CApping prices

emma_lewis84

after watching MSE martin on gmtv this morning, I'm thinking of capping my energy prices...
i'm currently with Brit Gas for gas and elec. Pay £34 for gas pcm and £20 for elec, direct debit.

To go with them capped till Dec 2009, this would increase to£38 pcm gas and £22 pcm for elec - is it worth it? are the energy prices going to go ip enough to justify this extra £6 a month?

thanks!

DGJsaver

emma_lewis84 wrote: »

after watching MSE martin on gmtv this morning, I'm thinking of capping my energy prices...
i'm currently with Brit Gas for gas and elec. Pay £34 for gas pcm and £20 for elec, direct debit.

To go with them capped till Dec 2009, this would increase to£38 pcm gas and £22 pcm for elec - is it worth it? are the energy prices going to go ip enough to justify this extra £6 a month?

thanks!

Never mind the pcm prices , work out what they Actual cost will be yourself bu using the rate your getting charged , then do the comparison websites

Barter

Someone said that fixed prices were likely to be 10% higher than non-fixed NOW; that's in line with your results.
BUT also said that non-fixed prices were likely to go up by 40% or so, so on that basis it'd be definitely worth doing.

Barter

P.S. should have also added to the last post - don't remain with BG unless you really want/need to: if you go through Quidco & change supplier, you could earn cashback e.g. until the end of today, £75 cashback if you swap to ScottishPower - that'd help pay for any price rise! (& ScottishPower were the cheapest for me anyway)

DGJsaver

Barter wrote: »

Someone said that fixed prices were likely to be 10% higher than non-fixed NOW; that's in line with your results.
BUT also said that non-fixed prices were likely to go up by 40% or so, so on that basis it'd be definitely worth doing.

Theres a bit of scaremongering going on here...

scottyf

to be honest i know martin normally gives good advice but i think he may be a bit out with this one.i have seen him on loads of stuff recently telling everyone to switch to a capped tariff NOW.as i got most of my family there deals online they have all been on at me to get them switched over and after doing the rounds with comparison sites the advice is a little off ,take mine for instance
£700 total a year gas/elec
£300 of which is gas
the cheapest i can find is scot power at over £180 more a year capped until august 09 and a further look at the elec unit price(my biggest use) shows nearly a double in price.which when i work out my usage comes to more than the estimated +£180 increase a year i will be paying for a capped tariff.add to that most people use alot less gas in the summer and in your capped year you would have this summer and part of next years summer is switching to a capped tariff sound advice

maybe the advice for people of this site should be more to look around and way up the risk after all most people on this site should be on a good deal for there fuel anyway

ps
the fuel suppliers must be rubbing there hands with delight at martins advice all these people switching to higher capped prices.remember they wouldn't be offering these prices if they thought there was no money in it for them.

DGJsaver

scottyf wrote: »

ps
the fuel suppliers must be rubbing there hands with delight at martins advice all these people switching to higher capped prices.remember they wouldn't be offering these prices if they thought there was no money in it for them.

I agree , its scaremongering and the the cartels ,sorry , energy companies are loving it

wheres the protection from the watchdogs ?!?!?!?!?!?

RebekahLFC

Hi I think im in agreement, I recently changed supplier again as normal, and the best tarrif for me was BG click 5 at £65 DD for both. Then when I seen M.L on GMTV i thought crap Ive just changed. But when I did all the research the cheapest I could find was scottich power at £77pm.

Now thats an increase of £12pm and £144 over a year, now Ive based my gas usage on last years readings but I had cavity walls and loft done which had absloutly nothing in them so my gas usage should drop anyway. Therefore I think even with a POSSIBLE 40% increase this should balance out with a decrease in my usage.

I think people defo need to look at there own circumstances as capped may not be best for everyone.

neil9313

I agree with a lot of the posts here, however i fixed with SP til 2011, aprox £3 extra per month, this was withdrawn off the internet approx 6th July 2008, its a gamble or is it, check yr usage, i dont really trust the comparison sites but I think I have a cracking deal!

1carminestocky

I too am slightly surprised at Martin with this one, I think he's playing into the energy company's hands. Think about it, the energy cartels/companies know much better than you, me AND Martin how much bills are going to rise. If a 70% rise IS on the cards, why are the capped prices not reflecting it?

There's currently LOTS of price conditioning/spin going on, be careful.

amcluesent

>be careful.<

Yep, you don't want a tariff with a penalty for switching out.

Also, you can play the game too. If you submit a customer reading of your meter which is higher than it really is, and pay it, you've prepaid for usage at the current rate. So if you then switch to capped tariff, it'll be a while before your actual use 'catches up' and you'll need to pay at the higher fixed tariff - if general tariffs haven't actually shot up you can just switch back. Minimal net cost to protect yourself.