Energy prices - fixed deals coming back

[Gigamoons]

Noticed that energy fixed deals now coming back following a period of 'variable only' for those not fixed during the price hikes.

I've signed up for 12mths on the deal below, better than I was paying currently by about 6%.

What are you guys thinking in terms of next 12 months?


Loyal Octopus 12M Fixed
This tariff has £75/fuel exit fees.
Tariff info (all prices include VAT)

Electricity
Unit price 28.97p per kWh
Standing charge 45.57p per day

Gas
Unit price 7.07p per kWh
Standing charge 27.47p per day

Edited by Gigamoons on Monday 31st July 10:16

[andyjo1982]

Looks a reasonable enough deal. From what Cornwall insights are predicting, there doesn't seem a huge amount of fluctuation in the next 6-9mths, a drop of 5% in Oct I think, followed by 2% increase in Jan and 2% drop in April 24, along those lines.

I moved into my new place last October, and we are elec only, with an Air source heat pump. Took me a few months to get to grips with the heating, and thus for November, Dec and January, I used and excessive amount of electric. Annoyingly for me, my provider, EON, are still expecting we'll be using the same amount this winter, so I'm reluctant to fix until they offer me a monthly DD that is akin to what I expect to use, which I'm hoping will be about 20-25% less than they are estimating.

I think if you want the protection of knowing what you'll be paying, without any horrible surprises over the next 12 months, fixing is a good idea. I'd imagine, if there was some sort of drastic increase in price again, then the gov would have to bring back the price guarantee.

[Mr Overheads]

E-on offering this fix:

Electricity Gas
Daily standing charge 49.57p 23.08p
Unit rate 28.95p per kWh 7.31p per kWh

Barely any differetn to variable capped. Doesn't seem much point in fixing.

[NordicCrankShaft]

I think trackers are the way forward. Currently. On Octopus tracker for my electricity and in the middle of swapping over gas. Current tracker prices, see how it goes over the winter, worst case any gain during the warmer months is negated.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

It isnt huge but every little helps, unless the cap come down more than that in September

[J210]

Its only worth fixing if the fix is cheaper than the predicted cap change in sep

[Armitage.Shanks]

I can't believe how much these tariffs have for the standing charge. 45p per day for using NO electricity!

Ideally I need one with the least standing charge as my solar compensates me. Two years ago on a fixed deal before they went belly up my July combined electricity and gas bill was £9. Those were the days

[Trustmeimadoctor]

Armitage.Shanks said:

I can't believe how much these tariffs have for the standing charge. 45p per day for using NO electricity!

Ideally I need one with the least standing charge as my solar compensates me. Two years ago on a fixed deal before they went belly up my July combined electricity and gas bill was £9. Those were the days

standing charge is basically fixed you cant get out of it

[OldSkoolRS]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

Armitage.Shanks said:

I can't believe how much these tariffs have for the standing charge. 45p per day for using NO electricity!

Ideally I need one with the least standing charge as my solar compensates me. Two years ago on a fixed deal before they went belly up my July combined electricity and gas bill was £9. Those were the days

standing charge is basically fixed you cant get out of it

If you have solar, then you could look at export payments via Octopus Flux as it's a decent rate paid (20p most of daylight time and about 30p during peak 4-7pm). I reckon that I'll bank enough during summer(?!) to cover my winter use and standing charges, though early days as it's only been in 3 months and I haven't actually got export sorted yet, but that's another matter.

I think I can still look at tracker options for our gas, but given the above I hope (eventually) that any extra Flux credit will cover some of our gas anyway, plus the winter fuel allowance, so our total gas bill might be small enough not to worry too much about getting a slightly better rate for some of the year (and the risk of it going above the current flex rate when we actually need the gas in winter).

[FiF]

We are just going through this. Towards end of September coming off a 2 year fix dual fuel that is around half of current prices.

With OVO, have been overpaying to build up a decent credit balance. Before anyone raises the issue why, the amount of the DD is the maximum allowed from our bank to get 3% cashback, and we get 4% interest currently from OVO.

So we've got about 3 and a bit months worth of credit balance.

