BRITONS with electric showers in their homes will be hit with a £147 charge from this April, as household bill prices rise.
As of April 1, gas and electricity prices rose by 6.4%, meaning that the cost of running everyday appliances has also risen by the same amount.
From this month, the average UK household will pay £1,849 for gas and electricity, thanks to a new price cap set by energy regulator Ofcom.
This is an increase for the average household of £111 a year, or £9.25 a month.
Electric showers, which use electricity to heat up your water, rather than gas from your boiler, are very expensive to use, with the cost of showering for a few minutes a day now rising even higher.
According to Sust-it, based on the April price cap, electric showers will now cost between 34p and 49p per 10 minutes of use, depending on how powerful the shower is.
If you have an average powered 9kWh shower, it will cost you around 41p to run for 10 minutes, meaning that, if you take a 10 minute shower every day, this will cost £2.84.
Over the course of a year, it will cost you £147.99, if you have a shower every day.
If you have a less powerful shower, which runs at 7.5kWh, this will cost you £123.23 a year, and if you have a 10.8 kWh shower, this will cost you £177.59 a year.
Sust-it said: “Electric showers are rated in Kilowatts (kW).
“Find out the specification of your shower, then use our energy calculator to see how much it will cost to run per day, week or a year.
“Based on a 10-minute shower every day.
“Electricity costs are calculated using the UK Price Cap (April 2025) electricity rate of £0.27 per kWh (incl. VAT).”
In order to reduce the cost of your daily shower, one simple thing you could do is shower for five minutes instead of 10.
You could also try switching to a fixed energy tariff, as a way to cut costs.
According to Martin Lewis, some energy companies are offering tariffs up to 14% cheaper than the price cap, so switching could make you some mega savings.
4 ways to keep your energy bills low
Laura Court-Jones, Small Business Editor at Bionic shared her tips.
1. Turn your heating down by one degree
You probably won’t even notice this tiny temperature difference, but what you will notice is a saving on your energy bills as a result. Just taking your thermostat down a notch is a quick way to start saving fast. This one small action only takes seconds to carry out and could potentially slash your heating bills by £171.70.
2. Switch appliances and lights off
It sounds simple, but fully turning off appliances and lights that are not in use can reduce your energy bills, especially in winter. Turning off lights and appliances when they are not in use, can save you up to £20 a year on your energy bills
3. Install a smart meter
Smart meters are a great way to keep control over your energy use, largely because they allow you to see where and when your gas and electricity is being used.
4. Consider switching energy supplier
No matter how happy you are with your current energy supplier, they may not be providing you with the best deals, especially if you’ve let a fixed-rate contract expire without arranging a new one. If you haven’t browsed any alternative tariffs lately, then you may not be aware that there are better options out there.
April’s energy price cap increase marks the third consecutive quarter that bills have risen for around 22 million households on standard tariffs.
The figure is also £159 per year higher than the price cap set for the same period last year, but £531 lower than at the height of the energy crisis in early 2023.
The latest price rise is due to an increase in gas prices in Europe, caused by a reduction in the amount of gas being stored across the continent.
However, despite the price cap going up, many people should actually pay less for their energy in the spring and summer, when the warmer weather means people won’t need to turn their heating on.
Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said: “We know that no price rise is ever welcome, and that the cost of energy remains a huge challenge for many households.
“But our reliance on international gas markets leads to volatile wholesale prices, and continues to drive up bills, which is why it’s more important than ever that we’re driving forward investment in a cleaner, homegrown system.”
