  • 4.5083p for electricity from January to March 2024
  • 6.7565p for gas from January to March 2024
  • the specific PPM standing charges each customer sees will vary by region. See the full list for January to March 2024.

The discount will be applied automatically to the price that is set on the meter. You do not need to contact your supplier to apply or use vouchers.

Households in Northern Ireland

From the 1 July 2023, households in Northern Ireland no longer receive an Energy Price Guarantee discount on their gas and electricity bills due to falling wholesale energy prices.

This is because of differences in the operation of the energy market, meaning households in Northern Ireland will likely experience a small increase in their energy bills.

Overall, typical energy bills were lower in Northern Ireland during the winter period than in Great Britain.

The Energy Price Guarantee will remain in place as a safety net until March 2024 should energy prices increase significantly during this period.

The PPM measure does not apply in Northern Ireland due to the specific circumstances of the energy market. The government has engaged industry, the Utility Regulator and consumer group in Northern Ireland, and has concluded the difference between the costs faced by PPM and direct debit users does not exist in the same way that it does in Great Britain. The government will keep this under review.

Energy Price Guarantee up until 30 June 2023

Find details of the Energy Price Guarantee rate discounts you would have received between October 2022 and 30 June 2023.

Other help