The new fixed quotes from OVO are obviously more expensive rates than we are paying now, but monthly amount is only about £20 to £30 pcm more than our current DD.

Cheapest we can find out there is about 1% down on the OVO variable rate onto which we would roll automatically at the end of the fixed. So that's what we're intending, and then arguing the toss when they try to increase the DD, the calculation of which completely ignores the stored credit balance.

As for their Fixed+Greener Energy option. 80+ pence per day standing charge, FRO and then when they have FO'd as far as they can go, they can FRO some more.

[andyjo1982]

EON have a new deal out, not sure if its for new customers, but its a deal that tracks £50 below the price cap, whatever the price cap may be.

[Simpo Two]

Shell sent me a couple of options for variable tariffs, but you had to 'express an interest in' a smart meter.

I suppose the energy companies will eventually 'force' everyone to get smart meters by offering a big price differential - just like they got us all to have DDs - and look at the trouble that can cause.

[Gigamoons]

Simpo Two said:

Shell sent me a couple of options for variable tariffs, but you had to 'express an interest in' a smart meter.

I suppose the energy companies will eventually 'force' everyone to get smart meters by offering a big price differential - just like they got us all to have DDs - and look at the trouble that can cause.

I remember a provider hassling me to have a smart meter, but then they seemed to have a massive backlog and the emails ceased.

Maybe I’m being naive here, but why exactly do they want to go to the expense of putting us all on (unreliable) smart meters?

[Car bon]

andyjo1982 said:

..... Annoyingly for me, my provider, EON, are still expecting we'll be using the same amount this winter, so I'm reluctant to fix until they offer me a monthly DD that is akin to what I expect to use, which I'm hoping will be about 20-25% less than they are estimating....

Can't you just set your own ?

With Octopus I can just log in & adjust what I'm paying.

(I've not actually done it, so there may be a minimum....)

[C69]

Cornwall Insight released its latest predictions yesterday.

According to these, there'll be a slight reduction in Q4 2023, but further rises thereafter (not helped by higher daily standing charges from Q2 2024 onwards).

It's also worth noting that Ofgem has revised down its energy usage definitions, so CI has prepared two sets of 'typical household' figures to enable a better comparison with current costs.

https://www.cornwall-insight.com/press/cornwall-in...

[Armitage.Shanks]

Simpo Two said:

Shell sent me a couple of options for variable tariffs, but you had to 'express an interest in' a smart meter.

I suppose the energy companies will eventually 'force' everyone to get smart meters by offering a big price differential - just like they got us all to have DDs - and look at the trouble that can cause.

And that's my concern going onto a fixed tarrif deal where a Smart Meter will be a mandatory given you can't ordinarily be forced to have one.

I wonder if 'express an interest' can be translated to "I've looked and don't want one thanks"?

[Gigamoons]

Armitage.Shanks said:

And that's my concern going onto a fixed tarrif deal where a Smart Meter will be a mandatory given you can't ordinarily be forced to have one.

I wonder if 'express an interest' can be translated to "I've looked and don't want one thanks"?

Or just not available whenever an appointment is requested

[Scotter]

I got a nice surprise from Eon when I fixed for another 12 months.
I can’t remember the exact prices but my direct debit has come down to just ten pounds per month more than what I was paying before all this kicked off.Being in credit helped and that’s factored in to the next twelve months for gas and electricity.
Good news for a change.

[andyjo1982]

Car bon said:

andyjo1982 said:

..... Annoyingly for me, my provider, EON, are still expecting we'll be using the same amount this winter, so I'm reluctant to fix until they offer me a monthly DD that is akin to what I expect to use, which I'm hoping will be about 20-25% less than they are estimating....

Can't you just set your own ?

With Octopus I can just log in & adjust what I'm paying.

(I've not actually done it, so there may be a minimum....)

You can adjust what you pay, but for me, it only allows me to drop the DD by 10%, which I've already done.

[TheInternet]

With Israel/Palestine kicking off and Finland/Estonia gas pipelines being damaged is anyone else thinking of going for a fix?

Next 12 months was looking flatish already, but these two events make me think an increase is more likely at some point.

https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-latest-nato...