quick question....

keiran

May help others in a similar situation.

Is it better to go for a 3 yr fix with Scottish Power at £700,
or to "save" £90 by going for a 1 yr fix with isupply at £610?

Obviously one expects prices to rise, but then oil has fallen of late and fracking, etc may alter the equation in time

Thanks for any comments

Andy_WSM

Ah, the 6 million dollar question...

Pincher

keiran wrote: »

Obviously one expects prices to rise, but then oil has fallen of late and fracking, etc may alter the equation in time

You have to gamble on the energy market playing out in various scenarios, like betting on horses. If you think there are six possible scenarios, then there are six horses to bet on.


I am betting on this one. OPEC is dumping oil to drive shale companies out of business. Fracking is inherently expensive,
so they need the oil price above US$80 to make money. If OPEC keeps the oil price at U$60 for long enough, these fracking companies will have no business case to carry on, so they learn their lesson and go bankrupt. OPEC now charges what they like, so oil price goes back up. For us, the trick is to spot when the three (or FIVE) year fixes have bottomed, and then snap it up and don't move house for three years.

Consumerist

Pincher wrote: »

Fracking is inherently expensive, . . .

I thought that fracking was supposed to be a source of cheap energy. Is that not true?

Pincher

Consumerist wrote: »

I thought that fracking was supposed to be a source of cheap energy. Is that not true?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-17/oil-is-cheap-but-not-so-cheap-that-americans-won-t-profit-from-it.html

"Take Canada’s controversial oil sands. With crude prices teasing $80 a barrel for the first time in years, about 25 percent of the synthetic crude produced from the sands is no longer profitable, according to the International Energy Agency."

http://online.wsj.com/articles/fracking-firms-get-tested-by-oils-price-drop-1412899027


"Weakening oil prices could put a crimp in the U.S. energy boom. At $90 a barrel and below, many hydraulic-fracturing projects start to become uneconomic, according to a recent report by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. While fracking costs run the gamut, producers often break even around $80 to $85."

Pincher

Hot off the press yesterday.


http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/07/oil-price-down-opec-american-shale


"A divided Opec is now hoping that falling prices will be devastating for higher-cost US frackers, forcing them to shut down output and gradually bring balance to the wider oil markets."

keiran

Thanks

Think I'll cancel my impending switch to SP and go for isupply ( they have appalling feedback on this site, but hopefully once it's up and running, should go smoothly)

It's a £100 difference over the year . Quite possibly prices will be cheaper next year when I search again ( given the above info), and of course there's a "switching bonus" - about £17 with simplyswitch via topcashback

Re the bad feedback.. I tested this by telephoning them today
Although I had a hold of 13 minutes before being answered, a nice young man gave me full info about the product/company and I felt quite reassured.

AirCooledHeaven

keiran wrote: »

Thanks

Think I'll cancel my impending switch to SP and go for isupply ( they have appalling feedback on this site, but hopefully once it's up and running, should go smoothly)

It's a £100 difference over the year . Quite possibly prices will be cheaper next year when I search again ( given the above info), and of course there's a "switching bonus" - about £17 with simplyswitch via topcashback

Re the bad feedback.. I tested this by telephoning them today
Although I had a hold of 13 minutes before being answered, a nice young man gave me full info about the product/company and I felt quite reassured.

Hi Kieran, I discovered after switching to isupply that going for the absolutely cheapest deal is not always the best thing. Once you've signed up with them they will no longer accept any communication from you by phone, you're forced to use their on-line messaging system, and if you get a reply within 7 days you're doing well. They have absolutely the worst customer service I have ever experienced and I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy. Everything will be sweetness and light when you're signing up but if you need any help afterwards then forget it. I have just switched from them to ExtraEnergy, isupply blocked my switch twice despite my account being over £100 in credit to try and keep me locked in to them. Seven weeks after my switch I am still waiting for a refund of my credit balance. All the bad reviews you've read are absolutely true...

keiran

Well , now what's a girl to do.?

Figuratively speaking, though as I'm a boy


But surely appalling customer services are all part of the DNA of this industry

My experiences with all of them over the years, and especially Scot Power over the last 3 years has been extremely disappointing

keiran

Interesting point... The tariffs with isupply whereby you can switch through a comparison site have a standing charge of 22p/day, whereas the "same" tariff if you switch directly with them has a standing charge of 18p/day, thus wiping out any switching bonus

I was not aware that companies were allowed to do differential pricing like this.

AirCooledHeaven

keiran wrote: »

Well , now what's a girl to do.?

Figuratively speaking, though as I'm a boy


But surely appalling customer services are all part of the DNA of this industry

My experiences with all of them over the years, and especially Scot Power over the last 3 years has been extremely disappointing

You're right to an extent, but it's all a matter of degrees. I've been with eon, npower, isupply, scottish power, ovo, edf, and now extra energy. Ovo was by far the best customer service, unfortunately their prices are not so competitive right now. Too early to judge extra energy. The others were not perfect but streets ahead of isupply who really set the new benchmark for crap service