gas price rise

Oompa_Lumpa

kellya wrote:

Ok, so the wholesale gas prices has fallen by a huge amount but the gas people tell me that it will be 9 months before we see any reduction (next winter). Nice for them.

Kellya at the risk of wasting my breath here, have a read of this (I posted it earlier in this thread!!!). This explains (IMO) why the price decreases aren't being passed on straight away:

The price of wholesale gas fell to 5p a therm (or something like that) on Monday - however this price was only available to companies who were able to take supply that day. In practice very few companies would have been able to take advantage of this extremley low price as they would have all fixed their prices for a set time period, ie a month, a quarter or a year. In fact the reason it was so low in price is because there were no customers available to take the gas on that day, as everyone was otherwise contracted.

kellya_3

I got your point, however 9 months is quite a delay to pass on any benefits. Perhaps they need to look at the timeframe over which they purchase their wholesale gas supplies. Remember oil prices are passed on in weeks and at least you know the reason for the rise and fall. The reason why we are going to pay so much this winter is because they have purchased supplies at a peak price. I suppose Phoenix won't care as we are paying for it!! :beer:

marcais

I doubt they bought at the higher price on purpose. They probably thought they were doing the smart thing by getting at the price they did as they thought the price was most likely going to go even higher.

Oompa_Lumpa

marcais wrote:

I doubt they bought at the higher price on purpose. They probably thought they were doing the smart thing by getting at the price they did as they thought the price was most likely going to go even higher.

Indeed Marcais. You would imagine the furore if the prices kept on increaseing and Pheonix didn't buy forward. The same people would be on here looking to know why Pheonix didn't buy forward like all other gas companies.

Even if Pheonix didn't have a strong view point about what way the market would go over the next few months I am quite sure that they would have bought forward anyway just so that they could budget properly - as they would know their costs and their selling prices to the end users.

travelling_light

wow my 900l fill only lasts 6 weeks if I'm lucky in the winter - heat only on for 1 hr am and from 4:30 -10:30 at night really deaar....I have no cavity walls but do have good roof insulation...4 bed semi.