Energy prices in Northern Scotland

Ofgem cap · Direct Debit · July 2026 to September 2026

How Northern Scotland compares with the other 13 regions

The electricity unit rate here is 12th cheapest of the 14 distribution regions. The gas unit rate is 2nd cheapest of the 14 distribution regions.

Great Britain average, for reference: 26.11p for electricity, 7.33p for gas. Ofgem publishes this as a cap region, but no household is in it — it is an average of the fourteen real ones and is deliberately left out of the ranking above.

All prices include VAT at 5%. The typical annual figure is Ofgem’s own illustration for a household using a typical amount of energy, not a limit on what anyone can be charged. Source: Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Ofgem.

Since 2010

What households here were actually charged — North Scotland

These are averages of what suppliers actually billed across each calendar year, including VAT — not cap levels, and not a ceiling. The cap only began in 2019, so most of this series predates it.

Electricity is priced by whole region from 2013; gas only from 2018. Before those years each figure is a price for one selected town, named on the point. So electricity and gas are on different bases for 2013 to 2017 and should not be charted against each other across that period without saying so.

The fixed cost is not purely a standing charge: where a tariff has two unit prices it also carries the difference between them multiplied by the split level. A (p) marks a provisional figure that may be revised. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Forecast · next 48 hours

The cleanest hours ahead in Northern Scotland

Every carbon figure here is a forecast. Regional carbon intensity is modelled from national generation and estimated flows between regions — it is never measured at a region’s boundary, so no later outturn confirms or corrects it. It genuinely differs by region: the same half hour is a different number in Scotland and in London, because the generation nearest each is different.

The cheapest half hour is a half-hourly tariff’s price, not everyone’s. On a flat standard variable rate the price at 3am is the price at 6pm, so there is a cleanest hour here and no cheapest one.

See the whole forecast, half hour by half hour

Ofgem RIIO-ED2 · 2024/25

Who keeps Northern Scotland’s lights on, and how well

The wires here are run by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks. You cannot switch network operator — it depends on where you live, not on who you buy electricity from — so this is the performance you get.

Power cuts per 100 customers

59.1against a target of 61.9

Better than the target Ofgem set this area. 14 of 14 networks on this measure, best first. The industry average is 39.7.

Counted per interruption, so one household cut off twice counts twice.

Minutes without power per customer

68.9against a target of 52.9

Worse than the target Ofgem set this area. 14 of 14 networks on this measure, best first. The industry average is 35.1.

Averaged across the year and across every customer the area serves.

Customer satisfaction: 9.2 score out of 10 for 2024/25. Satisfaction runs the other way from the two measures above — a higher score is better — and it is a different question from reliability: it is about how the network handled the contact, not whether the power stayed on.

RIIO-ED1 set different targets, so figures before the current regulatory period are not a continuation of this series. Source: Ofgem. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0