Should I Price Fix?

bfgun

Hi

I have Gas & Electricity on Direct Debit with EDF Energy. Im just coming to the end of a Price Saver 2008 deal and being offered another Price Saver tariff which will fix through to 2009.

Not sure whether I should take this deal as it will immediately increase my Gas & Electricity costs and Im wondering whether energy costs might come down given the fall in oil costs.

Any thoughts / advice?

envelopes

Hmm I don't know - I was offered a price fix if i moved to eon which meant that gas and electricity wouldn't go up whilst on the contract but prices woud come down if prices were cut - this contract attracted tesco points and whilst they were attractive based on our utility costs per annum, i didn't actually trust that eon would be saving us money so didn't sign their "there and then, we won't be back later" contract.

We moved to Atlantic a while ago after taking advice form here - or maybe it was from martin on the telly, one of the two, but I am not sure if we are with the right company/tarrif.

To be honest if there are companies now offering - and they may have always been offering, a flexible deal then i'd not get fixed into a fixed plan - its hard to tell really.

Will be watching closely for opinions to this question too.

james3333

bfgun wrote: »

Hi

I have Gas & Electricity on Direct Debit with EDF Energy. Im just coming to the end of a Price Saver 2008 deal and being offered another Price Saver tariff which will fix through to 2009.

Not sure whether I should take this deal as it will immediately increase my Gas & Electricity costs and Im wondering whether energy costs might come down given the fall in oil costs.

Any thoughts / advice?

iam in the exact same boat with EDF......... have you had any more thoughts or advise as to what to do?
iam tempted to fix but i just dont know!??!!!?

moonrakerz

Do you really think that any energy supplier is going to offer you a package for the next x years whereby you will pay him less money than if you stayed on the package you are on at present ?

It may be presented in such a way that you might think that is the case, but ...................................
......................and of course those carefully "leaked" stories to the media:- "gas prices may rise by 60% !"

bfgun

moonrakerz wrote: »

Do you really think that any energy supplier is going to offer you a package for the next x years whereby you will pay him less money than if you stayed on the package you are on at present ?

It may be presented in such a way that you might think that is the case, but ...................................
......................and of course those carefully "leaked" stories to the media:- "gas prices may rise by 60% !"

As I said in my original post, the cost of my electric and gas will immediately increase but the dilemma is whether the costs will increase any further.

Given that the cost of oil has reduced significantly and the forecast is for lower energy costs I may just stay outside of a fixed price contract.

BexTech

I wouldn't.

1) The best time to price fix was some months back as long as you chose the right tariff.
2) Only the electric was worth price fixing.
3) The latest email from MSE mentions prices not likely to rise in Jan.

james3333

anyone got anything useful/helpful to add?

MoneyMiser

Hi,

The Price Saver 2008 was a good deal, regardless of where you go next your bills will increase. EDF's Price Saver 2009 is one of the cheapest fixed prices on the market at the moment.

I doubt the prices will go up now seeing as the price of oil has come down and Gordon Brown has been talking about passing this decrease on to the consumer. We have already seen the petrol prices come down. So maybe the energy companies will be forced to lower the prices sometime in the new year, who knows?

I would say its up to you. If you are quite savvy with your gas and electricity then I would go for the cheapest variable rate such as BG's CE6 or NP's SOL13. This way you can always make sure your on the cheapest tariff and continue to switch suppliers if you need to.

If you just want a bit of security and want to budget for your G & E bills then stick with EDF's Price Saver 2009.

Personally I would go for the cheapest variable rate around and at the moment that seems to be BG's CE6.

MM

james3333

word on the street is that oil is gona plumet, and ofgem are gona force price reductions, so iam NOT gona fix, petrol has already dropped under the £1 mark this morning so i am gona take the gamble and sit tight :-)

1carminestocky

james3333 wrote: »

word on the street is that oil is gona plumet, and ofgem are gona force price reductions, so iam NOT gona fix, petrol has already dropped under the £1 mark this morning so i am gona take the gamble and sit tight :-)

Even the very hard to embarrass energy companies can only go on ignoring market forces for so long before either THEY do something about their out of kilter prices or the Govt WILL step in here.