The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) closed on 30 June 2023, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has confirmed. The scheme ran from 1 October 2022 and applied a support rate discount to all households with a domestic gas and/or electricity contract, bringing a typical dual-fuel bill down to around £2,500 per year in Great Britain and around £2,109 per year in Northern Ireland1.
The discount was applied automatically by the supplier and varied by region, payment type and period. In Great Britain, variable tariffs not subject to Ofgem's price cap received the full unit rate discount, excluding VAT: 17p/kWh for electricity and 4.2p/kWh for gas from October to December 2022; 31.8p/kWh and 6.4p/kWh from January to March 2023; and 16.6p/kWh and 2.2p/kWh from April to June 20231. Prepayment meter customers on variable contracts received the same rates1.
Fixed rate customers had the same support, but subject to a floor price, the minimum rate a unit would be discounted to. Floor prices varied by region and payment type but averaged 34p/kWh for electricity and 10.3p/kWh for gas for direct debit customers in Great Britain with typical consumption, and remained unchanged from 1 October 2022 to 30 June 20231. Households already fixed below the floor stayed on those rates and received no further discount for the duration of their fixed term1.
Northern Ireland's scheme started later, on 1 November 2022 rather than 1 October 2022, and households there received additional backdated support of 2.91p/kWh for electricity and 0.61p/kWh for gas from November, which ended in March 20231. Unit rate discounts there ran to up to 19.9p/kWh for electricity and 4.8p/kWh for gas from October to December 2022, up to 13.6p/kWh and 3.9p/kWh from January to March 2023, and up to 3.8p/kWh and 2.6p/kWh from April to June 2023, subject to a floor price of 1p/kWh1. A typical household using electricity and mains gas would have seen its bill rise from £1,952 to £2,109 on an annual equivalent basis1.
"The Energy Price Guarantee scheme is now closed."
| Period | Electricity discount (GB) | Gas discount (GB) |
|---|---|---|
| October to December 2022 | 17p/kWh | 4.2p/kWh |
| January to March 2023 | 31.8p/kWh | 6.4p/kWh |
| April to June 2023 | 16.6p/kWh | 2.2p/kWh |
Why it matters for households
The EPG set a ceiling on the unit rate a household paid, not on the total bill, so the amount owed always depended on how much energy was used1. Its closure means the automatic per-unit discount that has applied to every domestic contract since October 2022 is no longer in place, and the Energy Price Guarantee now sits among the closed and abandoned home energy policies rather than as live support. For a household's energy independence, the practical effect is that the gap between the capped rate and the actual wholesale cost of supply is no longer absorbed at the unit level, leaving bills more exposed to whatever the price cap and supplier tariffs set. Standing charges for customers on default tariffs remained capped in line with Ofgem's levels between April and June 20231, so that element of the bill was unaffected by the scheme's closure. Households that did not receive support directly, including those paying for energy as part of rent or on a heat network, were covered by pass-through requirements1. The bills and price cap position after 30 June 2023 is set out separately.
What happens next
The government page covering how the EPG operated from 1 July 2023 to 31 March 2024 is linked from the closed scheme's page1. The policy paper itself was withdrawn on 10 April 20241. No further dated steps are given in the source.