Fixed prices really worth it?

smogit2

Does anybody have any historical data to show how often fixed price deals worked out in favour of consumers in the past?

Looking today I see the best fixed price for me is about 18% higher than the best web saver deal. The price fix is for one year. This is for economy 7, electricity only.

Now as I use the most electricity in the winter for heating a fixed price now could pay off, if the prices next winter are high, but they are still going to need to be quite a rise. For example a rise of 25% in september would only lead the websaver to be 2% more expensive over the year. Assuming 5 winter months at double energy usage to the summer.

bromleymum

I'm currently on Websaver 8 with BG and a couple of months ago the next cheapest I could switch to was going to cost about £150 a year more.

Today, after doing the rounds the next cheapest will be £395 a year more!!!!!

I wish I had the maths nous to know whether to jump and pay the penalty to get on another deal earlier or wait until the end of the deal (like I have) and swallow a huge price rise.

Just for info my gas is £88 per month and elec £71 a month. I'm in small credit with both pre Summer so these should both go down a bit when the review comes round in Sept.

grizzly1911

I am due to come of a fixed deal in the next month or so. First one I have had in 24 years.

It was a very good deal at the time. Whilst I have had it there has been one round of price increases and by the time I am able to switch to anything else those tariffs will take into account the next 1, if not 2 rises, so will be a big jump.

Fixed deals are good in that you can fix your payments for a period.

But with constantly rising prices all you are doing is delaying the inevitable. You are in effect on a variable tariff going up only. The only real certainty is that it you know when the next increase will take place rather than being when the power companies decide, but you still have no control by how much.

If you were deling with a a true floating price comodity or even interest rates then it should help you level out the highs and lows, sadly that is not the case here.

Cardew

smogit2 wrote: »

Does anybody have any historical data to show how often fixed price deals worked out in favour of consumers in the past?

Looking today I see the best fixed price for me is about 18% higher than the best web saver deal. The price fix is for one year. This is for economy 7, electricity only.

There is no doubt that up until a couple of years ago fixed price tariffs worked out well for the consumer; the reason for this was simply because they charged little or no premium over the Standard tariff.

For instance in 2005 BG introduced the fixed to April 2010 tariff that had no premium over their Standard tariff; and with ever rising gas and electricity prices it was obviously a good thing for the million or so customers who took the plunge.

What I find particularly annoying is the tariffs that are introduced at an attractive rate(say 12% below the Standard tariff) and are guaranteed to always be at least 2% below Standard tariff rates,

johnatho

Fixonline8 from eon was good to me, I will have paid £943 for my gas and electricity from 1st July 2020 to 1st July 2011.

The lowest I can get when it ends is almost £200 more per year.

That is one of the drawbacks of fixed deals, when they end your costs go shooting up.

I thought about paying the penalty and leaving early and going to BG websaver 11 but it would cost me £30 then the difference in the tariffs for 2 months so not worth the bother.

victor2

smogit2 wrote: »

Does anybody have any historical data to show how often fixed price deals worked out in favour of consumers in the past?

Looking today I see the best fixed price for me is about 18% higher than the best web saver deal. The price fix is for one year. This is for economy 7, electricity only.

With so many variable rates around, I've never seen any historical data showing how they changed over the period of a capped tariff. Would be interesting though. I've been on capped tariffs for the last 4 years and am in the process of switched from E.On to EDF and another fixed one, which is cheaper than E.On's. Capped rate ones have always started out a little higher than many variable ones, but I have always seen them reach the point where they are less than the current rates before they have ended.
In researching what rates to switch to, I found I could go to the best E.On variable rate and increase my cost (based on the last 12 months actual usage) by 12%. Going to E.On's capped rate would involve a 42% increase. The one I've chosen would be a 31% increase. It's a personal choice, but I like to know what my energy rates will be for a certain time. In the past, I'm sure I've saved money over the duration of the contract. Now, I'm not so sure, but at least shouldn't get any unexpected nasty surprises.

brewerdave

I've definitely saved money over the past 4 years by going with fixes;I've been very fortunate in the timing of switches.
HOWEVER,its all going to end in tears this July when EON Fixonline v8 comes to an end - for the first time since 2006 I'm facing a steep rise in monthly payments whichever way I turn.
I'm just agonising over the best time to switch and who to switch to!!

grizzly1911

Brewer Dave -

No doubt FOL8 was a v.good deal. I acme down to it form pay qtrly on bill and saved probably £500 on old tariff about 33% at the time.

On the basis you bought into the fixed rates, at a premium to some degree, is your overall saving a gut feel or have you measured it? have the snakes definitely been bigger than the ladders?

You maybe lucky but if prices are only rising the power companies couldn't afford to have too many winners in the long term.

I would be surprised if we could see the stats for all companies if we are constantly chasing the best deal we are probably all in the same ball park overall. If we fall asleep then thats another matter (like I did for a bit:o).

BTW anyone know how to switch on the smilies on opera - just switched from FF4 and they have disappeared.

runaroundpauper

Contacted british gas about moving of web saver 4 and onto a fixed rate they said a fixed rate is 19 percent more expensive than there standard rate plus the 4 percent I save off the standard rate so 23 percent more expensive, Went on a utility site through mse and entered correct details checked usage over 12 months and compared and n power fixed till august next year 15 percent cheaper than web saver 4 at British gas so if I have calculated right it is 38 percent cheaper than b g fixed rate 

macman

Historical data would not be any reliable indication of future trends in today's energy market.

HalloweenJack

but wheres the reduction in costs the so called experts said would happen this spring???