Gas Standing Charge Removal Calculator
The government plans to scrap the daily standing charge on household gas bills and recover the same costs through the price per kWh instead (GOV.UK, 28 October 2026). Low users come out ahead and high users pay more. Enter your annual gas use to see which side of the line you are on.
The new unit rate has not been set yet, so it is an input you can change. The presets show the main published estimates side by side.
Read the explainer: who pays more and who pays less when gas standing charges go.
Work out your gas bill
Method & sources
This calculator is educational, not advice. It estimates your gas bill from the numbers you enter and an assumed new unit rate that has not been set; it is not financial or energy advice. Check your actual rates with your supplier.
- Formula
Annual standing charge (£) = Standing charge (p a day) x 365 / 100.
Bill now (£) = Annual gas use (kWh) x Current unit rate (p) / 100 + Annual standing charge.
Bill with no standing charge (£) = Annual gas use x New unit rate (p) / 100.
Difference (£ a year) = Bill with no standing charge - Bill now. A monthly figure is the yearly difference / 12.
Break-even use (kWh a year) = Standing charge x 365 / (New unit rate - Current unit rate). If the new rate is not higher than the current rate, there is no break-even: every bill falls.
Presets for the new rate: 'Same bill at 9,500 kWh' = Current rate + Standing charge x 365 / 9,500; 'Break-even at 12,500 kWh' = Current rate + Standing charge x 365 / 12,500; 'Uswitch' = Current rate + 0.94p. Each is recomputed from the standing charge and unit rate currently in the form.
Validation stops the calculation, lists every problem and hides any earlier result when annual gas use is blank or below 1 kWh, or any rate is blank, negative or not a number.
- Rounding
- All maths runs at full precision; rounding happens only on display. Money is shown to the penny. Break-even use is rounded to the nearest whole kWh, and the unit-rate rise to two decimal places of a penny. Presets write the new unit rate rounded to two decimal places, and the calculation then uses that rounded rate. A yearly difference under £1 either way is reported as 'about the same'.
- Inputs used
- Annual gas use in kWh (required, 1 to 200,000). A button fills Ofgem's typical medium use, 9,500 kWh.
- Gas standing charge now in pence a day (pre-filled 29.68p, the Ofgem price cap for Direct Debit, GB average, 1 October to 31 December 2026)
- Gas unit rate now in pence per kWh (pre-filled 7.97p, the same cap, including 5% VAT)
- Assumed new unit rate in pence per kWh once the standing charge is removed (pre-filled 9.11p, MSE's estimate; editable, with three presets)
- What this does not account for
- Electricity: the announcement covers gas standing charges only, and this tool models gas only
- Any 'targeted mitigation' the government has said it will set out for some households
- Price cap changes after 31 December 2026; enter the rates on your own bill for any later period
- Regional differences in the standing charge and unit rate; the defaults are the GB average
- Fixed tariffs, which keep their agreed rates until they end
- Prepayment and other payment methods, whose cap rates differ from Direct Debit
- Jurisdiction
- Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), household gas on the Ofgem price cap. Northern Ireland has a separate energy market and is not covered.
- Source
- GOV.UK, "Chancellor abolishes standing charges on gas bills to make payments fairer" (28 October 2026)
- Effective date
- Removal planned 'in 2027 or as soon as possible after' (GOV.UK, 28 October 2026). Default rates are the Ofgem price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026.
- Version
- 1.0
- Last substantive review
- 2026-11-03
- Limitations
- The new unit rate is not set. The government says the fixed costs 'will be paid on the unit rate' but gives no rate; every preset is a third-party estimate, and the answer depends heavily on it.
- Default rates were checked on Ofgem's 'Energy price cap unit rates and standing charges' page on 3 November 2026 (https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/energy-price-cap-unit-rates-and-standing-charges): gas 7.97p per kWh and 29.68p a day, Direct Debit, GB average, 1 October to 31 December 2026, including 5% VAT.
- The typical use of 9,500 kWh is Ofgem's medium gas TDCV from 1 July 2026, as stated by Energy UK ('Energy UK Explains: Typical Domestic Consumption Values', 1 July 2026) and used by MSE. Ofgem's own decision page was not read; the low and high values are not used.
- The MSE figures (9.11p, based on 9,500 kWh) and Martin Lewis's 12,500 kWh guess were read on MSE's article, edited 2 November 2026. The Uswitch figures (+0.94p, about 8.9p, break-even about 11,500 kWh) were read on Uswitch's article of 28 October 2026.
