What Energy Has Actually Cost
Gas since 1998, electricity since 2002
Almost every argument about energy prices turns on a comparison with the past, and almost none of them cite one. The official figures exist: the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has published the average annual domestic bill every year since 2002 for electricity and 1998 for gas.
They are below, in both the money of the day and today’s money, with the two things that make them easy to misread marked rather than smoothed over.
1998 to 2025 · 28 years
What a typical energy bill has cost
In 2025 the average household electricity bill was £982 and the average gas bill £752. Both are averages at the consumption households actually used, across every payment method and tariff — not a cap, and not a quote.
Cash is what was billed at the time. 2025 money is the same bill restated at today’s prices, so the two years can be compared without inflation doing the talking.
| Year | Electricitythe United Kingdom | GasGreat Britain | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | 2025 money | Cash | 2025 money | |
| 2025 | £982 | £982 | £752 | £752 |
| 2024 | £973 | £1,008 | £773 | £801 |
| 2023 | £1,074 | £1,156 | £963 | £1,037 |
| 2022 | £996 | £1,141 | £940 | £1,076 |
| 2021 | £729 | £883 | £518 | £626 |
| 2020 | £670 | £815 | £535 | £650 |
| 2019 | £646 | £826 | £547 | £699 |
| 2018 | £611 | £800 | £550 | £720 |
| 2017 | £573 | £765 | £537 | £717 |
| 2016 | £561 | £761 | £580 | £786 |
| 2015 | £575 | £793 | £622 | £858 |
| 2014 | £595 | £826 | £645 | £896 |
| 2013 | £595 | £840 | £758 | £1,069 |
| 2012 | £567 | £817 | £700 | £1,009 |
| 2011 | £529 | £774 | £573 | £839 |
| 2010 | £521 | £782 | £638 | £957 |
| 2009 | £546 | £830 | £600 | £911 |
| 2008 | £543 | £841 | £566 | £877 |
| 2007 | £461 | £738 | £454 | £726 |
| 2006gas: 1 Oct 2005–30 Sept 2006; electricity: calendar 2006 | £416 | £679 | £403 | £658 |
| 2005gas: 1 Oct 2004–30 Sept 2005; electricity: calendar 2005 | £338 | £568 | £372 | £627 |
| 2004gas: 1 Oct 2003–30 Sept 2004; electricity: calendar 2004 | £304 | £527 | £332 | £575 |
| 2003gas: 1 Oct 2002–30 Sept 2003; electricity: calendar 2003 | £293 | £521 | £311 | £553 |
| 2002gas: 1 Oct 2001–30 Sept 2002; electricity: calendar 2002 | £284 | £516 | £296 | £540 |
| 2001gas: 1 Oct 2000–30 Sept 2001 | — | — | £287 | £534 |
| 2000gas: 1 Oct 1999–30 Sept 2000 | — | — | £283 | £536 |
| 1999gas: 1 Oct 1998–30 Sept 1999 | — | — | £285 | £545 |
| 1998gas: 1 Oct 1997–30 Sept 1998 | — | — | £297 | £574 |
Gas bills before 2007 are not calendar years. DESNZ counted the total billed during the year, which covers consumption from October of the year before to September — the dates are shown on those rows. From 2007 onwards the figure covers the calendar year, so the step across that boundary is partly a change of definition rather than entirely a change of price. The electricity column is the calendar year throughout, so on those earlier rows the two fuels are measured over different twelve months and adding them across a row gives a total that covers neither.
The two columns are not the same country. DESNZ publishes the electricity series for the United Kingdom and this gas series for Great Britain — Northern Ireland has its own gas market and is not in the gas figures.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 Quarterly Energy Prices 2.2.5: average annual domestic electricity bills by various consumption levels · Quarterly Energy Prices 2.3.5: average annual domestic gas bills by various consumption levels
Why two columns, and which one to read
Cash terms show the amount paid at the time. Today’s money adjusts older bills for inflation, making different years more comparable. These are national averages, not tariff quotes, and changes can reflect both prices and household consumption.
How much of a household budget that is
The chart below compares household energy spending with total household spending, showing affordability rather than the bill amount alone.
