How we rank tariffs

Ranking

Tariffs are ordered by one thing: the estimated annual cost of that tariff on your actual usage. Nothing else moves a tariff up or down the list. Where we show a combined electricity + gas ranking, only tariffs we can price for both fuels compete in it, and we always show the per-fuel split.

Where your numbers come from

Your side: the real consumption data on the bill you upload — half-hourly readings for electricity, billing-period usage for gas. The tariff side: unit rates and standing charges from supplier sources, each shown with a "rates verified" date on its card. All prices include VAT.

How fresh the rates are

Octopus Energy rates are fetched live from their public API. Other suppliers' rates are dated snapshots we verify manually. When a snapshot is too old — or a price-cap-linked rate has been overtaken by a cap change — we mark the tariff as stale and demote it below fresh results rather than letting an outdated price compete silently.

Gas estimates

Gas usage varies hugely by season, so a bill covering only part of the year gives a rougher annual estimate than a full year would. We scale your billed gas usage using national seasonal consumption patterns, and we tell you how much of the year your bill covered and how confident the estimate is. Lower-confidence gas estimates are labelled, not hidden.

What we refuse to model

Some tariffs — for example those priced dynamically per half-hour — cannot be honestly estimated from static rates. We leave them out rather than guess. An honest gap beats a made-up number.

How we make money

Right now, we don't. TariffSmart currently earns no commission, referral fee, or any other payment from any energy supplier. Switching links take you to the supplier's own website; we receive nothing when you switch. We have applied to join commission programmes with some suppliers. If approved, we may earn a fixed fee when someone switches through our link — and we will update this page to say exactly which suppliers pay us. Commission never affects rankings: tariffs are ordered by estimated cost on your usage, calculated before any switching link is attached. A supplier that pays us nothing ranks exactly the same as one that does.

Complaints

If something looks wrong, or you're unhappy with the service, email complaints@tariffsmart.co.uk. We read everything.