- The government's '60% of households save around £45 on average' is its own estimate and is not reproduced by this calculator, which works one household at a time.
Reference cases
Five worked examples you can check by hand against the formula above.
Reference case 1: Typical use with MSE's estimate: 9,500 kWh, 29.68p a day, 7.97p now, 9.11p new
- Annual gas use: 9,500 kWh
- Standing charge: 29.68p a day
- Unit rate now: 7.97p
- New unit rate: 9.11p
Result: Bill now £865.48 (£757.15 gas + £108.33 standing charge). Bill with no standing charge £865.45. Difference -£0.03, reported as 'about the same'. Break-even 9,503 kWh.
Reference case 2: Low user: 5,000 kWh, same rates
- Annual gas use: 5,000 kWh
- Standing charge: 29.68p a day
- Unit rate now: 7.97p
- New unit rate: 9.11p
Result: Bill now £506.83. Bill with no standing charge £455.50. Saves £51.33 a year (£4.28 a month). Break-even 9,503 kWh.
Reference case 3: High user: 15,000 kWh, same rates
- Annual gas use: 15,000 kWh
- Standing charge: 29.68p a day
- Unit rate now: 7.97p
- New unit rate: 9.11p
Result: Bill now £1,303.83. Bill with no standing charge £1,366.50. Pays £62.67 more a year (£5.22 a month).
Reference case 4: Uswitch preset: 12,000 kWh, new rate 8.91p (7.97p + 0.94p)
- Annual gas use: 12,000 kWh
- Standing charge: 29.68p a day
- Unit rate now: 7.97p
- New unit rate: 8.91p
Result: Bill now £1,064.73. Bill with no standing charge £1,069.20. Pays £4.47 more a year. Break-even 11,525 kWh (10,833.2p / 0.94p = 11,524.68, rounded).
Reference case 5: No rise in the unit rate (boundary): 9,500 kWh, new rate 7.97p
- Annual gas use: 9,500 kWh
- Standing charge: 29.68p a day
- Unit rate now: 7.97p
- New unit rate: 7.97p
Result: Bill now £865.48. Bill with no standing charge £757.15. Saves £108.33 a year. Break-even: none, every household saves.
Change log
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-11-03 | Calculator and card published (T-1372). GOV.UK announcement, Ofgem cap rates, MSE and Uswitch estimates fetched and checked on this date; Energy UK's TDCV explainer read for the 9,500 kWh typical use. |
Who wins and who loses
Today every household pays the same standing charge, about £108 a year on the price cap (29.68p × 365 days), however little gas it uses. Removing it and raising the unit rate moves that cost from low users to high users. The household exactly at the break-even use pays the same as now.
The break-even depends on one number nobody knows yet: how much the unit rate rises. The published estimates differ because they spread the cost over different amounts of gas:
- MSE spreads it over Ofgem's typical use of 9,500 kWh, giving 9.11p per kWh and a break-even of about 9,500 kWh (MSE, edited 2 November 2026).
- Uswitch estimates a rise of about 0.94p, with a break-even of around 11,500 kWh (Uswitch, 28 October 2026).
- Martin Lewis has guessed the dividing line will be somewhere around 12,500 kWh, and says nobody can know until there is actual pricing (quoted by MSE).
The government says about 60% of account-holding households would save, by an average of around £45 a year, and that it will set out targeted help for a small number of households later.
Frequently Asked Questions
The government announced on 28 October 2026 that it will ask Ofgem to remove standing charges from household gas bills for around 23 million homes in 2027 or as soon as possible after. No exact date or new unit rate has been set yet.
It depends on how much gas you use. The standing charge (about £108 a year on the price cap) moves onto the unit rate, so low users save and high users pay more. Above the break-even use, your bill rises. The government says about 60% of account-holding households would save, by an average of around £45 a year.
Break-even = annual standing charge divided by the rise in the unit rate. With today's cap standing charge of 29.68p a day and a rise of 1.14p per kWh (MSE's estimate), it is about 9,500 kWh a year. Uswitch's estimate of 0.94p gives about 11,500 kWh, and Martin Lewis has guessed around 12,500 kWh. The real figure depends on the new unit rate, which is not set yet.
Your gas bill or your supplier's app shows your estimated annual consumption in kWh. If you only have meter readings in cubic metres or hundreds of cubic feet, your bill shows the conversion. If you have nothing to hand, Ofgem's typical medium use is 9,500 kWh a year.
No. Everything is worked out in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere or saved.