Household bills glossary

MPAN

Also called: Meter Point Administration Number

The Meter Point Administration Number is the reference that identifies your home's electricity supply. Energy companies use it to identify the property.

It is printed on your electricity bill. If you do not have a bill, your local electricity network operator can tell you what it is.

MPRN

Also called: Meter Point Reference Number

The Meter Point Reference Number does the same job for gas: it identifies your home's gas supply. You might need it when you sign up with a new gas supplier.

It is printed on your gas bill. To find out who supplies gas to an address, Citizens Advice suggests searching the postcode on the Find My Supplier website or calling the Meter Number Helpline on 0870 608 1524, which can also give you the MPRN. Calls cost 7p a minute plus your phone company's access charge.

Deemed contract

The contract you are on when a supplier provides energy you have not agreed a tariff for. It usually starts when you move into a home, and it can also apply when a contract ends and the supplier keeps supplying you.

Citizens Advice says a deemed contract is on the supplier's default or standard variable tariff. You can choose a different tariff or supplier from the day you become responsible for the property, and a standard variable or default tariff has no exit fee.

Standard variable tariff

Also called: SVT

A supplier's basic energy tariff. It has no fixed end date, and its prices can go up or down. You are usually moved onto it when a fixed deal ends without you choosing another.

It has no exit fee, and Ofgem's price cap limits the unit rates and standing charges a supplier can charge on it.

Ofgem calls the tariff you land on without choosing one a default tariff. The most common default tariff is a standard variable one.

Unit rate

The price you pay for each unit of gas or electricity you use. It is charged per kilowatt hour (kWh), so the more energy you use, the more you pay.

Standing charge

A fixed daily amount you pay your supplier for each fuel, even on a day you use no energy at all. Ofgem says it covers costs such as keeping your home connected to the energy network.

It varies with where you live, how you pay, the fuel and the type of meter you have.

Kilowatt hour (kWh)

Also called: kWh

The unit that gas and electricity use is measured and charged in. One kWh is one kilowatt of power used for one hour: a 40-watt light bulb left on for 25 hours uses one kWh.

Energy price cap

The limit Ofgem sets on the unit rates and standing charges a supplier can charge on a standard variable or default tariff. Ofgem sets a new level every three months.

It does not cap your total bill, which still rises with the energy you use, and it does not cover fixed tariffs.

Typical domestic consumption values

Also called: TDCVs

Ofgem's industry standard estimates of how much gas and electricity a typical home uses in a year. Suppliers, comparison sites and Ofgem use them to quote a typical annual bill when your own usage is not known.

From 1 July 2026, the medium values used for a typical bill are 2,500 kWh of electricity a year for a home with a standard single-rate meter and 9,500 kWh of gas. Before that they were 2,700 kWh and 11,500 kWh, so the same rates give a lower typical bill on the new values than on the old ones.

Exit fee

Also called: Termination fee

A fee you agree to pay if you leave a contract before its end date. In energy, only fixed tariffs can have one: standard variable and default tariffs have no exit fee.

Broadband, phone and TV contracts can also charge an exit fee to leave early, so check your contract or ask your provider before you switch.

Switching window

The last 49 days of a fixed energy deal, when you can switch supplier without paying an exit fee. An exit fee can apply if you leave with 50 days or more to go.

If you do nothing when a fixed deal ends, you are usually moved onto the supplier's standard variable tariff.

One Touch Switch

Also called: OTS

The process Ofcom introduced in 2024 for switching home broadband. You contact only the provider you are moving to, and it organises the switch.

It does not always go smoothly. In research published in August 2026, Citizens Advice found that over one in five people who tried to deal only with their new provider still had to contact their old one as well.

Loyalty tax

Also called: Loyalty penalty

Paying more for staying with the same provider than a new customer pays for the same service. Citizens Advice raised it as the loyalty penalty in a 2018 super-complaint to the Competition and Markets Authority.

The Competition and Markets Authority looked at five markets: mobile, broadband, cash savings, mortgages and home insurance.

Council tax band

The valuation band your home is placed in for council tax. England has eight bands, A to H, based on what a home would have sold for on 1 April 1991. Wales has nine, A to I, based on 1 April 2003.

Your bill depends on your band, what your council charges for that band, and any discount or exemption you can get. The Valuation Office Agency sets bands in England and Wales, and it does not move them with house prices. In Scotland, bands are handled by local assessors.

Rateable value

A value given to every property in England and Wales before April 1990, based on how much it could have been let for. Some water companies charge homes without a water meter a percentage of it.

It is not linked to how much water you use, and you cannot have it reassessed. The alternatives are a water meter, or an assessed charge if a meter cannot be fitted.