Use of smart heating features jumps 21% as UK households face rising gas bills

The typical household gas bill is forecast to reach around £1,040 a year from January, more than £300 higher than a year ago. As in the 2022 energy crisis, when 80% of UK households turned down their thermostats, heating expert tado° expects households to cut back actively. In October 2026, tado° users used energy-saving features 21% more than a year earlier.

London, 10 November 2026. Heating with gas is becoming noticeably more expensive for UK households again. According to Ofgem, household gas unit prices have risen by 27% year on year, from 6.29p/kWh in October 2025 to 7.97p/kWh in October 2026¹. The increase follows renewed volatility in wholesale gas markets, with prices reaching their highest levels in several years amid global supply disruptions. 

At the UK's National Balancing Point (NBP), spot gas traded near 250p per therm in late October, compared with around 78p a year earlier - that’s a 220% increase². However, these increases do not immediately translate into household bills. Energy suppliers typically purchase gas months in advance, while Ofgem adjusts its price cap quarterly based on wholesale prices over a fixed period. This means consumers experience the impact of wholesale price increases gradually.

This is feeding through to consumers. Under Ofgem's price cap, the average gas unit rate rose from 6.29p/kWh in autumn 2025 to 7.97p/kWh from 1 October 2026. For a typical household using 9,500 kWh of gas a year, the annual gas bill has risen from about £722 to about £865³. Cornwall Insight forecasts the overall price cap will rise a further 16% in January 2027, taking the typical gas bill to around £1,040 a year, roughly £318 more than a year ago⁴.

October 2026: data shows households reacting directly to rising gas prices

Data from 5.6 million connected tado° smart thermostats shows that in October 2026, use of energy-saving features rose by 21% compared to the year before. These include Geofencing, Open Window Detection and schedules in the tado° app. In October, 64% of users also opened the app at least once a week to check their heating cost forecast and personal Energy Savings Report, compared with 53% in October 2025.

“Use of our energy-saving features has reached a record high. With gas prices rising, saving energy matters more than ever,” says Christian Deilmann, co-founder and CEO of tado°. “We therefore expect consumers to save energy this winter just as consistently as they did during the 2022 energy crisis. They have no influence over global gas prices, but they can actively reduce their own consumption with smart thermostats.”

In winter 2022/23, 80% of UK tado° users turned down their thermostats, lowering indoor temperatures by around 1°C on average to save energy and money⁵. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that turning a thermostat down from 22°C to 21°C can save around £90 a year in Great Britain⁶. Smart energy-saving features were also used more often back then. The latest data confirms the pattern: rising heating costs motivate consumers to actively reduce their energy use.

Geopolitical crises and low storage drive prices up

The main driver of the price surge is global uncertainty caused by the conflict in the Middle East, which Ofgem named as the main reason for its October rise, when gas bills went up 8%. Disrupted LNG flows through the Strait of Hormuz, Norwegian supply outages and strong Asian demand for LNG are adding to the pressure. Britain also enters winter with little buffer: UK gas storage was only around 41% full in late October, and EU storage is at its lowest seasonal level since 2009⁷. Households on fixed tariffs are still protected for now, but that protection ends when their deals expire. 

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About tado°

tado° is Europe's leading company for intelligent home energy management. The company helps households optimise their energy consumption, reduce costs, and use energy more efficiently, regardless of the existing heating and energy infrastructure. Founded in Munich in 2011, tado° combines innovative hardware, intelligent software, and digital services into one easy-to-use platform. Products and services range from smart heating and cooling management to intelligent electric vehicle charging, PV integration and dynamic energy tariffs. In this way, tado° automatically optimises energy consumption and shifts it to times when electricity is cheapest and greenest. tado°’s vision: Energy in harmony with nature.

Press contact

Joanne Suwai
tado GmbH
Sapporobogen 6-8
80637 Munich
press@tado.com