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What are you actually paying, and is that normal?

Put in your postcode and see what energy, water, council tax and broadband should cost where you live. Then check what you actually pay against it. Free, no sign up, nothing to fill in. If the answer is that you are paying about what everyone pays, we will say so.

Your postcode is used in your browser and never sent anywhere. It tells us your electricity region and your water company, which are the two bills that genuinely depend on where you live. Or see the national figures instead.

What is coming, and whenDated changes you can plan around

Every one of these is already dated. This is the part of your cost of living you can plan around instead of being surprised by.

36days 1 October 2026 · Energy

The October price cap takes effect at £1,723, and VAT on domestic electricity drops from 5% to 0% across Great Britain.

36days 1 October 2026 · Energy

Warm Home Discount reopens for winter 2026/27 at £150.

36days 1 October 2026 · Broadband

Openreach raises legacy copper and PSTN wholesale prices by a further 40%, roughly doubling 2025 rates cumulatively. Entry level part fibre packages get squeezed.

68days 2 November 2026 · Rail

London bus and tram single rises 10p to £1.85 and the daily cap 30p to £5.55, ending the freeze that has held since March 2023.

128days 1 January 2027 · Energy

The January to March 2027 price cap takes effect. Ofgem has not published the announcement date.

158days 31 January 2027 · Broadband

The analogue phone network is fully retired. About 2.8 million lines still to migrate.

187days 1 March 2027 · Rail

The England regulated fare freeze ends. No decision has been published on what replaces it, so nobody knows the 2027 figure yet.

217days 31 March 2027 · Energy

The zero rate of VAT on electricity ends and reverts to 5%. Worth about £45 a year, a built in April bill rise with nothing to do with wholesale prices.

The full log →

What you might be owedHelp that routinely goes unclaimed

These go unclaimed constantly. Ofcom found 70% of eligible households do not know broadband social tariffs exist. We do not administer any of them and take nothing for pointing at them.

Energy

Warm Home Discount

£150 off your electricity bill as a credit, or a voucher on prepayment

On a means tested benefit, with your name on the electricity bill, on the qualifying date of 23 August 2026. Reopens October 2026. Not available in Northern Ireland.

Energy

Winter Fuel Payment

£100 to £300 depending on age band and household

State Pension age. Qualifying week 21 to 27 September 2026. Clawed back through tax above £35,000 income.

Energy

Cold Weather Payment

£25 per seven day period at 0°C or below

On certain benefits. The 2026/27 dates have not yet been published.

Water

WaterSure

Caps your bill at the company's average household bill. Average saving £325 a year. 260,800 households on it.

You need a meter, a means tested benefit, and either a medical condition requiring extra water or three or more children under 19 in full time education.

Water

Company social tariffs

Discounts from roughly 20% to 99%, set by each company. 1.96 million customers, average reduction £190.

Income based. Thresholds vary by company, typically £17,000 to £30,000 household income. Severn Trent's Big Difference Scheme goes up to £411 off below £24,454.

Water

Leak allowance

Rebates water lost through a leak on your own supply pipe, and can adjust sewerage charges too.

Metered customers. Largely discretionary and the policies differ by company. Typically you must repair within 30 days of finding it.

Council tax

Single person discount

25% off

You are the only adult resident.

Council tax

Full student household

Exempt entirely

Every resident is a full time student.

Council tax

Severe mental impairment

Disregarded, and 50% off where everyone in the household is disregarded

Medically certified and receiving a qualifying benefit.

Council tax

Disabled band reduction

Billed at the band below yours. If you are already Band A, 17% off.

The property has features essential to a disabled resident, such as an extra bathroom or space for a wheelchair.

Council tax

Council Tax Reduction

Up to 100% off

Income based. Each English council runs its own scheme, so the rules differ by address.

Rent

Challenging a rent increase

The First-tier Tribunal determines the open market rent, free to apply

Any assured tenant in England served a section 13 notice. You must apply before the new rent's effective date. You cannot be made to pay more than the landlord asked.

Rent

Local Housing Allowance

Housing element of Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, based on your broad rental market area

Renting privately and on a qualifying benefit. Rates are frozen at January 2024 levels until at least March 2027, so check the rate for your area rather than assuming it covers your rent.

Rent

Discretionary Housing Payment

A top up from your council where your housing benefit does not cover your rent

Anyone getting Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who still cannot meet the rent. Apply to your local council. It is cash limited and discretionary, so apply early in the year.

