EDF Energy · Import tariff · VAT included
EDF Standard Variable prices
EDF’s default tariff for electricity and gas, priced at the Ofgem cap, with no exit fees.
Your postcode is sent once to Octopus Energy’s public region lookup — the same one they bill from. We do not put it in the URL, analytics or database, and do not keep it.
Standard Variable is what you are on if you have never chosen anything. It is EDF’s default tariff, it prices electricity and gas at the Ofgem cap, and it changes when the cap changes — currently every three months.
It is also the tariff every other page on this site measures itself against. When a smart tariff claims to beat the cap, this is the number it is beating.
Showing London. Currently on sale: Standard Variable. Tariff code E-1R-EDF_STANDARD_VARIABLE-C.
- Average today
- 26.35p
- Cheapest today
- 26.35p
- Most expensive today
- 26.35p
- Standing charge
- 44.78p
weighted by how long each price lasts
per day
Current rate
26.35pper kWh
EDF Standard Variable charges one rate at all times. It changes only when EDF Energy changes it, not on any daily cycle.
Against the price cap in London
The Ofgem cap for a single-rate direct debit meter here is 26.35p per kWh plus 44.78p a day. Today this tariff averaged 0.00p below the cap unit rate.
This compares one day’s unit rates only. What you pay also depends on the standing charge and on when you use electricity, so treat this as an indication rather than a saving. Cap period 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30.
Estimated annual cost
£822a year
2,500 kWh a year in London, at 26.35p per kWh plus 44.78p a day standing charge.
This tariff charges one rate at all times, so the figure is arithmetic rather than a forecast. It moves only when the rate does.
EDF Energy quotes £886 for the same household. Both are the same calculation, so the difference is rounding.
On an Economy 7 meter
EDF Standard Variable is also sold on a two-register meter, charging 31.63p per kWh by day and 14.85p per kWh at night, plus 52.08p a day.
The seven cheap hours are fixed by your meter and vary by region and installer, so check yours rather than assuming midnight to 7am. Economy 7 only pays if enough of your usage — storage heating, hot water, an EV — falls inside them. EDF Energy quotes £1,072 a year for a 3,400 kWh Economy 7 household, which is a higher consumption figure than the single-rate one, so the two totals are not directly comparable.
Tariff code E-2R-EDF_STANDARD_VARIABLE-C.
Gas
Today’s gas rate is 7.50p per kWh, plus 36.68p a day standing charge.
Gas is priced once per day with no time-of-use element, so there is nothing to shift and no cheaper hours to aim for. Tariff code G-1R-EDF_STANDARD_VARIABLE-C.
Prices by region
EDF Standard Variable unit rate by region
The unit rate in each region. Where you live changes what you pay, because the cost of distributing electricity differs by network.
Hover a region for its figure, or select one to load its prices.
Tap a region to load its prices.
| Region | Per kWh |
|---|---|
| East Midlands | 26.49p |
| North East England | 26.63p |
| Yorkshire | 26.72p |
| West Midlands | 26.74p |
| Southern Scotland | 27.29p |
| North West England | 27.58p |
| South Wales | 27.80p |
| London | 27.81p |
| Eastern England | 27.85p |
| South West England | 27.85p |
| Southern England | 27.89p |
| Northern Scotland | 27.89p |
| South East England | 28.15p |
| Merseyside and North Wales | 29.20p |
Northern Ireland has a separate electricity market and is not covered by these regions.
EDF Standard Variable standing charge by region
The daily charge you pay before using any electricity at all. It varies more between regions than the unit rate does, and you cannot avoid it by using less.
Hover a region for its figure, or select one to load its prices.
Tap a region to load its prices.
| Region | Per day |
|---|---|
| London | 52.1p |
| North West England | 55.5p |
| Southern England | 58.3p |
| East Midlands | 62.1p |
| Eastern England | 62.7p |
| South East England | 63.3p |
| Northern Scotland | 65.9p |
| South Wales | 66.2p |
| South West England | 66.9p |
| West Midlands | 68.4p |
| Southern Scotland | 72.8p |
| North East England | 73.2p |
| Yorkshire | 73.3p |
| Merseyside and North Wales | 79.6p |
Northern Ireland has a separate electricity market and is not covered by these regions.
Context
The price cap since Oct 18
A year of energy at typical consumption, paying by direct debit. This is the benchmark every tariff on this site is measured against, and it is a Great Britain figure rather than a regional one.
The cap peaked at £3,582 in Jan - Mar 2023 and stands at £1,663 for July - Sept 2026.
Show every period
| Period | Cap level |
|---|---|
| July - Sept 2026 | £1,663 |
| Apr - June 26 | £1,477 |
| Jan - Mar 2026 | £1,584 |
| Oct - Dec 2025 | £1,576 |
| July - Sept 2025 | £1,541 |
| Apr - June 25 | £1,655 |
| Jan - Mar 25 | £1,561 |
| Oct - Dec 24 | £1,543 |
| July-Sept 2024 | £1,414 |
| Apr-June 2024 | £1,521 |
| Jan - Mar 2024 | £1,723 |
| Oct - Dec 2023 | £1,641 |
| July-Sept 2023 | £1,766 |
| Apr-June 2023 | £2,762 |
| Jan - Mar 2023 | £3,582 |
| Oct - Dec 2022 | £2,972 |
| 2022 summer | £1,673 |
| 2021/22 winter | £1,093 |
| 2021 summer | £979 |
| 2020/21 winter | £899 |
| 2020 summer | £967 |
| 2019/20 winter | £979 |
| 2019 summer | £1,039 |
| 2018/19 winter | £945 |
Estimate what it would cost
Enter a number of kWh to see what it would costat today’s average price.
