Energy Bills by EPC Rating: What Each Band Costs in 2026
A typical band D home pays £1,834 a year, or £153 a month, for gas and electricity at the price cap that applies from 1 October 2026. Band C pays £1,591, band E £2,070 and band B £1,484. Those are real metered figures, not the modelled cost printed on the certificate, and the gap between the two is the most useful thing on this page. Use the calculator for your own band and home size, then see what moving up a band is worth.
In this guide
EPC band cost calculator Bills by EPC band, every band Monthly cost by band at a glance Why band A is not the cheapest on the meter What the certificate says you should pay What moving up one band saves Landlords, tenants and band C Heat pumps and your band Frequently asked questionsEPC band cost calculator
Consumption is the 2024 metered figure for each band from DESNZ NEED: lower quartile, median or upper quartile. Priced at 26.32p/kWh electricity and 7.97p/kWh gas plus standing charges of 54.83p and 29.68p a day. Assumes a home with mains gas heating. Scotland and Northern Ireland are not covered by these tables.
Bills by EPC band, every band
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero publishes actual annual meter readings for around 19 million gas-connected homes and 23 million electricity meters, matched to each home's EPC. These are the medians for 2024, the latest year, priced at the October to December 2026 cap. Gas figures cover homes with a gas meter; electricity figures cover all homes, which matters for band A, as the next section explains. For bills by house type rather than band, see our average energy bills guide.
| Band | SAP points | Gas kWh | Electricity kWh | Gas bill | Electricity bill | Total a year | A month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 92 to 100 | 8,354 | 2,611 | £774 | £887 | £1,661 | £138 |
| B | 81 to 91 | 7,168 | 2,297 | £680 | £805 | £1,484 | £124 |
| C | 69 to 80 | 8,397 | 2,332 | £778 | £814 | £1,591 | £133 |
| D | 55 to 68 | 10,503 | 2,615 | £945 | £888 | £1,834 | £153 |
| E | 39 to 54 | 12,128 | 3,022 | £1,075 | £996 | £2,070 | £173 |
| F | 21 to 38 | 12,811 | 3,488 | £1,129 | £1,118 | £2,248 | £187 |
| G | 1 to 20 | 11,118 | 3,549 | £994 | £1,134 | £2,129 | £177 |
| All homes | n/a | 10,012 | 2,538 | £906 | £868 | £1,774 | £148 |
Median annual consumption, England and Wales, 2024, from NEED tables 27c and 28c. Bills include standing charges of £108 for gas and £200 for electricity a year. Band boundaries from BRE SAP 10.2, table 14.
Two things stand out. The spread between the best and worst bands is smaller than most people expect: a band F home pays about £763 a year more than a band B home, not the several thousand pounds the certificate implies. And the bands are not perfectly ordered. Band A costs more than B on the meter and band G costs less than F. Both are real effects with real causes, covered below, rather than errors in the data.
Monthly cost by band at a glance
- Band A: £138 a month (£1,661 a year), mostly new builds and all-electric homes
- Band B: £124 a month (£1,484 a year), the cheapest band to run on gas
- Band C: £133 a month (£1,591 a year), the target for rented homes from 2030
- Band D: £153 a month (£1,834 a year), the most common band in England and Wales
- Band E: £173 a month (£2,070 a year), the current legal minimum for renting
- Band F: £187 a month (£2,248 a year), the most expensive band on the meter
- Band G: £177 a month (£2,129 a year), a small sample of mostly older, often gas-free homes
These are the numbers to reach for when a listing says "EPC D" and you want to know what the bills will be. They are medians, so half of homes in each band pay less and half pay more. A four-bedroom detached house in band D will sit near the upper quartile of its band; a two-bedroom flat in band D near the lower quartile. The calculator above lets you pick which.
Why band A is not the cheapest on the meter
Band A homes use the least energy of any band. They pay more than band B for a simple reason: most of them heat with electricity, through a heat pump or all-electric systems in new flats, so their heating shows up on the electricity meter at 26.32p per kWh instead of the gas meter at 7.97p. The NEED electricity figures cover every home, gas-heated or not, so band A's electricity median of 2,611 kWh includes heating that in a band B house would be counted as gas. A heat pump home is still cheap to run: our heat pump running costs guide shows that a well-insulated home on a heat pump tariff beats gas by around £300 a year. But the band table cannot show that, because it prices gas and electricity separately.
Band G is the other oddity. Its gas median is lower than band F's because many band G homes have no gas central heating at all, and the sample is small, about 33,000 gas meters against 5.3 million in band D. Treat the G figures as indicative. Band F, with 178,000 gas meters and 324,000 electricity meters, is a reliable picture of the worst-insulated homes with heating.
What the certificate says you should pay
The EPC on a listing prints a modelled energy cost. It assumes the whole home is heated to 21C in the living room and 18C elsewhere for a standard number of hours, at a fixed set of fuel prices. Real households do not do that, especially in poorly rated homes, and the difference is large.
| Band | Modelled required cost (EPC method) | Actual metered bill at October 2026 prices | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A, B and C | £1,818 | £1,591 (band C) | £227 |
| D | £2,258 | £1,834 | £424 |
| E | £3,011 | £2,070 | £941 |
| F and G | £4,037 | £2,248 (band F) | £1,789 |
Modelled costs are median equivalised required fuel costs by SAP band for England in 2025, from the DESNZ fuel poverty statistics published March 2026, net of the £150 Warm Home Discount. They use a different price basis from the metered column, so treat the gap as indicative.
