2 year fix

PixelPound

Bigphil1474 wrote: »

If energy wholesale prices go up, our bills will go up, if they go down, our bills might go down. Chances are they'll go up, like they have pretty much every year I can remember since we had the energy market, and even if they've gone down, the drop has been tiny compared to the increases.
You have to do the calcs. but the price rises earlier this year were around the 10% mark. Depends on the price difference between the 1 and 2 year fix, but also your finances. If you are happier knowing what you'll pay (assuming use remains the same) for the next 2 years even if it might be more expensive in year 1 with a hope of being cheaper in year 2, then a longer fix may be better.

True, you will get those who want security of a longer fix verses those who believe a shorter fix will save them as the second 1 year fix won't be as high as the price difference a 2 year fix is. You get similar opinions on the mortgage board

GNE comes cheapest for me. They also do an 18 month tariff that is more, and an 18 month MSE tariff that is a bit cheaper than the 18 month family tariff with a £25 cashback. If I assume a 10% rise, the price I would pay over 18 months is roughly the same (£1 in it after taking the cashback into consideration).

The question is will the increase be 10% or more/less? Looking at the national statistics like https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-energy-prices-june-2017 makes you think the price hikes won't be that bad. Then again, the falling pound, the brexit effect, etc., so who knows :eek::rotfl:

Swan1305

Have decided to go with the 2 year Ovo fix and will be sorting that today.

PixelPound

I've been considering a longer fix, but thought I'd look at price changes (to see if it's likely to be worth it), and I know that the past isn't a true predictor for the future, but for me prices have gone down!

I'm in a typical 2 bed semi, annual usage is 2800 kwh elect and 12500 kwh gas

Before the current BGas collective fix I was on EDF, so I compared the cost for 2015-16 on the blue+fixed tariff I was on with the current blue+fixed offering (not EDF's cheapest, the online and the MSE collective are cheaper). Using exact same usage figures, the Oct18 tariff on offer works out £56 pa cheaper than my old Nov16 tariff.

For people with different usage, it might not be the same. Looking at the current offers GNE seems to be my cheapest provider. Again I compared their latest 12 month offering Italian Touch V8, with older tariffs (V5 and V2) and it showed a downward trend in annual costs with V8 £12 p.a. cheaper than V5 and £48 cheaper than V2.

So not sure, for me, its worth going for the longer fix.