The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero first published its Energy Price Guarantee regional rates page on 7 October 20221. The page carries the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) unit rates for standard variable tariffs, and applies to England, Scotland and Wales1.
The rates published are the maximum unit rates suppliers can charge for tariffs that are subject to the Ofgem price cap1. The page states that suppliers can also charge less than these rates1. The EPG was a scheme that sat alongside the price cap, fixing the unit rates households paid rather than the total bill.
The page has been updated repeatedly since it was first published, with each update adding rates for a new period1:
| Update date | What was added |
|---|---|
| 7 October 2022 | First published |
| 29 November 2022 | Rates for January to March 2023 |
| 15 March 2023 | EPG extended to end of June 2023; rates for April to June 2023 |
| 26 May 2023 | Prepayment meter regional rates, July to September 2023 |
| 25 August 2023 | Prepayment meter regional rates and standing charges, October to December 2023 |
| 24 November 2023 | Prepayment meter regional rates and standing charges, January to March 2024 |
The page states that the EPG would remain in place until the end of March 20241. The scheme has since closed, and the Energy Price Guarantee is no longer the mechanism setting household unit rates.
The regional structure of the rates reflects the fact that unit rates and standing charges differ by distribution area, so the maximum figures a supplier could charge varied by where a home was. The page does not set out rates for Northern Ireland, which sits outside the EPG and the Ofgem price cap1. The unit rates by region remain the reference point for comparing what a household pays against the maximum that applied.
Why it matters for households
The EPG capped the unit rate a supplier could charge, not the total bill, so a household's costs still rose or fell with how much gas and electricity it used. Because the rates were set regionally, two homes on the same tariff and the same usage could pay different amounts depending on their distribution area. The page also confirms that suppliers were free to charge below the maximum, so the published figures were a ceiling rather than a fixed price.
For a home's energy independence, the practical effect was that the guarantee limited exposure to wholesale price movements for the period it ran, but it did not change how much energy a home needed or how exposed it was to future price changes. The rates applied to standard variable tariffs, so households on those tariffs had their unit rates set by the scheme, while the standing charge element was added separately for prepayment meters from the October to December 2023 period onwards1.
What happens next
The page states the EPG would remain in place until the end of March 20241. The most recent update recorded on the page is 24 November 2023, adding prepayment meter regional rates and standing charges for January to March 20241. No further periods have been reported on the page.