Could capping prove a mistake?

agent_orange_2

With oil having dropped to 115$ a barrel and still falling, could capping your bills prove to have been a mistake?

johnllew

Who knows?

Michael_Nottingham

Prices would have to continue to fall a long way for standard Power and Gas prices to drop - this is not impossible but unlikely imho

By the way do you have a genuine Cap or a fixed rate (and if so do you have any exit penalties)? If you have a genuine cap then the worst you will do is continue to pay the capped premium while you are on the product

Cardew

I think that question has been asked each time fixed/capped rates have been offered by every company; and they have always paid off for those who took the gamble and fixed.

That is not to say that this latest round may not work out; but today's news from Georgia is unlikely to reduce gas prices if sanctions are taken against Russia.

1carminestocky

The energy companies are actually advertising their fixed/capped deals now in the national press. Question: Have British EVER taken out full page advertisements for their (way cheaper than their standard) Click 5 tariff in the national press? Of course not. I think that tells you whether the current fixed/capped deals are worth going for. :rolleyes:

sabretoothtigger

The rates they advertise are the rubbish capped ones, the good ones have allready been withdrawn

jhp

At the present time its a mistake not to have capped IMHO.

1carminestocky

jhp wrote: »

At the present time its a mistake not to have capped IMHO.

Sweeping statement IMHO. I capped with the BG Price Protection 2009 (i.e. one of the 'earlier', 'good guy' caps, before the recent price increases) and then discovered I would be paying OVER 40% MORE for my electricity compared to my previous tariff, BG Click 5. Panic/hysteria allows companies to 'pull a fast one' and that DEFINITELY happened here.

olly300

jhp wrote: »

At the present time its a mistake not to have capped IMHO.

Not true.

When I looked into capping I over estimated my gas consumption and got found capped tariffs where £250 more expensive per year. If I actually capped then the figure would have been greater as I don't use as much gas as I thought.

sabretoothtigger

The way I understand it, its only a mistake not to cap now if in addition to rises now there are further rises to follow which is what Martin seems to think hence his advice.

The price of natural gas fell in america recently but the political situation in russia seems to have more influence on our prices, news tonight would be seem bad in that respect

[Deleted User]

Ifs and buts and sentiment here. Fact is that oil is now < $115 a barrel and is going down as the dollar is going up. Fact is that investors are pulling out of oil and piling back into stocks. Oil at $117 was a technical marker and a slide below this indicates that this is just the start of a slide from the peak