Waiting until after General Election to change supplier?

someanonbloke

About a month ago my fixed tariff with COOP ended and I've been put on to the exorbitant Green Pioneer variable tariff, which means my £/kwh for electricty has gone from about 10p/Kwh to 17p/kwh:mad: My property is powered almost entirely on electricity.

So, I searched for an alternative and Iresa Ltd were the cheapest but then this option was debunked after reading a bit about the company. AFAIK, they're no longer taking new customers, or they've been ordered to do so by Ofgem?

Now the government are promising to take 'decisive action' to cap the energy companies once the election has finished. Is this the real reason why the energy companies are hiking prices 25%? Then the Govt will announce some nonsense like 'Oh, we're going to put a stop to all this', (until the next time when the sheeple have forgotten all about it), but then the damage will already have been done.

The Govt are not likely to make the energy companies reduce the energy prices to something reasonable.

someanonbloke

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/apr/17/big-six-energy-firms-uk-government-price-cap-crackdown

A government crackdown is expected as soon as next Monday, most likely in the form of a price cap on the standard variable tariffs affecting nearly two-thirds of households.

Yea, so I was right.

I'll still wait til after the election though.

EachPenny

From time to time governments of all colours sympathise with the people over the high cost of diesel and petrol. 'something must be done' they cry. Everybody knows the Government's tax take on a litre of fuel is the main reason we pay so much for it, apart from the occasional 'freeze' on duty, nothing ever changes. The fuel companies certainly never take a hit.

Some people pay too much for their gas and electric. 'We'll do something about that' the politicians cry. Everyone knows government policies account for a significant proportion of what we pay for electricity and gas, but nothing ever changes.

SVT's will be capped, if not by the next government then by the one after. It won't be paid for by the government, nor the energy companies, but by shifting the cost of energy around amongst domestic consumers.

If you want to get a cheap energy deal, try to get it before the GE - there is no guarantee you'll be able to find one after.

System

someanonbloke wrote: »

Now the government are promising to take 'decisive action' to cap the energy companies once the election has finished. Is this the real reason why the energy companies are hiking prices 25%? Then the Govt will announce some nonsense like 'Oh, we're going to put a stop to all this', (until the next time when the sheeple have forgotten all about it), but then the damage will already have been done.

The Govt are not likely to make the energy companies reduce the energy prices to something reasonable.

Most pundits believe that the Government will place a cap on the Standard Variable Rate that suppliers can charge. There is no suggestion that the Government will do anything to reduce energy prices - unless they decide once again to remove some of the Govt-imposed green levies.

It follows, in my view, that we can expect to see some fixed tariffs withdrawn and offered up at a higher cost. Suppliers are not going to lose money just because a cap has been placed on them by Government.

The 25% increase that you refer to is due partly to increasing oil prices over the past 12 months; the fall in the value of the £ and the MASSIVE increase in Social and Environmental costs that suppliers now have to pass on to consumers. Look at the graphs in this link and you will see what I mean:

http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/customers/about-your-energy-bill/the-breakdown-of-an-energy-bill.html

FWiW, as I have already used over 75% of my annual gas consumption in my present contract period (over 6 months), I have just switched suppliers to guarantee my gas price for this coming Winter.

matelodave

If the £ drops even more after the GE then energy prices will rise even further. Do you feel lucky?

molerat

My gas is on a 14 month fix and electric on a 12 month fix, both with no exit fees. Win win

Pincher

Crude oil price dropped to $44 today.
There's a glut, or so it seems.

Cross your fingers.

StopIt

someanonbloke wrote: »

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/apr/17/big-six-energy-firms-uk-government-price-cap-crackdown



Yea, so I was right.

I'll still wait til after the election though.

No you are not.


The energy price spike was caused because of rises in commodity prices, which along with the fact that that they're priced in USD means prices have went up. Energy companies haven't raised prices "just in case" an energy cap comes into force.


Of course in the last 2 weeks the £/$ has improved to near £1:$1.30 and oil prices have went down almost $10 a barrel. So once these feed into other commodities, energy prices should fall in the next few months so long as they don't go back up.


I knew this would happen the moment I had to fix a new deal as my current fix runs out this month. I hope Green Star let you change tariffs internally with no exit fees otherwise I'm going to be very cross at MSE!

System

Pincher wrote: »

Crude oil price dropped to $44 today.
There's a glut, or so it seems.

Cross your fingers.

If the wholesale price of gas fell by 50% overnight, then you would save how much if all the price drop was passed on .............?

Look at the graphs above. The wholesale cost of gas and electricity now accounts for about 40% of every bill.

StopIt

Hengus wrote: »

If the wholesale price of gas fell by 50% overnight, then you would save how much if all the price drop was passed on .............?

Look at the graphs above. The wholesale cost of gas and electricity now accounts for about 40% of every bill.

Simple calculation really.


If Wholesale costs account for 40% of the bill and their prices went down by 50%, a full passed on reduction would be 20% off the bill.


50% of 40% = 20%, easy.

Pincher

What I want is for speculators to dump futures contracts, which enable the provider's traders to put a cheap one year fix together.
You just need the market to go bearish for a day.

Once I'm fixed, the market can go up down and sideways.