Rail

Disabled Persons Railcard

A third off for you and an adult companion, valid any time. £20 a year or £54 for three.

You receive certain disability benefits, are registered visually impaired or deaf, have epilepsy, or buy or lease a vehicle through a disability scheme.

Rail

16-17 Saver

Half price travel including season tickets

16 and 17 year olds in England and Wales. Half off is far better than the third off most cards give.

Rail

Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card

Half off selected fares, and half off flexi seasons

Issued through Jobcentre Plus if you are unemployed and claiming certain benefits. Ask, because it is not offered automatically.

NHS

Prepayment certificate

£32.05 for 3 months or £114.50 for 12, payable by instalments

Anyone in England. No income test. Straight arithmetic: 4 items in 3 months cost £39.60 against a £32.05 certificate, and 12 items in a year cost £118.80 against £114.50.

NHS

Medical exemption certificate

All prescriptions free

Cancer or its effects or treatment, a permanent fistula, hypoadrenalism including Addison's, diabetes insipidus and other hypopituitarism, diabetes mellitus unless diet controlled, hypoparathyroidism, myasthenia gravis, hypothyroidism needing replacement, epilepsy needing continuous therapy, or a continuing physical disability meaning you cannot go out unaided. Apply through your GP. It is backdated one month.

NHS

Maternity exemption certificate

Free prescriptions and free NHS dental treatment

Pregnant, or you have given birth in the last 12 months. Apply through your midwife, GP or health visitor.

NHS

NHS Low Income Scheme

Full help through an HC2 certificate, or partial help through HC3. Covers prescriptions, dental, sight tests, glasses, travel to treatment and wigs.

Income assessed. You cannot apply with over £16,000 in savings, or £23,250 if you live permanently in a care home.

Childcare

30 funded hours

30 hours a week for 38 weeks, worth thousands a year

Working parents of a child aged 9 months to school age, both above the earnings floor, neither over £100,000. Apply on gov.uk for a code and reconfirm every three months.

Childcare

15 hours for every 3 and 4 year old

15 hours a week for 38 weeks

Every child. No income test, no work test, no conditions. This one is routinely not claimed simply because people do not know it is universal.

Childcare

Tax Free Childcare

The government adds £2 for every £8, up to £2,000 a year per child or £4,000 if disabled

Working parents meeting the same earnings test. Not available alongside Universal Credit or tax credits.

Childcare

Universal Credit childcare element

85% of your costs, up to £1,071.09 a month for one child or £1,836.16 for two or more

On Universal Credit and in work. Usually paid in arrears, so you pay first and claim back.

TV licence

Free licence at 75

The whole fee, £180 a year

You are 75 or over and you or a partner at the same address receives Pension Credit. Apply from 74 and payments are adjusted to cover you until your birthday. Call 0300 790 6117.

TV licence

Blind concession

Half price, saving £90 a year

Certified blind or severely sight impaired. Evidence can be a CVI, a BD8, a local authority certificate, an ophthalmologist's letter or an HMRC coding notice showing Blind Person's Allowance.

TV licence

Simple Payment Plan

Spreads the fee fortnightly or monthly, and missed payments are spread across the remainder rather than doubled

Anyone in financial difficulty. Routes in include referral by a not for profit money advice organisation, or having had a licence cancelled for missed payments in the last six months.

How this is paid for, in plain words. Every figure here is already public. Ofgem, Ofwat, Ofcom, the government and the companies themselves publish it, scattered across two dozen sites in formats nobody reads. Putting it in one place costs a build script and some care, and the site is free to use with no account and no quote forms.

Some links to broadband and mobile providers earn us a commission if you buy. That is how the site pays for itself. Three rules go with it and they are not negotiable: we list providers that pay us nothing alongside the ones that do, we rank on what a package actually costs across the whole contract rather than on what it pays us, and we never do this for insurance, where we publish statistics only and arrange nothing. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will correct it and say so.

30 price changes logged. Every one had a date you could have known in advance.

Tell us which bills you care about and we will email you when one of them changes, with the figure, the date it starts and a link to the regulator that set it. Free, no account, one click to stop.

Email alerts are not running yet. We would rather say that than take your address and send you nothing. Until they are, the change log carries every dated change the day we find it, and you can bookmark it or follow it in a reader.

Everything, freeAll ten trackers, no account
Ranked on costNever on what a link pays us
SourcedEvery figure links to the body that set it