England & Wales · EPC register · Research
The most expensive places to heat a home
Every EPC carries the assessor's modelled annual running cost. Across 7,082,845 current dwellings, a home below band C is modelled to cost £1,387/yr to run — against £779/yr for one at C or above. That £608/yr gap is what the retrofit closes.
Free to cite with attribution · Open Government Licence.
£1,387/yr
Below-C home, modelled running cost
£779/yr
C-or-above home
£974/yr
All rated stock (median)
median over current stock (latest certificate per UPRN); England & Wales domestic dwellings with a valid band and a positive heating cost. Certificates 2022-2026. RdSAP modelled cost at standard occupancy, not metered spend. Source: EPC Open Data (Open Government Licence).
Cite this
In England & Wales, a home below EPC band C is modelled to cost £1,387/yr to run — £608/yr more than a home at C or above. The Home Index, 2022-2026. RdSAP modelled cost from EPC Open Data (Open Government Licence).
Free to cite with attribution · Open Government Licence.
Old, rural and off-gas tops the list
The dearest places to heat are not the coldest — they are the ones with the oldest, largest, hardest-to-treat homes and the least access to mains gas. Rural Wales, the Pennines and the Cotswolds recur; dense city stock with new flats on the gas grid is cheapest.
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| # | Local authority | £/yr |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isles of Scilly | £1,890/yr |
| 2 | Ceredigion | £1,416/yr |
| 3 | Powys | £1,376/yr |
| 4 | North Norfolk | £1,339/yr |
| 5 | Gwynedd | £1,335/yr |
| 6 | Staffordshire Moorlands | £1,322/yr |
| 7 | Rutland | £1,319/yr |
| 8 | Westmorland and Furness | £1,296/yr |
| 9 | Cotswold | £1,273/yr |
| 10 | Derbyshire Dales | £1,258/yr |
| 11 | Sevenoaks | £1,233/yr |
| 12 | Pembrokeshire | £1,229/yr |
| 13 | Pendle | £1,213/yr |
| 14 | High Peak | £1,211/yr |
| 15 | Rossendale | £1,206/yr |
| # | Local authority | £/yr |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tower Hamlets | £617/yr |
| 2 | Southwark | £676/yr |
| 3 | Hackney | £707/yr |
| 4 | Greenwich | £713/yr |
| 5 | City of London | £715/yr |
| 6 | Lewisham | £735/yr |
| 7 | Newham | £737/yr |
| 8 | Wandsworth | £743/yr |
| 9 | Islington | £744/yr |
| 10 | Hammersmith and Fulham | £754/yr |
| # | Constituency | £/yr |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dwyfor Meirionnydd | £1,461/yr |
| 2 | Westmorland and Lonsdale | £1,448/yr |
| 3 | Ceredigion Preseli | £1,434/yr |
| 4 | Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe | £1,374/yr |
| 5 | Staffordshire Moorlands | £1,334/yr |
| 6 | Sheffield Hallam | £1,332/yr |
| 7 | South Shropshire | £1,331/yr |
| 8 | North Norfolk | £1,329/yr |
| 9 | Skipton and Ripon | £1,329/yr |
| 10 | Hexham | £1,302/yr |
| 11 | Richmond and Northallerton | £1,300/yr |
| 12 | Penrith and Solway | £1,299/yr |
| 13 | Sutton Coldfield | £1,264/yr |
| 14 | Caerfyrddin | £1,261/yr |
| 15 | Morecambe and Lunesdale | £1,260/yr |
Where high bills meet the biggest gap
Cost alone isn't the whole story — an expensive-to-heat area where most homes are already efficient isn't the priority. These authorities score highest on both the modelled running cost and the retrofit gap (share of homes below band C): the places where retrofit would relieve the most households.
| # | Local authority | Running cost | Retrofit gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isles of Scilly | £1,890/yr | 83.3% |
| 2 | Ceredigion | £1,416/yr | 67.9% |
| 3 | Gwynedd | £1,335/yr | 70.0% |
| 4 | Staffordshire Moorlands | £1,322/yr | 67.5% |
| 5 | Powys | £1,376/yr | 63.6% |
| 6 | North Norfolk | £1,339/yr | 64.4% |
| 7 | Pendle | £1,213/yr | 67.0% |
| 8 | Westmorland and Furness | £1,296/yr | 62.0% |
| 9 | Conwy | £1,199/yr | 63.6% |
| 10 | Derbyshire Dales | £1,258/yr | 60.0% |
| 11 | Isle of Anglesey | £1,166/yr | 64.3% |
| 12 | Carmarthenshire | £1,187/yr | 63.1% |
Priority score ranks each authority on the product of its modelled running cost and its retrofit gap (both relative to the national maximum). Running cost from EPC Open Data; retrofit gap from the Home Index.
Method & limits
RdSAP modelled cost at standard occupancy, not metered spend; useful for comparing the relative cost-to-heat of an area's housing stock. Each dwelling is counted once at its latest certificate; the area figure is the median over that current stock. Because a certificate's modelled cost uses the fuel prices of its assessment year, we restrict to certificates lodged 2022-2026 so areas are compared on a like-for-like price basis. Areas with fewer than 200 priced dwellings are not ranked.