Home energy use

Home energy use in Cornwall

How much electricity and gas the typical home here uses, from meter readings for every home in Great Britain, and how that compares with everywhere else.

Electricity, median home
2,911 kWh
a year, 18% more than Great Britain
Gas, median home
7,102 kWh
a year, 28% less than Great Britain
At today’s price cap
£1,660
a year for the median home

The typical home in Cornwall used 2,911 kWh of electricity and 7,102 kWh of gas in 2024. Against the typical home across Great Britain, that is 18% more electricity and 28% less gas.

Of 350 local authority areas in Great Britain, Cornwall comes 25th for electricity use and 344th of 347 for gas, counting from the highest. These are medians: half the homes here use more and half use less. The mean is higher (4,081 kWh of electricity, 8,591 kWh of gas) because a minority of big users pulls an average up.

Only about 52% of homes in Cornwall have a mains gas meter, against about 84% across Great Britain. Homes off the gas grid heat with electricity, oil, LPG or solid fuel, which tends to push electricity use up.

What it costs

At the price cap for 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2026, a home using exactly the Cornwall medians would pay about £1,660 a year: £977 for electricity and £684 for gas, standing charges included. The same sum for the Great Britain medians comes to £1,745. These use the South West England region’s rates.

Cornwall is in the South West England electricity region. See every region’s rates on energy prices by region.

Your own use is on your bill or in your supplier’s app. Put it into the direct debit checker to see whether you are paying the right amount each month.

Over the last ten years

Since 2015, the typical home’s electricity use here has fallen 23% and its gas use has fallen 21%. The biggest drop came in 2022, the year of the energy price crisis, and use has stayed close to that lower level since.

Electricity, median kWh a year
2,0002,5003,0003,5004,00020152017201920212024CornwallGreat Britain
Gas, median kWh a year, weather-corrected
6,0008,00010,00012,00014,00020152017201920212024CornwallGreat Britain

How does your home compare?

Areas with similar use

Median electricity / gas, nearest to Cornwall.

Elsewhere in South West

Common questions

How much electricity does a home in Cornwall use?
The median home used 2,911 kWh of electricity in 2024, against 2,471 kWh across Great Britain. The mean was higher, 4,081 kWh, because a minority of heavy users pulls an average up; the median is the household in the middle.
How much gas does a home in Cornwall use?
The median home with a gas meter used 7,102 kWh of gas in 2024, against 9,859 kWh across Great Britain. The figures are weather-corrected by DESNZ, so a cold winter doesn’t make one area look worse than another.
What does energy cost for a typical home in Cornwall?
At the price cap for 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2026, a home using the Cornwall medians would pay about £1,660 a year, standing charges included. Your own bill depends on your own use, which is on your bill or in your supplier’s app.

Figures for Cornwall (E06000052) from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s electricity and gas consumption statistics, published 18 December 2025, covering 286,448 domestic electricity meters and 148,892 gas meters. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.