The UK Government put the Energy Price Guarantee in place in October 2022 as a temporary measure to replace Ofgem’s price cap. This was to protect households from high energy prices.
Under the Energy Price Guarantee a typical household in England, Scotland and Wales paid an average of £2,500 a year for energy. It was increased to £3,000 in July 2023, and the guarantee ended in April 2024.
The guarantee also applied in Northern Ireland where prices are capped slightly differently, so the price of a typical energy bill is different.
Like the price cap, the Energy Price Guarantee set the maximum price suppliers could charge households for a single unit of gas and electricity.
And, in common with the price cap, it also didn’t set a maximum amount for your final bill for the year. The price of your energy bill still depends on how much energy you use.
According to Ofgem, a ‘typical’ household uses 2,900 kWh of electricity and 12,000 kWh of gas in a year.
If you use more or less than a typical household, your bills will vary.
Yes, the Energy Price Guarantee protected people on fixed tariffs in the same way that it protected those on standard variable tariffs.
If you were on a fixed tariff with a higher unit rate for electricity and gas than the guarantee’s maximums, your unit prices were reduced. This was done to match the support for those on variable tariffs.
The Energy Price Guarantee only applied to unit rates.
Ofgem still set the standing charges under the price cap. As with unit rates, it’s not a cap on what you pay, but a cap on the maximum amount your provider can charge.
No, the Energy Price Guarantee ran along this discount, which was called the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
For most households, support from this scheme ended in March 2023.
If you had a pre-payment meter, the guarantee was applied to the rate you paid for each unit of energy until 30 June 2023.
After 1 July 2023, unit charges for those on pre-payment meters changed to be in line with direct debit customers.
Pre-payment customers were compensated through the Energy Price Guarantee via a unit rate discount that was only applied to gas unit rates.
This was because the combined unit rate and standing charge for electricity pre-payment meters was already less than the equivalent for direct debit.
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Last updated: 21 November 2025
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