Expert Call Feedback: UK Bills Looking Beyond Gas Prices

Research evidence excerpt

Expert Call Feedback: UK Bills Looking Beyond Gas Prices

UK | Utilities & Clean Energy EquityJulyResearch2, 2026

FIRST VIEWExpert Call Feedback: UK Bills Looking Beyond

Gas Prices

Conclusion

We hosted Cornwall Insight’s Ben Hall and Jacob Briggs to discuss the

outlook for UK energy bills. The key takeaway was that while wholesale

power and gas prices should normalise over time, this is unlikely to translate

into materially lower consumer bills. Commodity costs currently represent

only c.35-45% of a typical electricity bill, with networks and policy charges

accounting for an increasing share. This reflects the scale of the UK’s

energy transition. The country is undertaking one of the largest electricity

infrastructure programmes in its history, requiring substantial investment

in transmission and distribution networks, system operation, offshore wind

connections, electrified transport and heating, and rising demand from data

centres. Cornwall expects network charges to continue rising through the

decade, even as wholesale prices ease. As a result, affordability debates are

shifting from commodity markets toward how these growing fixed costs

are funded. Cornwall argued the system has not yet reached the tipping

point where these benefits are visible, but consumers should see them

emerge over time.

Detail

Slides are available upon request.

UK vs Europe. The discussion also addressed why UK electricity prices remain among the

highest in Europe. Part of the explanation is definitional: the UK recovers a larger proportion of

network, renewable support, capacity market, and policy costs directly through customer bills,

whereas some European countries fund similar costs through general taxation or separate

charging mechanisms.