How these numbers are built, and where they can be wrong.
A reference is only worth citing if it shows its working. This page sets out what is counted, what is not, and every point where we could not get to a primary source.
Some broadband and mobile links are affiliate links and earn a commission if you buy through them. Everything else on the site, every regulator figure, every table, every verdict, is editorial and is not influenced by that. The deals table is sorted by true cost across the contract, never by commission, and it includes providers who pay us nothing. Where a provider pays us and a cheaper one does not, the cheaper one still goes above it.
Insurance is different and always will be. We publish the industry's own statistics and the FCA's rules, and nothing else. No quotes, no lead passing, no commission. Arranging insurance without FCA authorisation is a criminal offence under FSMA 2000, and passive publishing sits outside that only for as long as we take no step to help conclude a contract. We are not authorised, we are not seeking to arrange anything, and nothing here is regulated advice. If you want a quote, go to the provider or to an authorised broker.
The unavoidable annual bill
A total we publish for reference. It is deliberately not on the front page, because no real household pays exactly it.
This is a sum of eight separate national averages published by seven different bodies. It is not a survey of a real household and nobody pays precisely this. A household with no car does not pay the motor insurance line. A single person in Wandsworth pays less than half the council tax line. It is published because the total is the number no regulator produces, and because each component is sourced and dated so you can rebuild it with your own figures.
| Component | Annual | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Council tax | £2,392 | Average Band D, England |
| Energy | £1,723 | Ofgem cap, dual fuel direct debit |
| Water | £639 | Average bill, England and Wales |
| Motor insurance | £566 | Average premium paid |
| Home insurance | £383 | Buildings and contents |
| Broadband | £373 | Ofcom average, £31.05 a month |
| Mobile | £216 | Ofcom average, £18 a month |
| TV licence | £180 | The same for every household |
| Total | £6,472 | Sum of the eight national averages above |
Where each headline comes from
| Tracker | Source | As at | What the figure is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | Ofgem | 26 August 2026 | Ofgem price cap, 1 Oct to 31 Dec 2026 |
| Water and wastewater | Water UK | 1 April 2026 | Average household bill, England and Wales, 2026/27 |
| Broadband and mobile | Provider price lists | 1 April 2026 | Average broadband bill, Ofcom |
| Council tax | MHCLG | 1 April 2026 | Average Band D, England, 2026/27 |
| Rent and housing | ONS | 31 July 2026 | Average UK private rent, July 2026 |
| Rail fares | DfT | 2 March 2026 | Regulated rail fare rise in England, 2026 |
| NHS charges | DHSC | 1 April 2026 | NHS prescription charge in England, 2026/27 |
| Childcare | DfE | 1 September 2025 | Funded hours a week for eligible working parents, England |
| TV licence | gov.uk | 1 April 2026 | Standard colour TV licence, 2026/27 |
| Insurance | ABI | 30 June 2026 | Average motor premium paid, Q2 2026 |
Our rules
Primary sources only. Every figure traces to the body that set it: Ofgem, Ofwat, Water UK, Ofcom, MHCLG, the ABI, the FCA, the Federal Register. Where we could only reach a secondary source, the page says so.
Derived figures are labelled. Some numbers are calculated from published tables rather than published directly. The energy standard credit and prepayment rates are an example. They are marked derived, and the method is stated.
We publish what we could not verify. Every tracker has a section saying where it might be wrong. The Welsh council tax average is missing because the Welsh Government website refused our requests, and we would rather leave a hole than repeat a figure we have not seen. The same goes for Scotland's 2026/27 average, which is not published at all.
We do not round for effect. Where a regulator's rounded levels disagree with its stated change, we use the official change and explain the discrepancy.
We correct in public. If something here is wrong, it gets fixed and the correction is noted on the change log entry. A reference that quietly edits its own history is not a reference.
Colour and severity
Coloured marks use four bands: calm, elevated, high and critical. The palette was tested for red and green colour blindness separation and for contrast against both the dark and light backgrounds. Every mark that should change what you do carries a number and a word beside it. The coloured stripe on a tracker card is decoration and repeats nothing you cannot read in the card text.
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.