Rubbish Check
Daily Mail Money · 23 September 2026
source“Why are the UK’s energy costs so high? Report reveals why electricity bills have rocketed 147% since 2010”
R2/ 10
Lightly altered
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates the Daily Mail's claim that UK electricity bills have "rocketed 147% since 2010" a 2/10 because the figure is lifted directly, unaltered, from the IFS's own report and the article honestly unpacks multiple real causes rather than pinning blame on one.
The Verdict
Lightly altered. The headline stat is the base fact itself, taken verbatim from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and the body does the hard work of explaining gas dependency, grid costs and subsidies rather than flattening the story into a single villain. The only ding is a missing comparator: the IFS also reported general prices rose far less over the same period, context the Mail gestures at but never quantifies.
What actually happened
The IFS published a report this week finding UK household electricity prices have climbed sharply since 2010, driven by gas-price exposure through the market's "merit order" pricing mechanism, grid modernisation costs, and net-zero subsidy levies. The Mail's piece walks through each driver with expert commentary from Uswitch, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and Cornwall Insight, and places UK prices against G7 and European comparators.
Key facts
- IFS: "The price of electricity for households has risen by 147% since 2010; in contrast, general prices, measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), increased by 63% over the same period." The Mail's headline figure matches exactly; the CPI comparator is implied ("outpaced hikes for most other consumer goods") but not quantified.
- UK typical household rate: 29.70p/kWh in 2025, versus 22.41p in France, 22.99p in Sweden and 21.22p in the Netherlands, per the article's cited government data.
- Wholesale costs made up 31% of the average 2025-26 bill (£283/household), per the IFS, as cited in the article.
- In 2021 gas supplied 40% of UK generation but set the electricity price 97% of the time, per the IFS, due to the marginal-pricing "merit order" system.
- Ofgem's five-year, £28bn grid upgrade plan (approved December 2025) is forecast to add £108 to bills by 2031.
What to watch for
Energy debt is forecast to hit a record £7bn by end-2026, a figure worth tracking against whether the October VAT cut (5% to 0%) and falling levy shares (taxes/levies down to 17% of bills in parts of 2026 per the IFS) actually bite. Watch too for whether rival outlets isolate net zero levies as the sole driver, since the IFS and this article both show gas-price exposure as the larger factor.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
