Unprecedented price rises - and price fixing?

Andy_WSM

I called Sainsburys energy yesterday, my current supplier, as my 1 year fixed Tariff ends next month and their prediction is that the next cheapest tariff is 50% more expensive!

When I looked in to the finer details its far worse than that! The day rate has increased by 20-30% but the night rate has increased by 100%! I use about 80% of my energy on night rate, so the actual increase for me is dramatic.

I queried why all Sainsbury's tariffs were coming back with the same unit price right now - and was told that's because all the tariffs are currently the same price. What? All the same price as their standard tariff? Surely not! Everyone knows the standard tariff is the most expensive, right? Call me cynical, but I believe the energy markets have all responded to Teresa May's "I'll save you £100 a year" election bribe and upped their prices so they can knock £100 off and still make massive profits and take their huge bonuses & pensions. Sickening.

The problem I am encountering right now is the comparisson sites make it hard work just to see the unit prices of each supplier. Ideally that's all I need - to put my postcode in, see how much the daily standing charge is and the price per kWh for day / night. I can easily do the maths, thank you. Instead you have to jump through hoops and provide more details than I really want to.

Anyone else encountering this Economy 7 hike? Has anyone found a particualrly competitive Economy 7 supplier? I'm really not bothered about the day rate as I have solar and use very little in the day in comparisson.

footyguy

Andy_WSM wrote: »

I called Sainsburys energy yesterday, my current supplier, as my 1 year fixed Tariff ends next month and their prediction is that the next cheapest tariff is 50% more expensive!

When I looked in to the finer details its far worse than that! The day rate has increased by 20-30% but the night rate has increased by 100%! I use about 80% of my energy on night rate, so the actual increase for me is dramatic.

I queried why all Sainsbury's tariffs were coming back with the same unit price right now - and was told that's because all the tariffs are currently the same price. What? All the same price as their standard tariff? Surely not! Everyone knows the standard tariff is the most expensive, right? Call me cynical, but I believe the energy markets have all responded to Teresa May's "I'll save you £100 a year" election bribe and upped their prices so they can knock £100 off and still make massive profits and take their huge bonuses & pensions. Sickening.

The problem I am encountering right now is the comparisson sites make it hard work just to see the unit prices of each supplier. Ideally that's all I need - to put my postcode in, see how much the daily standing charge is and the price per kWh for day / night. I can easily do the maths, thank you. Instead you have to jump through hoops and provide more details than I really want to.

Anyone else encountering this Economy 7 hike? Has anyone found a particualrly competitive Economy 7 supplier? I'm really not bothered about the day rate as I have solar and use very little in the day in comparisson.

Consult a comparison site to see the whole of market and find the best deal for you.

I'm sure you can find better deals than Sainsburys/British Gas can offer you

:money:

Don't worry about parts of the tariff, who the cost is made up, etc - what is important is the total cost of the energy you use.
No maths required - the compariosn site does it all for you

I'm on Economy 7 and recently switched to Iresa who were the the cheapest supplier for me
It would seem they were cheap for many people, but they are not currently taking on any new customers
http://www.iresa.co.uk/not-taking-new-orders/

But looking at the CEC, I see there are other suppliers that would not cost all that more than Iresa are charging me

Still, as a well know supermarket say, every little helps, so glad I secured the Iresa deal whilst it was available

Edit:
Just looked at the Weston Super Mare area and I see Utilita offer a tariff with a low rate of just 5.992p per kWh (but you will need to allow them to fit one of their smart meters to obtain this tariff) ... and no standing charge either!

Cliveman_Pieman

I run a business. If the government gave me one months notice they were going to wade in and interfere with my prices, you can be sure as hell I would take pre-emptive action. If your anger is directed at BG, it is misplaced. It was a stupid idea when Ed the Red proposed it and it's a stupid idea now.

Andy_WSM

footyguy wrote: »

- the compariosn site does it all for you

No, they really don't!

Some make assumptions that you will be an average customer and use 55% night energy, 45% day with no option to change this. Others give you "savings" (increase in every case at the moment) based upon the tariff you will end up on if you do nothing. Others assume you will use cashback offers. It's still stupidly time consuming to get a good deal and change suppliers.

All I really want is the kW/h price.

Andy_WSM

Cliveman_Pieman wrote: »

I run a business. If the government gave me one months notice they were going to wade in and interfere with my prices, you can be sure as hell I would take pre-emptive action. If your anger is directed at BG, it is misplaced. It was a stupid idea when Ed the Red proposed it and it's a stupid idea now.

No anger directed towards anyone - frustration at a broken sector that we all depend upon. Mrs May taking a cheap shot at winning some voters over has cost us all dearly. She should have left well alone.

Andy_WSM

footyguy wrote: »

Edit:
Just looked at the Weston Super Mare area and I see Utilita offer a tariff with a low rate of just 5.992p per kWh (but you will need to allow them to fit one of their smart meters to obtain this tariff)

Thanks for that edit. I shall go and take a look at their website

footyguy

Andy_WSM wrote: »

No, they really don't!

Some make assumptions that you will be an average customer and use 55% night energy, 45% day with no option to change this. Others give you "savings" (increase in every case at the moment) based upon the tariff you will end up on if you do nothing. Others assume you will use cashback offers. It's still stupidly time consuming to get a good deal and change suppliers.

All I really want is the kW/h price.

Then use the CEC

Or any of the multiple other choices that do allow you to specify your usage split

.. and give you the annual cost

As I said , it is the anticipated annual cost that is important, not the p per kWh

Good luck!

molerat

CEC will do as you ask and list suppliers in order of annual cost for your input use. You can then look at the unit prices from there. The majority of customers do not want the unit prices as the headline as, on their own, they are of little use until combined with other factors.

Robin9

The CEC site doesn't make the 55% assumption - it defaults to 55% but is variable from 0 - 100

Andy_WSM

footyguy wrote: »

Then use the CEC

Interesting as it is they that alerted me to my tariff ending, but none of the results it returns are anywhere near competitive - Utilita that you pointed me to is by far the best night rate I have seen at the moment and doesn't even appear on CEC results for me.

Cardew

Robin9 wrote: »

The CEC site doesn't make the 55% assumption - it defaults to 55% but is variable from 0 - 100

Energyhelpline does exactly the same - I thought all comparison networks did the same!