Birmingham Pays 4x London. Yes, Birmingham. We Checked.

We analysed 2,900 electricity tariffs across all 14 UK distribution regions. What we found isn't a rounding error. It's a 5x difference in network charges - hiding in plain sight on every business electricity bill.

The UK Electricity Cost League Table

Take a typical small business. A café, a workshop, a small warehouse. Using 50,000 kWh a year. Nothing fancy. The kind of business that makes up 60-70% of UK SMEs.

Here's what they'd pay in annual distribution charges - just for using the wires - ranked from cheapest to most expensive:

Source: Official DNO Schedule of Charges 2025-26. Based on ND_AGG_B1 tariff (covers 60-70% of SMEs), 50,000 kWh annual consumption, 15% peak / 35% shoulder / 50% off-peak split. Includes unit and fixed charges. Ofgem Data Portal

That's not wholesale energy. That's not your supplier's margin. That's purely what you pay to use the distribution network. The bit nobody talks about.

The Winners and Losers

London: £481/year - nearly £2,000 cheaper than the most expensive regions

Plymouth/Exeter: £2,353/year - almost 5x what London pays for identical usage

Birmingham & Inverness: Both pay over 4x London rates, despite being very different cities

Manchester: 4x London - the UK's second city paying premier prices

Why London Is So Cheap

London Power Networks has structural advantages no other region can match:

• 8 million customers sharing the cost of one compact network
• 139,000 km of underground cable - protected from weather, cheaper to maintain
• Extreme density - short circuit lengths, high load factors, Victorian-era substations still paying off

When you spread fixed costs across that many customers in that small an area, the per-customer cost drops dramatically.

Why Some Regions Pay More

It comes down to geography and density. The South West has long, sparse networks across rugged coastal terrain - fewer customers per kilometre means higher costs each. The Scottish Highlands? SHEPD covers 25% of the UK's landmass for just 780,000 customers, with 100+ subsea cables to islands. Same wires, wildly different economics.

And It's Getting Worse

London's rates are jumping 71% in 2026-27. Transmission charges are nearly doubling under RIIO-3 from April 2026. The gap might stay the same, but everyone's paying more.

Why This Matters

DUoS (Distribution Use of System) charges make up roughly a third of a commercial electricity bill. They're published months in advance. Predictable. Checkable. Yet most businesses negotiate hard on the wholesale rate while network charges quietly eat their margins.

So What?

You can't move to London. That's not the point. The point is: is YOUR bill correct?

3-4% of bills contain errors. That's £1.2 billion in overcharges annually. The most common mistake? Wrong LLFC code - that three-character identifier that determines your entire tariff. Get it wrong and every charge is calculated against the wrong rates.

The data's all public. The question is: does anyone have the tools to check?

Funny you should ask.