MSE News: Warning over energy prices as Npower pulls cheap deal

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Consumers looking to bag a cheap energy deal have been told they are running out of time ..."

Read the full story:
Warning over energy prices as Npower pulls cheap deal

savemoney

Oh great just what we all really wanted

Premier_2

...Npower has today pulled what was the top deal among the major suppliers. Its SignOnline19 tariff which cost a typical £890 has now gone ...

Don't worry, I'm sure SOL20 will be along soon

Edit: Just checked. SOL20 is already available. :T
For me, it looks like almost the same price as their fixed price tariff (only the tier 2 units are marginally cheaper, the tier 1 and low rate units the same. The low rate units are actually the same as SOL19 were) - Go Fix 3, fixed until end of October 2011, so they probably don't expect prices to rise much in the short term.

Terrylw1

That's 20 new online deals so far then. Usually marketing ploy "sign up now, it's going" then week after, it's just been renamed.

Just like when a salesman tells you if you come back, it won't still be there.

You can expect them to keep pulling deal after deal in favour of new ones. Thats just a way to stay competitive and give them an option to move their pricing around.

Tunstallstoven

I recently moved house and pulled my finger out today to look for a cheaper electricity deal.

Used various comparisons and they all showed the N-Power Sign Online 20 deal as the cheapest (by a fair amount). Has this one been pulled or is it the replacement for "19". Does anyone know how much the unit costs for the "19" tariff were? The "20" tariff is:

12.6134 p/kWh for the first 728
9.1121 p/kWh for all remaining kWh


I can't find confirmation, but I'm thinking this is NOT a caped/fixed tariff. Can anyone confirm? If it isn't, is there any limit to how much they can hike the prices? Seeing as it takes a month or two for the switch over to take place, is there even any guarantee that by the time supply starts the prices will still be the same?

Cheers

Max

Former_MSE_Guy

Hi folks,

The comparison sites tell us the SO20 tariff is actually about £60 a year more expensive than SO19, based on average consumption.

Hope that helps.
Guy

Premier wrote: »

Don't worry, I'm sure SOL20 will be along soon

Edit: Just checked. SOL20 is already available. :T
For me, it looks like almost the same price as their fixed price tariff (only the tier 2 units are marginally cheaper, the tier 1 and low rate units the same. The low rate units are actually the same as SOL19 were) - Go Fix 3, fixed until end of October 2011, so they probably don't expect prices to rise much in the short term.

undaunted

MSE_Guy wrote: »

Hi folks,

The comparison sites tell us the SO20 tariff is actually about £60 a year more expensive than SO19, based on average consumption.

Hope that helps.
Guy

No doubt trying to "make £70million up" before the shareholders start complaining

uptomyeyeballs

Seems like I timed my swap to Scottish Power's Online Energy Saver 10 perfectly then (8,600 kWh gas, 2,200 kWh electric = £497 per annum), because it is now the cheapest tariff for my postcode.

Premier_2

MSE_Guy wrote: »

Hi folks,

The comparison sites tell us the SO20 tariff is actually about £60 a year more expensive than SO19, based on average consumption.

Hope that helps.
Guy

Whoops, I must admit I hadn't considered the gas element of the tariff.:o (not everyone has gas) I only had the electricity prices to hand as I was only looking at them yesterday before they pulled SOL19

Using a comparison site, I can see they have increased the price of gas considerably.
Not sure if it varies by area (gas sometimes doesn't) but in one area I looked at:

Tier 1 gas unit prices (applies to initial 1143 units per quarter) have increased by over 23% :eek:

Tier 2 gas prices have increased by just under 1.4%


Based on average annual consumption of 3300kWh electric and 20500kWh of gas, the gas increase alone amounts for almost all the overall increase from SOL19 to SOL20

Prior to the introduction of SOL20, SOL19 was almost 10% cheaper than the cheapest of the competition based on average consumption for gas only (8% actually) - this price rise now brings the price of gas on a par with the best of the competition (actually 2% more expensive than the cheapest alternative gas available).

This change seems to bring SOL20 gas prices into alignment with the cheapest of others available, rather than being outstandingly less than the rest of the competition.

All discounts (e.g. payment by DD, dual fuel, etc) appear to be unchanged.

GetRealBabe

Hi


Just did a dual fuel comparison between SOL19 and SOL20. SOL20 is £75.00 more. Just as well I changed tariffs when I did.

Tunstallstoven

Premier, I don't suppose you have (or can remember) the unit prices for SOL19?