5 signs you're paying too much for electricity

Most people don't overpay for electricity because they use too much, but because of contract terms nobody has reviewed in years. These are the five most common signs we see when we analyse bills. If two or more sound like you, there's almost certainly room for improvement.

1. You don't know which tariff you're on (or how much you pay per kWh)

This is sign number one. If you can't answer "how much do you pay per kilowatt hour?" without looking it up, your tariff has very likely gone years without a review. The terms you signed back then may have changed: many offers come with a promotional price for the first year and then renew at considerably worse rates, without anyone telling you clearly.

What to do: find the energy term price on your bill, along with your contract's end date. That alone is enough to start comparing.

2. Your main breaker has never tripped

It sounds like a joke, but it's a brilliant indicator. The power control switch trips when you go over your contracted power. If it hasn't tripped once in years — not even with the oven, the hob and the washing machine all running at once — you probably have more power contracted than you need.

What to do: check your contracted power (it's on the first page of the bill). Power is paid for every day of the year, whether you use it or not: dropping one step down is direct, permanent saving without changing a single habit.

3. You're paying for "extra" services you don't remember asking for

Installation maintenance, appliance insurance, emergency call-out cover, "payment protection"… Additional services slip in when you sign up over the phone and then sit on your bill for years. On their own they look like small change; over a year they add up to a very serious amount.

What to do: look through the breakdown for any line that isn't energy, power, taxes or meter rental. Ask yourself whether you use it. If the answer is no, that line has to go.

4. Your bill is going up and you can't explain why

If your consumption is similar to last year's but you're clearly paying more, something has changed in the terms: a discount that ended, an automatic renewal at a different price, or an indexed tariff that has become more expensive. A healthy bill is one you understand: when the numbers stop adding up, it's time to look.

What to do: compare the price per kWh on a bill from a year ago with today's. The difference will tell you whether the problem is consumption or price.

5. You're still with the same company you've always had, and you've never compared

Loyalty is rarely rewarded in the electricity market. The best terms are usually offered to attract new customers, not to keep existing ones. This isn't about switching for the sake of it: it's about knowing whether your tariff holds up against what's available today. Sometimes the answer is "yes, you've got a good tariff" — and staying put is the right call.

What to do: compare with real data, not with adverts. Your bill contains everything you need for a serious comparison.

Bonus: the definitive sign

There's a sixth sign that sums up all the others: it's been more than a year since you last compared. The electricity market never stops moving — energy prices change, new offers appear and your contract terms renew themselves. Reviewing your tariff once a year should be as routine as taking the car for its ITV roadworthiness test: it's almost always ten minutes, and sometimes it's hundreds of euros.

Settle the question in seconds (free)

All five signs have the same remedy: going through your bill with a fine-tooth comb. We do it for you: upload your bill to luzgasia, our AI reads it straight away, we compare the available offers and show you how much you could save and why.

Free, no strings attached and no small print: if there's no real saving, we'll tell you so, plainly. Analyse your bill now — two minutes and you'll know where you stand.