The gap grows as the band gets worse. In band C, households pay roughly what the model says they need. In band F, they pay a little over half. The missing half is not a saving. It is rooms left cold, heating switched off in the mornings, and condensation and mould in the corners, which is why DESNZ counts a household as fuel poor when the modelled cost would push it below the poverty line. If you are buying or renting a band E, F or G home and plan to heat it properly, budget from the modelled column, not the metered one. Our condensation and mould guide covers what under-heating does to a house.
What moving up one band saves
| Move | Typical bill before | Typical bill after | Saving a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| G to F | £2,129 | £2,248 | -£119 |
| F to E | £2,248 | £2,070 | £177 |
| E to D | £2,070 | £1,834 | £237 |
| D to C | £1,834 | £1,591 | £242 |
| C to B | £1,591 | £1,484 | £107 |
| B to A | £1,484 | £1,661 | -£177 |
Difference between the median bills of adjacent bands at October to December 2026 prices. Band G to F is negative because of the band G sample effects described above.
The biggest single step is E to D, worth around £237 a year, followed by D to C at £242. Those are also the cheapest steps to take, because they are usually about insulation rather than heating systems. Topping up loft insulation to 270mm adds 5 to 10 points, filling cavity walls 10 to 15, and together they lift a typical band D semi into band C for £700 to £2,100. Our EPC improvement planner ranks the measures for your property by points gained per pound, our guide to improving your EPC cheaply walks through them, and the insulation calculator puts a saving on each one. If you receive a qualifying benefit, ECO4 can pay for the insulation outright until December 2026.
Above band C the steps are worth less on the meter and cost more to take. Getting from C to B usually needs a heat pump or solar panels, and while both are worth doing for other reasons, the metered saving of around £107 a year will not pay for them on its own. See how EPC points are calculated for why the top bands are so hard to reach in an older house.
Landlords, tenants and band C
Rented homes in England and Wales must currently reach band E, and the government has confirmed a band C requirement for new tenancies from 2028 and all tenancies from 2030. On these figures a band E rental costs the tenant about £479 a year more to run than a band C one, before the under-heating gap, which is the number tenants will increasingly ask about. Our EPC guide for landlords covers the deadlines, exemptions and the cost cap, and the EPC improvement planner finds the cheapest route to C for a specific property.
If you are renting and choosing between two flats, ask for the EPC certificate rather than the band alone. The certificate lists the assessor's recommended improvements and the modelled cost for the home, and a band D flat with a modern boiler and a poor score for windows will heat very differently from a band D flat with an old boiler and good windows.
Heat pumps and your band
A heat pump adds 10 to 15 EPC points and usually moves a home up a band, but the bill effect depends on your tariff more than your band. On a standard tariff a heat pump home in band C pays about the same as a gas home in band C. On a heat pump tariff it pays around £300 a year less. The costs by house type guide gives installation prices for each property, and the tariff guide explains how to get the cheaper rate. Well-insulated homes gain most, which is why the order of work is insulation first, heat pump second, and why the band D to C step above is worth taking before the heat pump rather than after.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a band D house cost to run per month?
About £153 a month, £1,834 a year, for gas and electricity at the Ofgem price cap for October to December 2026. That uses the median metered consumption of band D homes in England and Wales, 10,503 kWh of gas and 2,615 kWh of electricity, from the DESNZ NEED 2026 tables.
How much does a band C house cost to run per month?
About £133 a month, £1,591 a year. Band C homes use a median of 8,397 kWh of gas and 2,332 kWh of electricity, so they pay around £242 a year less than a typical band D home.
How much does a band E house cost to run per month?
About £173 a month, £2,070 a year at the October 2026 cap. The EPC model says a band E home should need far more than that, around £3,011 a year, and the gap is largely households heating less than the standard assumes.
Is a band A home the cheapest to run?
Not on the metered figures. Band A homes pay about £1,661 a year against £1,484 for band B, because most band A homes run heat pumps or are all-electric, so more of their energy shows up on the electricity meter at 26.32p rather than the gas meter at 7.97p. Their total energy use is the lowest of any band.
How much do you save going from EPC D to C?
The median band C home pays £242 a year less than the median band D home at current prices. Moving up a band usually means loft or wall insulation, which our EPC improvement planner prices for your property.
Are these real bills or EPC estimates?
Real bills. The consumption figures are actual annual meter readings for 2024 from the DESNZ National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework, priced at the Ofgem cap for October to December 2026 including standing charges. The EPC certificate itself shows a modelled cost that assumes a standard heating pattern, which is why it is usually higher.
Data sources
Consumption by EPC band from the DESNZ National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework, consumption data tables 2026, tables 27c, 28c, A27 and A28 (2024 consumption year, England and Wales). Modelled required fuel costs by band from the DESNZ fuel poverty supplementary tables 2026. Band boundaries from BRE SAP 10.2. Energy prices from the Ofgem price cap for October to December 2026.