Landlords and tenants' energy bills: a typical month's bill is 14% of a month's rent in England & Wales

The government plans to make landlords liable for energy charges when neither they nor their tenant tell the supplier who lives in a property. On our data, a month of Ofgem's typical bill (£144) equals 14.0% of a month's rent in the median local authority, from 3.9% in Kensington and Chelsea to 25.7% in Hartlepool.

By GableIndex team · 2026-11-12 · Data as of ONS Price Index of Private Rents, August 2026, and HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, Sep 2025–Aug 2026; Ofgem price cap for 1 Oct–31 Dec 2026

The short version: two things were published on 28 October and they are often mixed up. The government and Ofgem's Energy Debt Circuit Breaker strategy says the government will legislate, "when parliamentary time allows", to require landlords to give suppliers timely and accurate details when tenants move in or out. Where neither the tenant nor the landlord does, "landlords may become liable for energy charges associated with the property", much as they can be for water bills in England and Wales. Separately, Ofgem's consultation on moving-home guidance, open until 9 December 2026, is about when suppliers may switch a smart meter to pay-as-you-go if nobody has registered at a property. Neither is law yet, and the strategy gives no start date.

Why it matters to landlords

Ofgem estimates that 20–40% of energy debt is linked to changes of occupancy, according to the strategy. The liability would arise only where the details were not provided, so a landlord who reports tenancy changes should not normally be affected. To show the scale of the risk where it does arise, we compare Ofgem's typical bill with local rents. The price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 is £1,723 a year for a typical dual-fuel household paying by Direct Debit, or about £144 a month. That is a reference level based on typical use, not a maximum bill.

Bar chart: a month of Ofgem's typical energy bill (£144) as a share of a month's ONS average rent, August 2026. Hartlepool 25.7%, Powys 23.1%, Wales median 19.0%, Liverpool 15.7%, median of 316 local authorities 14.0%, Birmingham 13.1%, Manchester 10.5%, Bristol 7.6%, London median 7.3%, Tower Hamlets 5.9%, Westminster 4.5%, Kensington and Chelsea 3.9%.

Local authority	Rent, £/month	Typical bill as % of rent	Estimated gross rental yield
Kensington and Chelsea	3,690	3.9%	4.20%
Westminster	3,196	4.5%	4.79%
Tower Hamlets	2,453	5.9%	6.40%
Bristol	1,883	7.6%	6.46%
Manchester	1,373	10.5%	6.34%
Birmingham	1,099	13.1%	5.50%
Median, 316 local authorities	1,022	14.0%	4.39%
Liverpool	913	15.7%	5.77%
Powys	621	23.1%	2.98%
Hartlepool	558	25.7%	4.29%

Typical bill as % of rent = Ofgem price cap £1,723 ÷ 12 ÷ ONS average monthly private rent. Estimated gross rental yield = ONS average private rent × 12 ÷ HM Land Registry median price paid. Source: Ofgem, energy price cap 1 Oct–31 Dec 2026; ONS Price Index of Private Rents, August 2026 (OGL v3.0); HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, Sep 2025–Aug 2026 (OGL v3.0); GableIndex calculation. Full lists: cheapest and most expensive places to rent and rental yields in England & Wales.

The same bill weighs very differently depending on local rents. In the median London borough it is 7.3% of a month's rent. In the rest of England it is 14.2%, and in Wales 19.0%, because Welsh rents are lower (median £754 a month). The bill is 10% or more of a month's rent in 241 of 316 local authorities and 20% or more in 27, mostly lower-rent areas in the North of England, Lincolnshire and Wales.

Worked example

Hartlepool has the lowest average rent on our table, £558 a month. £1,723 ÷ 12 = £143.58, and £143.58 ÷ £558 ≈ 25.7%. Put another way, a full year of bills at the typical level, £1,723, equals about 1.10 percentage points of the area's 4.29% estimated gross rental yield (£1,723 ÷ £156,000 median price). In Kensington and Chelsea, the same year of bills is 0.16 points of a 4.20% yield. These are illustrations of scale, not forecasts: any real liability would depend on how long a property went unregistered and how much energy was used.

What X is saying

The most-shared post, about 100,000 views, said Ofgem is consulting on a proposal "to make landlords legally responsible" for tenants who fail to pay their electricity bill. The mood is mostly negative among landlords. One reply compared it to "making Europcar responsible for speeding tickets". Others argued the cost "gets priced into the rent", and a smaller group pointed out that the proposals "are not yet law" and that reporting duties are different from paying tenants' debts.

What the numbers don't tell you

Actual bills. £1,723 is Ofgem's typical-use figure for a dual-fuel home paying by Direct Debit. Real bills vary with the size of the home, insulation, meter type, region and tariff.
Scope. The plan covers Great Britain; our table covers England & Wales only. Social housing may get different arrangements.
Final rules. The strategy says the government will legislate later. Exemptions, time limits and how liability works are not yet set.
Gross, not net. Gross yields leave out letting costs, repairs, voids, mortgage interest and tax. Rents are ONS averages across all private tenancies, not new lets.

Sources: DESNZ and Ofgem, "Energy Debt Circuit Breaker: our joint strategy for domestic energy debt" (28 Oct 2026). Ofgem, "Proposed moving home process guidance" consultation (28 Oct–9 Dec 2026) and energy price cap unit rates, 1 Oct–31 Dec 2026. Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0 (Price Index of Private Rents, August 2026). Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (Price Paid Data, Sep 2025–Aug 2026); modified by GableIndex. Posts on X, 9–12 Nov 2026.

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Figures are a snapshot and will change. Information only. Not financial, investment, tax or legal advice.