How EDF Standard Variable works
One unit rate and one standing charge, both set at the maximum Ofgem allows for your region and payment method. There is no time-of-use element, so electricity costs the same at three in the morning as it does at six in the evening.
The cap is a cap on the average bill, not a fixed price, and it is recalculated quarterly from wholesale costs, network costs and policy costs. When it moves, this tariff moves with it, in both directions.
Prices differ by how you pay. Direct debit is the cheapest, with prepayment and pay-on-receipt priced separately — the cap sets a different allowance for each.
There are no exit fees, so you can move to any other tariff at any time. That is the tariff’s main practical virtue.
What you need
- No requirements at all — no smart meter, no vehicle, no generation
- Available for electricity, gas or both
- Direct debit, pay on receipt of bill, and prepayment versions all exist, at different prices
- No exit fees, no term
What drives what you pay
- How much you use, which is the only lever this tariff gives you
- Ofgem’s price cap, which resets quarterly and sets both the unit rate and the standing charge
- Your region, since network costs differ across Great Britain
- How you pay, because prepayment and pay-on-receipt are capped separately from direct debit
Who it tends to suit
- Households that want no term, no exit fee and no decisions
- Anyone about to move house or change circumstances, where flexibility is worth more than a small saving
- Homes without a smart meter, which rules out most of the alternatives
- People who expect the cap to fall and would rather follow it down
Who it tends not to suit
- Anyone who could shift usage into cheap hours, since a time-of-use tariff would pay them for it
- Households wanting a predictable annual bill — a fixed tariff does that and this does not
- Very light users, who are paying a full standing charge for very little electricity
- Anyone happy to commit for a year, who can almost always find a cheaper fixed deal
Things to watch
- Being on the cap means paying the maximum allowed, not a fair average. Almost every fixed and smart tariff on the market is sold on the basis of beating it.
- The standing charge applies every day even if you use nothing, which makes this an expensive tariff for a second home or a very light user.
- Prices change quarterly with no action from you, so a budget set in one quarter can be wrong in the next.
EDF Standard Variable compared with the alternatives
- Against Flexible Octopus
- The same thing at another supplier: the default variable tariff, priced at the cap, with no exit fees. Differences between suppliers’ standard tariffs are small by design, because the cap sets the ceiling for all of them. Service, billing and how easily you can move to something better matter more than the pence.
- Against EDF Simply Fixed
- The straight trade. Fixing locks your rates for the term, which protects you if the cap rises and costs you if it falls. Fixed deals have recently been priced below the cap, so the immediate saving is usually real — but so is the exit fee if you change your mind.
- Against EDF Empower Tracker
- Empower uses this tariff’s rate as its base, then takes 10p off in the early hours, adds 10p across the late afternoon and removes the standing charge entirely. If you use little electricity, or can move it into the night, Empower is simply this tariff improved.
How to switch to EDF Standard Variable
- Nothing to do — this is where customers end up by default, including when a fixed deal ends.
- Moving away is equally easy: there are no exit fees and no notice period, so any other tariff is available whenever you want it.
- If you have been on this tariff for a while without checking alternatives, that is the thing worth doing. Being on the cap means paying the most Ofgem permits.
Our verdict on EDF Standard Variable
Standard Variable is not a bad tariff so much as the absence of a choice. It does exactly what the price cap allows, it asks nothing of you, and you can leave whenever you like.
That flexibility is worth real money in the right circumstances — mid-move, mid-renovation, or when you expect the cap to fall. Outside those, being on it for a long stretch usually means paying more than you had to.
In its favour
- No exit fees and no term, so you can leave at any time
- Falls automatically when the price cap falls
- No smart meter or equipment required
- Available for both electricity and gas
Against it
- Priced at the maximum Ofgem allows
- Rises automatically when the cap rises
- No reward for using electricity at cheaper times
- Full standing charge regardless of how little you use
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same as the price cap?
It is priced at the cap. Ofgem sets a maximum unit rate and standing charge for each region and payment method, and EDF’s standard variable tariff sits at that maximum. The comparison card above shows how closely they match for your region today.
How often do the prices change?
Whenever the price cap changes, currently every three months. EDF writes to you before each change.
Is prepayment more expensive?
It is capped separately from direct debit, and the two are priced differently. The figures on this page are for the single-rate direct debit version unless stated otherwise.
Should I fix instead?
It depends on what you think the cap will do and how much you value certainty. Fixing protects you from a rise and costs you a fall, and most fixed tariffs carry an exit fee where this one does not. There is no answer that is right for everyone.