How much more electricity, gas, water and more will cost in 2025 as bills set to rise £322

The average UK household budget as of March 2025 was about £2,700 a month when taking into account all living costs including housing, transport, food and drink, leisure, clothing and other general expenses.

Out of those, utilities cost an average £2,148 a year, broadband, TV and phone £1,530, and council tax £1,726.

Here we look at how much household bills are set to rise in 2025.

Energy bills

Kicking things off, the energy price cap rose to £1,738 on January 1 2025. Ofgem's 1.2% increase raised the average gas and electricity bill by £21.

Unfortunately this isn't the only change to the cost of electricity and gas set for 2025, with the next price cap coming into force from April 1.

Announced in February, the price cap was raised to £1,849. This is a 6.4% increase on January's cap - more than double the 3% estimated by analysts at Cornwall Insights.

The new cap, in place between April 1 and June 30 2025 will raise the average gas and electricity bill by £111 a year.

And prices could rise again come October. Although it is harder to predict, the natural gas futures index shows a slight rise in prices again from autumn 2025. You can see our analysis of the futures figures here.

Council tax

Councils in England are able to raise their council tax rates by up to 5% a year under current rules.

Councils generally made full or near full use of this limit in 2024/25, with the annual bill for a Band D property hitting an average £2,171. The average across all bands in 2024/25 is £1,668, according to Government figures.

NimbleFins previously reported how the majority of councils were raising rates by the maximum 5% this year, with some even exceeding this due to financial crisis.

A 5% rise would see a typical Band D property pay £2,280 - a rise of £109 a year.

Read more: Council tax rises announced across UK - how much is yours increasing?

Water bills

New water bill rates come into effect on April 1 for England and Wales. And they will increase by an average of £10 a month - excluding inflation - after Ofwat agreed households could help fund major infrastructure works needed to stop sewage spillages into waterways.

The specific rises differ between water providers, with Southern Water hiking the average water bill by 47% compared to 19% more for Anglian Water customers.

There will be smaller percentage increases over the following four years, Ofwat announced in December 2024.

Scottish Water customers will see bills rise by nearly 10%.

You could save up to £492 on your water bills with a social tariff - see our article here to find out if you're eligible.

TV licence cost

The cost of a TV licence is to rise by £5 in April 2025 to £174.50.

It is the second time the licence has risen since 2021 after the previous Conservative government froze it until 2024.

The fee is due to rise in line with inflation each year until 2027.

NimbleFins previously explained how people on Pension Credit can receive a free TV licence as well as other benefits.

Nearly one million people are thought to be missing out on Pension Credit despite being eligible, so it's worth taking a read of our article. (It could also mean you keep the Winter Fuel Allowance).

Mobile phone and broadband

Mobile phone and broadband bills will rise either in line with inflation or by a set monthly fee, depending on when your contract was taken out.

Ofcom introduced new rules banning mid-contact rises linked to inflation, but this only affects new contracts taken out from January 17 2025.

For customers who took out contracts after this date, they must be told upfront, in specific pounds and pence how much their bill will rise. These rises are generally up to about £3 a month.

Previously operators were allowed to raise prices in line with inflation plus 3.9%. This means that during the height of the cost of living crisis when inflation boomed, some customers faced hikes of up to 17.4%.

This rule will still remain for older contracts with the idea that the practice will naturally die out as contracts are renewed.

Already BT, which owns EE and Plusnet, and Vodafone have changed their pricing to follow the new rules.

BT and EE customers who took out a new contract after April 10 2024 will pay an extra £1.50 a month for mobile and £3 for broadband contracts, from March 2025.

Vodafone is raising its mobile phone bills by £1.80 a month and broadband by £3 a month.

So, say your phone bill was to rise £1.50 a month and broadband £3 a month, that would be an annual rise of £54.

Read our article here explaining how you can save on your mobile phone and broadband bills.

And if you're thinking about switching providers, read our story on mobile phone and broadband switches with rewards worth £549 including free Amazon Prime and Netflix.

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