Share of household spending
What proportion of everything a household spends goes on energy
Across 56 years the figure has run from 5.4% in 1982 down to 1.9% in 2003, and stands at 2.5% in 2025. Household energy here excludes petrol and diesel, which the publisher reports separately and which cost households nearly as much again.
| Year | Share on energy | Household energy | Motor fuel |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 4.9% | £1,494m | £859m |
| 1975 | 4.6% | £2,901m | £2,232m |
| 1980 | 4.8% | £6,364m | £4,646m |
| 1982highest on record | 5.4% | £8,708m | £6,331m |
| 1985 | 4.3% | £10,626m | £7,887m |
| 1990 | 3.0% | £12,197m | £9,993m |
| 1995 | 2.8% | £15,055m | £13,414m |
| 2000 | 2.1% | £14,821m | £19,726m |
| 2003lowest on record | 1.9% | £14,802m | £20,072m |
| 2005 | 2.2% | £18,801m | £24,310m |
| 2010 | 3.0% | £29,913m | £31,816m |
| 2015 | 2.6% | £31,307m | £27,955m |
| 2020 | 2.6% | £31,805m | £23,650m |
| 2025latest | 2.5% | £43,733m | £35,214m |
What that is a week, per household that uses the fuel
In 2023/24 the average household spent £40.99 a week on fuel and light — £21.79 on electricity and £20.59 on gas.
Each fuel is averaged only over the households that use it, so the electricity and gas figures have different denominators and do not add up to the all-fuels figure — that is the publisher’s own total on its own basis, not a sum of the two.
The weekly series changes between calendar and financial years 3 times — 1992 to 1993/94, 2005/06 to 2006, 2014 to 2015/16. Periods either side of a change are not the same twelve months, and 2005/06 and 2006 overlap by nine of them.
- Quarterly Energy Prices 2.6.1: total household expenditure on energy · Department for Energy Security and Net Zero · Open Government Licence v3.0
- Quarterly Energy Prices 2.6.2: average weekly fuel spend per consuming household · Department for Energy Security and Net Zero · Open Government Licence v3.0
Energy took 5.4% of household spending at the series peak in 1982, and 1.9% at the low in 2003. The higher of the 2022 and 2023 crisis readings was 3.2% in 2022; the latest reading is 2.5% in 2025.
For current affordability support, see energy debt and arrears and help available.
Frequently asked questions
Were energy bills always this expensive?
Not in the early 2000s, but the 2010s were dearer than most people remember. In today’s money the combined electricity and gas bill was around £1,050 in 2002, climbed to about £1,910 by 2013, eased back to roughly £1,520 by 2019, peaked near £2,220 in 2022, and stands at about £1,730 in 2025. Those combined figures are our own addition of two official series on different geographies — United Kingdom electricity plus Great Britain gas — so the total covers neither country exactly; DESNZ publishes no combined dual-fuel series. So 2013 was closer to today than to the early 2000s — expensive energy is not new, though the 2022 spike was the sharpest in the series.
What is the difference between cash and today’s money?
Cash is the number that was on the bill at the time. Today’s money restates it using the GDP deflator, so a 2002 bill and a 2025 bill can be compared without general inflation doing the work. The average electricity bill in 2002 was £284 in cash and about £516 in today’s money — the same bill, two ways of stating it. DESNZ publishes both, in adjacent columns of the same table, which is exactly how the two get confused.
Has gas or electricity risen more?
Electricity, by a long way, once inflation is taken out. Between 2002 and 2025 the average electricity bill rose about ninety per cent in real terms while gas rose under forty. Gas had the sharper crisis — up seventy-two per cent in real terms in 2022 alone against electricity’s twenty-nine — but it has fallen back further since. Real-terms gas today is cheaper than in any year from 2008 to 2016; real-terms electricity is at its highest outside the crisis years.
Why do the gas figures before 2007 cover odd dates?
Because DESNZ counted them differently. Up to and including 2006 the figure is the total billed during the year, which covers consumption from October of the previous year to September. From 2007 onwards it covers the calendar year. The table marks the affected rows, because the step from 2006 to 2007 is partly a change of definition and not entirely a change of price.
Do these cover Northern Ireland?
The electricity figures do — they are United Kingdom. The gas average-consumption figures are Great Britain only, because Northern Ireland has a separate gas market. That is how DESNZ publishes them, and the two columns are labelled accordingly rather than being quietly merged.
