Electricity Bill Breakdown Calculator

How to use this calculator

1. Choose your country. The form reloads with that country's 2026 tax rates, grid charges and typical prices.
2. Enter your monthly consumption in kWh — it is printed on every bill.
3. Replace any prefilled number with the exact figure from your bill (your supplier's unit rate, your grid operator's charge, your standing charge).
4. Click Break down my bill to see each component, the total, and — the number that matters — your effective price per kWh.

Why a simple kWh × price calculation is wrong

Almost every "electricity cost calculator" on the internet does this:

That formula gives the wrong answer in many countries. VAT is not a constant: it is 25.5% in Finland, 27% in Hungary, 21% in the Netherlands, 20% in France and Germany, 10% on domestic electricity in Italy, 9% in Ireland, 5% in the UK and 7% in Thailand. Energy tax is not a constant either, and it is often charged before VAT, so you pay VAT on the tax. And in several countries the order of operations itself changes the total:

• Spain adds the electricity excise (5.11%) to the energy and power terms, then adds the meter rental, and only then applies 21% IVA. Adding 21% to a raw kWh figure understates the bill.
• France: since 1 August 2025, electricity VAT is 20% on both subscription/fixed charges and consumption; old 5.5% subscription-VAT formulas are stale.
• Portugal charges 6% VAT on the first 200 kWh per 30 days, or 300 kWh for large families, but only if contracted power is 6.9 kVA or less. Consumption above the threshold is taxed at 23%.
• Hungary sells electricity at a subsidised price up to an annual quota, then roughly doubles the unit price above it.
• Thailand bills in progressive blocks, adds the Ft fuel adjustment per unit, and applies 7% VAT to the lot. The Type 1.1 and Type 1.2 residential schedules are different, so this tool lets you choose the schedule.

This calculator implements those stacks as editable presets. Use the prefilled values as a starting point, then match them to your own bill.

The number nobody shows you: your real price per kWh

Your supplier advertises a unit rate. That is not what you pay. Once you add the distribution charge, the energy tax, the standing charge spread across your consumption and VAT on top of all of it, the true cost of a kilowatt-hour is typically 40–100% higher than the headline rate.

This is the only figure worth using when you decide whether to run the dishwasher at night, whether a heat pump beats your gas boiler, or whether exporting solar to the grid is worth anything. Every other calculator on this site that asks for a "price per kWh" wants this number, not the one on your tariff sheet.

Notice also how the standing charge behaves: because it is fixed, it makes each kWh more expensive the less you use. A household consuming 100 kWh a month pays a far higher effective rate than one consuming 500 kWh on exactly the same tariff. That is why low-consumption households are hurt most by high standing charges, and why the UK regulator is now piloting low- and zero-standing-charge tariffs.

What the result tells you

• Total per month — every component, including all taxes.
• Line-by-line breakdown — energy, grid, energy tax, fixed charge, VAT. If your bill disagrees with one of these lines, you have found the line to query.
• Effective price per kWh — the real cost of a unit of electricity for you.
• Tax share — how much of your bill is tax rather than electricity. In several European countries this exceeds a third.
• Annual cost — the monthly figure over twelve months.

Nothing you type leaves your browser: the whole calculation runs locally on your device.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my real price per kWh so much higher than my tariff rate?

Because the tariff rate is only the energy component. Distribution charges, energy tax, the fixed standing charge and VAT are all added on top, and VAT is usually charged on the taxes too. The effective rate is typically 40–100% above the advertised unit rate.

Where do I find these numbers on my bill?

The unit rate and standing charge come from your supplier's tariff sheet. The distribution charge comes from your grid operator — in most countries this is a different company, billed either separately or as a line on the same invoice. Energy tax and VAT are shown as separate lines by law in most of Europe.

Does the calculator use live electricity prices?

No — and deliberately so. It uses your numbers. Live-price sites need daily data feeds and go stale; this tool asks you for the figures on your own bill, so the answer is correct for you rather than for an average household.

Why does the country matter so much?

Because the tax stack differs. Spain compounds an excise before VAT; France changed its VAT and excise structure in August 2025; Portugal has a reduced VAT rate that disappears above 6.9 kVA; Hungary doubles the price above a quota; Thailand uses progressive blocks. Using one generic formula for all of them produces wrong numbers.

Can I use it for a country that is not in the list?

Yes. Pick any country whose billing structure resembles yours — energy + grid + tax + VAT is the standard model almost everywhere — and overwrite all the values with your own. The maths does not care about the flag.

Is my data stored anywhere?

No. The calculator is plain JavaScript running in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and nothing is saved except the optional local history in your own browser, which you can clear at any time.