MSE News: Energy firms' costs hit five-year low – but don't wait for cuts to bills

Former_MSE_Fraser

Energy firms' costs hit five-year low – but don't wait for cuts to bills, check if you can save now...

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Makeandsave

They won't cut them but if the costs go back up they will soon hike the prices back up.

MarkBargain

Take a look at First Utility as their prices are good and they allow you to switch products with no exit fees so long as you do not move to a shorter one. So I switch tariffs every time prices go down, staying with First Utility. Only last week I moved to First Fixed March 2017 v2. That charges me charges 19.60p a day + 10.99p a unit for electricity and 19.59p a day + 2.42p a unit for gas with an estimate of £719 a year.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

There are not for profit energy companies out there, whose prices are also stubbornly high. Why haven't they come down? Perhaps because there is more than one cost for commercial energy supply?

This story is as old as the energy market itself, yawn......

System

MarkBargain wrote: »

Take a look at First Utility as their prices are good and they allow you to switch products with no exit fees so long as you do not move to a shorter one. So I switch tariffs every time prices go down, staying with First Utility. Only last week I moved to First Fixed March 2017 v2. That charges me charges 19.60p a day + 10.99p a unit for electricity and 19.59p a day + 2.42p a unit for gas with an estimate of £719 a year.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but posters on this forum are saying that First Utility has changed its policy on tariff hopping, and they are now charging exit fees for in contract tariff switches.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5387886&highlight=first+utility

One-Eye

Gas & coal prices are coming down, but so are the power stations that use them. Our energy future seems to depend on wind, nuclear and burning plants grown where crops should be planted. The last thing we need when the country has no excess generating capacity is a fall in electricity prices that increases consumption and leads to power rationing.

MarkBargain

Hengus wrote: »

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but posters on this forum are saying that First Utility has changed its policy on tariff hopping, and they are now charging exit fees for in contract tariff switches.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5387886&highlight=first+utility

Thanks for letting me know. It was good while it lasted.

Ectophile

All the energy companies have realised that there's no point in genuinely competing with each other.

Suppose one company was to cut its prices by 10%. Millions of people would think of switching. So the other companies would have to respond by cutting their prices by a similar amount.

But then there would be no reason for the customers to switch any more. So all the energy companies would lose 10% of their income without gaining any customers.

They have therefore all decided just to match their competitors' prices to within a tiny margin.

Andy_WSM

One-Eye wrote: »

Gas & coal prices are coming down, but so are the power stations that use them. Our energy future seems to depend on wind, nuclear and burning plants grown where crops should be planted. The last thing we need when the country has no excess generating capacity is a fall in electricity prices that increases consumption and leads to power rationing.

Not entirely accurate.

Coal is being closed down, yes. But gas plants are still being built and are the biggest producers of UK electricity currently.

Yes, there is a shortage of generating capacity, but that isn't the consumers fault and is a situation that has been seen coming for decades with successive governments doing nothing about it. The industry is a mess.

The biggest risk to our supply at the moment isn't the chance of the price coming down so people use more (this isn't necessarily true anyway) it has to be the growing population (births, immigration) and the need for more housing / infrastructure year on year.

Pincher

Scottish Power is really sneaky.


They drop the gas unit rate, and raise the unit rate on electricity.


I switched to the new fixed tariff, on the assumption that I would use lots of gas, but this winter has been too mild.


Amusingly, if I did not upgrade to a condensing boiler, the lower gas unit rate would probably make a noticeable saving.


As it is, I am using more electricity because of the tumble dryer.


Well played, Scottish Power.

System

I thought that the Chief Executive Ofgem's performance on Radio 4 this morning was very weak. His only message was 'switch, switch..." As this policy isn't working, with 70% of consumers still on standard variable tariffs, it is clear that his organisation is bereft of any ideas - or indeed powers - to properly manage the domestic energy supply market. Given that both Ofgem and the suppliers are waiting for the Competition and Markets Authority's report, it is not surprising that we are not seeing any real reductions in energy prices. If I was an energy supplier then why would I jump before I was pushed?

In my view, as far as domestic consumers are concerned, Ofgem has had its day and needs to be replaced with a domestic consumer champion (with teeth) that imposes regulation through meaningful licence restrictions/temporary or permanent licence revocation, and fines (no more of this voluntary 'tax deductible' donations to charity rubbish). Perhaps MSE would like to take over this particular baton?