MSE News: Households on cheap fixed energy plans 'are winners'

Former_MSE_Guy

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

"Households who took out a cheap fixed price energy deal last summer are likely to be quids in despite recent price cuts ..."

Read the full story:
Households on cheap fixed energy plans 'are winners'

JimmyTheWig

Did _anyone_ really think "Shall I fix or shall I stay on an average tariff?"?
I know I didn't.
I thought "Shall I fix or shall I switch to the best variable rate?". I decided to switch.
I'm happy with my decision as I know my rates won't be going up, even though I could have been paying a little less right now.

WestonDave

The biggest winner is the fact that compared to last winter, this one has so far been much warmer. I switched and my new supplier put me on the same DD rate as the old supplier despite it being slightly more expensive. It was recalculated last night and I'm £300 in credit so they are cutting the DD by half! That will apply to a lot of people who had their DD payments based on their usage over last winter but have used a lot less this year.

dude89

WestonDave wrote: »

The biggest winner is the fact that compared to last winter, this one has so far been much warmer. I switched and my new supplier put me on the same DD rate as the old supplier despite it being slightly more expensive. It was recalculated last night and I'm £300 in credit so they are cutting the DD by half! That will apply to a lot of people who had their DD payments based on their usage over last winter but have used a lot less this year.

That could turn out to be a negative thing though.
Fair enough getting the credit back. But reducing the payments may not be good.

I think looking back just twelve months is not an accurate picture of what we use.

How many people complained during 2011 that there DD's were set too high based on previous consumption i.e. winter 2010.

Now how many people are going to compain that there dd has been set to low because winter 2011 was alot milder than average.

If we have a colder than average winter next year then there could be alot of debt around due to dd's being dropped.

VT82

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Did _anyone_ really think "Shall I fix or shall I stay on an average tariff?"?

Exactly. What a pointless exercise.

Caddyman

I suppose with there only being me and the Missus, we could never actually be deemed as having an 'average' yearly bill. In fact, our annual energy bill has been around the £700 mark for the last three years. I've been with Npower that whole time and just switched from one online saver tariff to another. Currently on SignOnline 23 (I think we started off on SignOnline 14) paying by direct debit, £60 per month.

I had thought about switching, but I think I've got it about right. Npower give us a dual fuel discount of £100 a year. The only thing that annoys me is, I've just last Friday received my bill from July 11 to January and I'm £99 in credit. Npower wanted to increase my direct debit to £67 per month! I complained explaining that I thought it was grossly unfair to have my direct debit raised when I'm in credit. To top it, they were actually going to refund me about £68 because anything over £60 credit triggers a credit back to the customer. Bizarrely, their billing system can't recognise the £100 discount they give which I always take into account when working out my annual spend. Anyway they've agreed to retain the DD at £60 per month and I've agreed that they retain my £99 credit toward my next half yearly bill. I'll stick with the current tariff because I think it suits our circumstances.

Pincher

Around September 2011, the choice was EDF Fixed Saver V2 or E.On SaveOnline 9. So far, SaveOnline 9 has been cheaper for me by a whisker.

If prices keep falling, and we get a good fix in the summer of 2012,
I can switch within E.On penalty free. Assuming EDF has an equally good fix in July 2012, can the folks on Fixed Saver V2 jump on it penalty free before V2 expires?

Because the energy futures can be bought 18 months ahead, I would like E.On to bring out a FixOnline 11 in September 2012, which fixes from September 2012 to April 2014. Covers two winters. I would like £999 pa for high usage, but £1,100 pa will do.

WestonDave

dude89 wrote: »

That could turn out to be a negative thing though.
Fair enough getting the credit back. But reducing the payments may not be good.

I think looking back just twelve months is not an accurate picture of what we use.

How many people complained during 2011 that there DD's were set too high based on previous consumption i.e. winter 2010.

Now how many people are going to compain that there dd has been set to low because winter 2011 was alot milder than average.

If we have a colder than average winter next year then there could be alot of debt around due to dd's being dropped.

Fair point but if you are aware that DD's are only a payment on account not a reflection of actual costs, and are aware of your actual usage levels then you can budget accordingly. I originally asked for the payments to be set at that level based on what I knew we had used over the previous 24 months - because of the two cold winters that was always going to be a bit high. The level they've set them at now is a bit low, but I tend to keep an eye on it and get them recalculated later in the year.

Pincher

If the wholesale market has indeed gone down by 30%, then the energy provider can bring out a fixed rate product with 25% online discount, but keep the standard tariff at 12p for electricity and 3.7p for gas.

Total discount will be DD6% DF2% OL25% = 33%

Tier 2 Electricity 12p x (1-33%) = 8.04p
Tier 2 Gas 3.7p x (1-33%) = 2.479p

The complacent will still be paying 12p/3.7p with DD6% and DF2%, and keep the company profitable.

"I have a dream, I have a dream. The lamb shall lay down with the wolf, for he made a deal so the wolf will only eat the cows, who can't be bothered to use a comparison site." Martin Luther Pincher.