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  • mjtko
    mjtko Posts: 15
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    edited 7 October 2017 at 8:39AM
    @Tafrock: thanks for your post, very useful information! How did you calculate your pence per unit? I've just calculated mine (for August-September billing period though, I haven't had my September-October bill through yet) and it works out at 12.92p per unit (incorporating the daily charge) or 11.10p per unit if I remove the daily charge first.

    (My summary was: 32 days, £35.97, 277kWh - the power-pack discount was stated as £6.78 which is achieving a discount of ~15.85%. My daily charge is 15.76p/day.)

    I'll post cost calculations again once I get my September-October bill.
    Tafrock wrote: »
    The key is only buying the power packs that have the biggest discounts and only buying enough electricity to cover your actual usage otherwise you end up with a hefty credit building up. I use between 30 and 35 pounds worth of electricity a month. If I buy all the monthly future packs that are available at the moment because they are discounted by over 23 per cent I actually buy 50 pounds worth of electricity thus adding to my balance monthly by 15 to 20 pounds.

    You appear to have a similar consumption/spend pattern to mine. However, I'm buying up all the monthly future packs when they have a discount > 20%. This means that i am adding to my balance monthly by £15-20 but once the monthly future pack discount is < 20%, I should have enough "in the bank" to cover (some of) those months without needing to buy less well-discounted packs. Or is that what you're saying you're doing? :)

    No idea how this strategy will work out yet!
  • mjtko
    mjtko Posts: 15
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    @Tafrock: I just read back and reread your earlier posts. I see you already mentioned how you're performing your calculations and they closely match mine!

    Sorry, must have missed that first time round! :embarasse
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
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    edited 7 October 2017 at 9:09AM
    What is the lowest the advanced 'saver' powerpack discounts have gone?

    I can see February at the moment at 23.7% which is slightly better than Dec/Jan (and I think Nov, but I brought all of Nov to build up my credit).

    I'm estimated to be in credit all the way to Feb - so I'm thinking of buying £50 of the Feb one and sacrificing what I could still buy from Dec/Jan, which is (only) 0.3% less discount than Feb.

    As you have until the end of the penultimate month to purchase (e.g. 30/11 for the Jan one), I'll wait until November to see what March's discount is as it should come online on 1/11. If March is less than 23.4%, then it may be worth buying all of Feb and possibly a few of Jan too - if it's 23.4% again, then can wait another month before buying Feb 23.7% (until 31/12), and can continue to ignore Jan.

    From 1/12 to 31/12 can see if it's worth buying February's (which I assume it will be, unless March & April discount is something silly like 25%+ in both months) or whether to ignore Feb and buy March instead (based on April continuing to be in the mid 20's).

    Presumably higher users (e.g. people with electric heating??) just buy the entire £50 advanced powerpacks. I'm trying to build enough credit for if the powerpack discount does drop < 20% I don't need to worry, but not too much (as the credit can be better spent or invested in something else!). I guess if there was a prolonged period of 'low' discount advanced powerpacks (say just at 10%?) then I'd be worse off - but by looking 60 days ahead and trying to gauge the newly advertised month, hopefully can mitigate any drop (assuming it's gradual at say 23% then 21% would give cause for concern, and doesn't go from 23.4% one month straight to 11% the next!)
  • mjtko
    mjtko Posts: 15
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    What is the lowest the advanced 'saver' powerpack discounts have gone?

    Having joined during June-July 2017, I have data for August 2017 and later future packs only:

    August: 12.8%
    September: 13.6%
    October: 14.5%
    November: 23.5%
    December: 23.4%
    January: 23.4%
    February: 23.7%

    As above, my advice would be to buy all the packs (if you can afford them!) while the discounts are > 20%.

    There is anecdotal evidence that Powershop don't require you to do this though, and will "fix" your discounts by offering you larger discounts on the monthly/special powerpacks instead, though my suspicion is that this will only work in the customer's favour if Powershop have a very accurate read of your consumption as these packs will offer a specific amount of kWh to cover your projected usage.

    HTH!
  • Thank you! Wow, yes Aug to October looks very low!

    Yes I think I will have to buy the whole lot that are available!! I've got a ridiculously expensive car loan I'm trying to overpay - but potentially 10% difference in energy prices is significant enough to redistribute the funds into Powershop credit!

    (plus it is only £50 p/m afterall, so not going to make the biggest financial difference where I pay the car or not - it's the moral feeling of knowing I've squeezed every penny I like!!!)
  • Highlighting is mine.
    <snipped for brevity>
    Behave now! :A That's not exactly rewarding our transparency. On a serious note, previous customers addresses and emails are stored as long as is legally allowable
    <snipped for brevity>
    And exactly how long is that?
  • Tafrock
    Tafrock Posts: 747
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    edited 7 October 2017 at 7:49PM
    @mjtko
    Your buying strategy exactly mirrors mine. At the beginning of my powershop experience I purchased all powerpacks regardless of the discount. However now I only buy packs with discounts in excess of 20 per cent. Due to my over purchasing at the outset I am now £150 in credit with unused August September and October as well as a small quantity of jumbo powerpacks sitting unused in my account. I assume the discounts will eventually drop below 20 per cent for the monthly future packs. At that point I will not purchase the advance packs and use these banked powerpacks

    My power packs to be used this month are all November powerpacks at 23.4 per cent discount and the small appetiser pack at 28 per cent discount hence I expect my unit rate to be the lowest since I commenced my powershop experience and this month was an excellent 10.81p per kWh. My annual usage is approximately 3218 kwh
  • mjtko
    mjtko Posts: 15
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    @Tafrock: I did the same and am currently about £120 in credit, with unused August and September future packs, a partially unused Jumbo pack (which I needed during my first month to avoid buying a standard pack) and around £9 in a couple of unused low-discount special packs ("Quick Fix Special" and "In The Money Pack"). I am hopeful that I will get the opportunity to get these refunded on my anniversary if they haven't been consumed by then.

    My annual usage is approx 3551 kWh. My billing months run to 9th/10th so I'll find out tomorrow exactly what my rate was for September-October, and the predicted pack usage for October-November (which I suspect will be 100% November future packs).
  • MrChips
    MrChips Posts: 1,010
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    I've just applied to move my electricity supply to Powershop as my deal with GB Energy is coming to an end. Trying to get up to speed on how to get the best out of it as the pricing is not conventional!


    Where you refer to discounts (i.e. 20% discount) is this relative to the Powershop standard pricing? Also is it a discount to the unit price only, or to the daily charge too?


    Thanks!
    If I had a pound for every time I didn't play the lottery...
  • System
    System Posts: 178,076
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    MrChips wrote: »


    Where you refer to discounts (i.e. 20% discount) is this relative to the Powershop standard pricing? Also is it a discount to the unit price only, or to the daily charge too?


    Thanks!

    There is only one tariff. If you buy, say, £12.36 of energy for £10, then when your ‘monthly’ statement comes in then the £12.36 is applied to the whole bill. If you look at your contract/quote, it is a pretty simple calculation to work out the percentage saving to achieve the Easy Saver Promise quote.
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