UK Wholesale Electricity: October 2026

In October, the wholesale price averaged £154.10/MWh and got more expensive as the month went on. The last three days were the most expensive of all. The summary of the month is shown in Table 1. 

Table 2 shows the average price for each week. Prices were lowest during the week of 8–14 October and highest at the end of the month.

Figure 1 shows the maximum, minimum and average price for each day over the last 30 days. The spike on 6 October stands out clearly. There could be several reasons for it, but it occurred between 18:30 and 19:00, which is already a peak period. That day also had the lowest renewable share of the month, at 23.2%.

Next in Table 3, we are looking at the cheapest and most expensive times of day. As expected, early evening was the most expensive.

There were few negative prices in October, but they are shown in Table 4.

Figure 2 shows the gap between the highest and lowest electricity prices for each day over the last 30 days. The wider the gap, the more customers on flexible tariffs can save. Fixed-price customers pay the same rate regardless of the time of day.

Table 5 shows renewable generation and carbon intensity. Renewables supplied about 48% of October’s electricity, and the grid averaged 138 gCO₂/kWh. However, these averages hide a sharp contrast: the middle weeks were windy, cheap and clean, while the last three days were the complete opposite.

Figure 3 compares the renewable share with the average wholesale electricity price. It shows that as the share of renewables falls, the average price rises.

The 13 days with a renewable share of 50% or more averaged £127.26/MWh and 109 gCO₂/kWh, while the 7 days below 40% averaged £183.46/MWh and 206 gCO₂/kWh.

The cleanest day was 9 October, with a renewable share of 68.7%. It was also the cheapest day of the month, with an average price of £59/MWh.

The highest renewable share was 78.9%, on 10 October. For a business that can shift its electricity use, the cheapest periods are often the cleanest too.

Source: Elexon BMRS system prices, stored by the UK Grid Toolkit. October covers 1,490 half-hours: 31 days, with 25 October having 50 half-hours because the clocks went back.